Earth, not D.C., remains Gore's focus

WASHINGTON - Al Gore, who emerged from the career low of losing a bitterly fought, disputed election for president in 2000 to capture the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize yesterday, accepted the honor as an environmental activist - not a politician - and pledged to continue his work against global warming.

Without even a mention of politics, the former vice president, US senator, and 2000 Democratic presidential nominee made it clear yesterday he was on a single, focused campaign: to heighten world attention to climate change and find ways to control it.

"This is a planetary emergency, and we have to respond quickly," Gore said. "It is the most dangerous challenge we've ever faced, but it's also the greatest opportunity we have ever had to make changes we should have been making."

The Nobel committee said Gore's "strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films, and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change."

"He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted," it said.

A few critics, including President Vaclav Klaus of Czechoslovakia, questioned the link between Gore's work and world peace, as critics have raised doubts about some other recent Peace Prize recipients. The Nobel panel, however, warned that climate change threatened "the security of mankind" because droughts, floods, and rising seas could prompt mass migrations and increase the risk of wars.

Gore did not address questions about whether he was mulling a run for president in 2008. Mounting a candidacy at this late stage would be difficult, and several close Gore associates interviewed by the Globe yesterday said he is not interested, despite pressure from "Draft Gore" groups around the country.

Instead, Gore - who has already won an Emmy and an Oscar for his 2006 movie "An Inconvenient Truth," which details the looming problems created by climate change - is finishing another book on the environment and is continuing his slide-show presentations around the world to draw attention to the issue.

"I know this has refueled speculation about a potential run," said Donna Brazile, Gore's campaign manager in 2000. But "he's indicated that he's a recovered politician."

The environment "has been his life's work," she added.

The Nobel caps a dramatic, transformative journey for Gore since 2000, when he won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College to George W. Bush. After the US Supreme Court decision halted a recount underway in Florida, effectively making Bush the winner, Gore rejected efforts by supporters to challenge the outcome in Congress, saying the nation needed to unite and move on.

As the sitting vice president, Gore stood, expressionless, in the House chamber in December 2000 and allowed himself to be declared officially the loser.

Soon after the election, Gore threw himself back into the issue that had dominated much of his agenda as a senator - the environment - and produced "An Inconvenient Truth," about the cause and effects of global warming.

Although small groups of critics have denounced Gore's recommendations - and a British judge this week ruled that some assertions in the movie were untrue and alarmist - the overwhelming majority of the scientific community has endorsed Gore's findings and urged changes to halt climate change.

Gore shared the prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

He said he will donate his share of the $1.5 million in prize money to his Alliance for Climate Protection.

The prize, Gore's fans said, is a long-deserved reward.

"He was a prophet without honor for a long time. And now he is a prophet with the highest honor in the world: the Nobel Peace Prize," said US Representative Edward J. Markey, a Malden Democrat and chairman of a select congressional committee on global warming.

Chris Lehane, a senior aide in Gore's 2000 campaign, lauded Gore's commitment to an issue that has only recently drawn wide public attention.

Gore wrote his first book on the environment - "Earth in the Balance" - in 1992, but the environment was a minor issue in the campaign, with the poor economy defining an election won by Bill Clinton, with Gore as his vice president.

"He deserves enormous credit for getting up and dusting himself off after the 2000 campaign, and putting himself squarely back into the public arena at a time when it would have been very easy to go back into the private sector - particularly when you weren't looking to run for public office," Lehane said. "It tells you a lot about a person's character."

Gore's win bolsters scientists and environmentalists who have complained that the Bush administration has ignored climate change and refused to sign international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol or to back policies - such as higher gas mileage standards - to control the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

At the White House, spokesman Tony Fratto said Bush is happy for Gore, but does not believe the award puts pressure on the administration to change its approach to global warming. Other world leaders, as well as Democratic presidential candidates, issued statements lauding the former vice president.

The award was the second Nobel Peace Prize in recent years that honored someone who challenged the Bush administration. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a vocal skeptic of the Bush's administration's rationale for going to war in Iraq, received the prize in 2005.

Some other recent recipients have also been lauded for achievements that do not fit neatly into the traditional peacemaking mold, such as microloans innovator Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh in 2006 and environmentalist Wangari Maathai of Kenya in 2004.

Defenders of these awards argue that effective economic development and protection of environmental resources are essential elements of world peace.

Gore - who learned of the award from television, spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said - spent much of the day in a strategy session in Palo Alto, Calif., on climate control. Gore gives about 10 slide shows on warming a month to various groups and invited audiences - and did one Thursday night - and has trained 1,000 activists to campaign for stronger environmental regulations.

News of Gore's honor boosted the hopes of those who want him to jump into the presidential race.

If Gore were interested in running, he would have to compete against candidates who have already raised tens of millions of dollars, built extensive campaign organizations, and stumped across the country for months.

While Gore has an advantage of name recognition and a national network of supporters, major candidates have already retained most of the party's most experienced staff and consultants.

Furthermore, Gore would not even have the support of his former running-mate, Bill Clinton, who is campaigning for his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.

Kreider, Gore's spokeswoman, said he "does not have an intention to run for office in 2008."

Carter Eskew, a former Gore adviser and 30-year friend, agreed that Gore is focused on stepping up the world campaign against global warming. "His head's not in politics right now," Eskew said. "He's in a different place. He's on a different path. He's not thinking about the campaign."

Material from Reuters was also used in this report. Susan Milligan can be reached at milligan@ globe.com.

(Correction: Because of an editing error, a Page One story Saturday incorrectly identified Vaclav Klaus. He is the president of the Czech Republic.)