World peace, climate change, and Nobel Prizes

TEHRAN, Dec. 13 (MNA) -- Working for world peace cannot be separated from love for the environment. World peace and environmental protection go hand in hand.


If anyone’s mind is filled with peaceful thoughts, he or she must be an environmentalist by nature.


The opposite is also true. Anybody whose mind is filled with vengeance and contempt for others shrugs off environmental degradation.


This was exemplified by George W. Bush, who kept the United States outside the Kyoto Protocol and unleashed the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.


To show that he truly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama must lead the world by pledging greater cuts in greenhouse gases at the Copenhagen climate summit since his country bears ethical responsibility for global warming. It is common knowledge that the United States has been the biggest emitter over the past few decades.


However, so far Obama has appeared less enthusiastic about global warming than what was expected of him. He has been backing down, under pressure from industrialists and oil company executives, who just care about the bottom line.


In the area of promoting peace, Obama has also had no success. Israel is still building settlements in the occupied territories, and, even worse, it is evicting Palestinians from their homes in East Beit-ul-Moqaddas (Jerusalem).


With a Nobel Peace Prize on his mantel, the world will not give Obama long to show his true colors on environmental protection and the promotion of peace.


For the sake of future generations, we all hope he makes the right decision.


(By M.A Saki)