Jeremy Pal, a civil engineering and environmental science professor at Loyola Marymount University, is among the contributing authors who are sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
The 37-year-old Pal’s work was contained in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes’ report on global warming. Pal said he was gratified that people are setting aside their political affiliations and recognizing that humans are significantly changing the global climate.
“It’s not just a matter of driving a Prius or using fluorescent lights,” Pal said. “It’s realizing that when you buy a pineapple in L.A., you’ve got to be aware of how much carbon dioxide was emitted in getting it here.” And that’s where business comes in, Pal said.
“We have to develop technologies that can get that pineapple here without the emissions. There are going to be significant business opportunities for the companies that solve those issues and market them successfully.”
Pal said he didn’t mind at all that Gore was getting the lion’s share of the publicity for the work, and admitted that he was surprised at how popular the Oscar-winning film “An Inconvenient Truth” fronted by Gore and based upon the work of the panel turned out to be. There have been recent rumbling about drafting Gore to run for president in 2008. Has Pal received any similar inquiries?
“Not yet,” he said.
Lord of the Ring
The life story of Sugar Ray Leonard is on its way to the big screen.
The boxing legend is teaming with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger (“Shattered Glass” and “Friday Night Lights”), writer/actor Kevin Pollack, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and Red Bird Cinema founder John Loar to sell the project.
“People have come to me before about projects like this,” said the 51-year-old Leonard, “and I knew it wasn’t time. I can’t exactly say why, but now it feels right.”
He said working with Bissinger and Pollack and going back over his life has been a revelation.
“There have been so many big events some good, some bad in my life that to stop and think about them, and how they brought me to where I am now, has been sort of surreal,” said Leonard, who lives in Pacific Palisades and hosts ESPN’s popular boxing reality series “The Contender.”
Red Bird Cinema, is also selling “Three Nights in August,” Bissinger’s account of a summer series between La Russa’s Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs.
Taking a Header
Has anyone seen David Beckham lately? Has anyone thought about the L.A. Galaxy or soccer since the NFL season began?
Todd Cunningham is the assistant managing editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
