Al Gore Urges Civil Disobedience to Fight Coal Plants

Al Gore has a message for you, environmentalists: it’s okay to engage in a little civil disobedience here and there when the goal is as important as stopping the construction of coal plants that don’t have the ability to store carbon.  After all, civil disobedience is one of the few ways ordinary citizens still have to make sure our voices are heard.  Gore, speaking to a philanthropic meeting in New York, said on Wednesday that “the world has lost ground to the climate crisis”.

From Reuters:

“If you’re a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration,” Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering to loud applause.

“I believe for a carbon company to spend money convincing the stock-buying public that the risk from the global climate crisis is not that great represents a form of stock fraud because they are misrepresenting a material fact,” he said. “I hope these state attorney generals around the country will take some action on that.”

According to the government, about 28 coal plants are currently under construction in the United States right now and another 20 projects have permits or are near the start of construction.  The carbon emitted from coal plants are a key factor in global warming.

Part of the problem is the fact that we, as a nation, have been apathetic for too long.  We’ve allowed money-hungry corporations to control our lives and dictate our futures, to the extent that every living creature on earth is now in danger. The truth is that we do hold a lot of power in our hands.  We outnumber the executives and the government officials.  If we all stand together and demand something, it will be done.  We just haven’t taken that power into our hands on a mass scale.  So we say, hell yeah, Al.  Civil disobedience is definitely called for in these frightening times.

Link [Reuters]
Photo credit: Sydney Indymedia

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