Noble Laureate Gore: The Reaction in Scandinavia

Mostly praise from commenters in the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian media at the decision to award the Peace Prize to former veep Al Gore. Børge Brende, a conservative member of parliament and former Minister of the Environment, who, along with Heidi Sørensen, a member of parliament for the Socialist Left, nominated Al Gore for the prize, told Norwegian media that today "was a big day for the climate." The climate is reportedly thrilled. Ola Mattsson, general secretary of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, disagreed, grumbling to Sweden's TV4 that his group "think it's a little strange to give the prize to a former American vice president." A Swedish vice president, if such a thing existed, would be quite a different story. "The purpose of the prize," said Mattsson, "is to reward people who work for disarmament, and in this context Al Gore has not done anything big for the world." The Danish news website 180 Degrees is the first to interview "skeptical environmentalist" Bjørn Lomborg, who says that awarding the Peace Prize to Gore amounts to nothing more than "political propaganda."

But the best reaction comes from Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute Geir Lundestad, who told Swedish television that Gore's receiving the prize is great…for the Norwegian Nobel Committee: "Its best [if the prize is given to] one person—an organization doesn't arouse as much publicity. But the combination of international politics and a single person is a good one, and it gives us a lot of attention." (emphasis added)

Charles Paul Freund on the Danish academy's campaign against Lomborg here; Ron Bailey's review of The Skeptical Environmentalist here.

I make fun of Al Gore's god-awful book here.

(Tip of the cap to Billy)