Former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore took his environmental advocacy to a new level on Wednesday urging young people to engage in civil disobedience to halt the construction of new coal-fired power plants.
Gore reportedly told a group of philanthropists meeting in New York that "the world has lost ground to the climate crisis" and swift action must be taken to stop further build up of greenhouse gas emissions.
"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 (CCS)," Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative.
"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 government figures 28 coal plants are under construction in the United States. Another 20 projects have permits or are near the start of construction.
Numerous initiatives are starting up to begin testing methods of capturing and storing carbon emissions, but they are years away from commercial-scale deployment, at best.
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