Al Gore accepts Nobel Peace Prize with call to “act boldly, decisively and quickly”

Climate campaigner and former US Vice-Presdient, Al Gore, collected the Nobel Peace Prize on Monday with another urgent call for world leaders to act immediately.

Gore said too many of the world's leaders are still best described with words Winston Churchill used to those who ignored Adolf Hitler's threat: "They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent."

Speaking of the United Nation Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with whom the former US vice president shares the 2007 peace prize he said, "The distinguished scientists with whom it is the greatest honour of my life to share this award have laid before us a choice between two different futures – a choice that ….. echo the words of an ancient prophet: 'Life or death, blessings or curses. Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live' ".

"Today", Gore said, "we dumped another 70 million tonnes of global warming pollution into the …… atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if it were an open sewer. And tomorrow, we will dump a slightly larger amount."

The Earth, he said, "has a fever. And the fever is rising. … something basic is wrong. We are what is wrong, and we must make it right."Mr Gore urged everyone that the time is now "to make peace with planet!" with the power still in our hands to choose our fate.

"The remaining question is only this", he added.

"Have we the will to act vigorously and in time, or will we remain imprisoned by a dangerous illusion?"

Ministers representing over 180 countries are due to meet on Wednesday at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change for the high level segment of the conference to work out the roadmap for a future international agreement on enhanced global action to fight climate change in the period after 2012.