Al Gore is urging young people take up in civil disobedience to stop the construction of coal plants without the ability to store carbon.  However, the technology behind the largely theoretical practice of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is yet to exist on a commercial-scale.  The idea of geo-sequestration of carbon would be to liquify carbon dioxide and pump it into underground rock layers for long term storage.  Currently, about 28 coal plants are under construction in the United States with another 20 projects slated to begin of construction. 

This is not the first time Gore has put forth this call for action.  Last year in two different print publications, The New York Times and The Nation, Gore called for young people to commit civil disobedience to halt new coal fired power plants and climate change. Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering to loud applause:

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

It should be noted that just last week, almost a dozen activists with Rainforest Action Network, Blue Ridge Earth First!, Rising Tide, and SDS were arrested after blockading Dominion Resources’ new coal-fired power plant construction site in St. Paul Virginia.

11.24.08 » Reuters

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