Gore skips the limo
In Oslo to get his Nobel Prize, he took public transportation.
OSLO, Norway - Former Vice President Al Gore skipped the traditional airport motorcade and took public transportation when he arrived yesterday in Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize he shared for his campaign against global warming.
Gore will accept the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize he shared with the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital on Monday.
Upon arriving in Oslo, Gore urged countries meeting at a climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, "to promptly produce a strong mandate." The governments hope to finish drafting a new climate treaty by 2009, with a current target of 2012 for ratification.
Gore said he hoped they would move the date for a successor to the Kyoto treaty ahead by two years "so we don't have to wait until 2012" to have a tougher climate agreement in place.
Before his arrival with his wife, Tipper, Gore told his hosts that he would not need the traditional motorcade from the airport, preferring to take the high-speed and environmentally friendly airport train, then walk to his downtown Oslo hotel.
"I use public transport when I can. It isn't always possible," Gore said while walking to his hotel. He said the train was much faster than a limousine, and that it was also a symbol of efforts to reduce pollution in hopes of slowing climate change.
"It is a gesture. It is also one of the changes we are all going to have to be doing anyway," Gore said.