By Xinhua,
Jerusalem : Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has received in Israel a prize of one million U.S. dollars for his efforts to fight climate change and prevent an environmental disaster.
“We do face a planetary emergency. The phrase sounds shrill to many, but it is unfortunately quite accurate,” Israeli daily Ha’ aretz quoted Gore as saying Monday at Tel Aviv University, where the Dan David Foundation awarded him the annual prize for alerting the world to the crisis caused by overuse of fossil fuels.
The Nobel Prize laureate called for urgent action for the sake of the future generations, noting that as 30 percent of the icebergs at the North Pole have melted over the past 20 years, a disaster is imminent unless the human being makes a change.
The judges termed Gore the “world’s leading politician” in his field, adding that his intensive activity, including political activity, lectures, films and books, has created a real change in awareness of climate change among both individuals and governments, according to Ha’aretz.
The Dan David Prize has been awarding individuals and institutions annually since 2002 for their outstanding contributions to humanity, with one million U.S. dollars for each of the three categories of the past, present and future.
Gore, who received the prize in the “present” category, said he would donate 10 percent of the prize to young researchers, as all the other winners do, and the rest to the Alliance for Climate Protection.