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The Al Gore contest was a special edition of Food for Thought: on Tuesday 23 November 2010, Tilburg University celebrated its 83rd anniversary. The visit also marked the official opening of the Tilburg Sustainability Center (TSC), a place where researchers from different disciplines can collaborate on the social theme of sustainability. Who better to invite as guest speaker on this auspicious day than the former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore; a man highly adept at bridging the gap between society and academic research in the field of sustainability.
 Winners of the Al Gore Contest
Nine students had been selected by the jury, consisting of Hilde Baert, Managing Director of the Tilburg Sustainability Centre and Reyer Gerlagh, Professor of Economics and expert in the field of Sustainability, to meet Al Gore in real life. These were the following students: 1. Jos van Loon
2. Yunhai Su 3. Ronstadt Yip 4. Michiel Beerens 5. Ron Bouman 6. Jean-Carlo Alves da Silva 7. Helena Isaac Pereira de Castro 8. Barbara Sadaba 9. Anne de Vries After his official speech, these nine students participated in the meet and greet with Al Gore. Jos van Loon, Yunhai Su and Ronstadt Yip even got to ask their own question! Some photos and an interview with winner Jos van Loon can be found below.
Photo's  Al Gore at the special edition of Food for Thought
 
Interview with Meet&Greet winner Jos van Loon. We offered students the unique opportunity to win a meet and greet with our past guest, Al Gore. They had to post their personal question to Al Gore out of which our jury carefully selected the nine lucky ones. The three students with the best questions even got the privilege to ask their question to Al Gore personally.
Jos van Loon was one of these lucky few. He got to meet Al Gore and got the chance to ask him his personal question.
What was your winning question?
It proves to be difficult to organize the whole world to reduce global warming in a sustainable way, and not preventing this will lead to higher sea levels. Wouldn't it be easier to just raise the dikes?
How did Al Gore respond?
Al Gore responded that we do need to raise the dikes in order to avoid short term problems with higher sea levels, especially in the Netherlands. But we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that building dikes is a long term solution.
Did you agree with Al Gore during the lecture and the meet&greet session with his views on sustainability?
During his lecture, Al Gore stated that the only way individuals and businesses will take sustainability into account, is if there is a price tag on unsustainable practices, like there is on just about everything. I agree that for example putting a tax on carbon will make people more aware about what is sustainable and what isn't.
What was it like to meet former vice-president Al Gore? Were you nervous?
Meeting Al Gore was a unique experience. I was a bit nervous, especially about posing my question. But everything went well and I really enjoyed it! Thanx Asset and Tilburg University for making this possible!
Has this session influenced your way of thinking?
Yes, it definitely has. I've always been interested in sustainability and especially green energy and Al Gore has inspired me to think about it once again. I'm currently trying to find my own way on how I want to make this world a better place, and Al Gore sure has giving me some food for thought!
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