Editorial: World is listening to Gore

Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007 | 1:30 a.m.

Lately we've been wondering if there are any honors left for Al Gore to collect.

The Harvard graduate and Army veteran served in the House, the Senate and as vice president. The past two years have seen him gain even more international fame than garnered by those accomplishments.

After leaving politics he assembled a slide show about global warming, and used it to educate audiences around the world.

In 2006 his book, "An Inconvenient Truth," based on his slide show, became a best seller. He starred in the book's companion film, which won an Oscar for best documentary.

Now Gore has earned the Nobel Peace Prize for focusing international attention on solutions to global warming.

He shared the prize with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel has been coordinating the work of scientists from 113 countries who concluded earlier this year that global warming is "very likely" caused by burning fossil fuels.

Scientists alone, however, cannot change the world. They need a passionate advocate to spread their knowledge. Gore, who has been warning about global warming since learning about it at Harvard, filled that role extraordinarily well.

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

While it seems Gore is everywhere, accepting one award after another, one obvious honor eluded him - the presidency, by a hair in 2000. With a Nobel Prize to his credit, Gore is now being urged by prominent Democratic supporters to run again.

He could be a formidable candidate, but he shouldn't feel compelled to run. As the world's most well-known and respected advocate for reducing emissions that cause global warming, he is uniquely and effectively filling a vital role.

The danger is that the politics of a campaign and the politics and distractions of a presidency would likely dilute Gore's role - a dilution that the world can ill afford.