Prince Albert in Washington DC

Yesterday, HSH Prince Albert II was at the National Press Club in Washington DC, where he talked about -you guessed it- the environment! Go figure right? Specifically he addressed the action that the Principality of Monaco had taken on sustainable practices for the protection of the marine environment. This is an issue of some concern to the Prince and people of Monaco who have traditionally been bound up with the sea. In the past it was a matter of survival, nowadays it is to a much lesser extent but also true that if sea levels were to rise too much the tiny country might disappear. In 1913 Prince Albert II's great-grandfather Prince Albert I also addressed the Press Club. Afterward the Sovereign Prince spoke at the Antarctic Treaty summit at the Smithsonian Museum wherein he talked about his own Antarctic expedition.

*Additional note: Prince Albert also addressed the recent controversy over the emails passed between scientists speaking of exaggerating the data on global warming and blocking any evidence contrary to their point of view. Prince Albert said it was unfortunate, there was room for some minor disagreements, but that global warming was real, was happening and that he had seen the evidence himself in his extensive field work on the subject. He warned that to turn our backs on the problem was to sacrifice the future of the world for present-day selfishness. He also bemoaned the fact that the climate-change treaty in Copenhagen does not look set to be nearly as far-reaching as was first thought. I am sure Prince Albert is sincere in this, but I also doubt his words will have much effect on the skeptical crowd. Coming from a prince with a reputation as a playboy who flies to a different country almost every day in his private jet, lectures on selfishness and environmental protection will probably not go very far -at least in the USA.