In the years since this prize was first awarded, the entire relationship between humankind and the earth has been radically transformed. And still, we have remained largely oblivious to the impact of our cumulative actions.
More than two decades ago, scientists calculated that nuclear war could throw so much debris and smoke into the air that it would block life—giving sunlight from our atmosphere, causing a “nuclear winter”. Their eloquent warnings here in Oslo helped galvanize the world’s resolve to halt the nuclear arms race.
Now science is warning us that if we do not quickly reduce the global warming pollution that is trapping so much of the heat our planet normally radiates back out of the atmosphere, we are in danger of creating a permanent “carbon summer” .
We must quickly mobilize our civilization with the urgency and resolve that has previously been seen only when nations mobilized for war. They were calls upon the courage, generosity and strength of entire peoples, citizens of every class and condition who were ready to stand against the threat once asked to do so. Our enemies in those times calculated that free people would not rise to the challenge they were, of course, catastrophically wrong.
Now comes the threat of climate crisis—a threat that is real, rising, imminent and universal. The penalties for ignoring this challenge are immense and growing, and at some near point would be unsustainable and unrecoverable. For now we still have the power to choose our fate, and the remaining question is only this: Have we the will to act vigorously and in time, or will we remain imprisoned by a dangerous illusion?
Mahatma Gandhi awakened the largest democracy on earth and forged a shared resolve with what he called “Satyagraha”—or “truth force” .
Truth also has the power to unite us and bridge the distance between “me” and “we”, creating the basis for common effort and shared responsibility.