Al Gore urges civil disobedience in the fight against climate change

Last week, during the Clinton Global Initiative, Al Gore encouraged young people to use civil disobedience to stop the construction of CO2 emitting coal plants.

“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.”

Countries around the world are investing money into new coal plants while ignoring their obvious threat to our climate and environment. For example, about 28 coal plants are under construction while 20 other projects “have permits or are near the start of construction” in USA alone. None of these coal plants have any carbon capture or sequestration. In fact there is not a single commercial-scale project that does this anywhere in the world. And probably there will never be any at all.

Al Gore most likely found it safe to urge for civil disobedience after the “landmark global warming trial” in UK two weeks ago. Either way, having a politician like Al Gore encouraging people to take direct non-violent action against CO2 emitting coal plants really show us how deep into trouble we are when it comes to climate change.

But then I have to ask myself. Why just young people Al Gore? And wouldn’t it send a powerful message around the world if you yourself took part in these actions?

Simon Leufstedt is the editor of Green Blog. Simon has previously studied Global Environmental Justice and is currently studying Human Ecology and Political Science at Lund University in Sweden. Simon is also blogging over at the Swedish 350 website and working with the Swedish TckTckTck organisation. You can follow Simon on Twitter and on Google+.
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