The Coming Coal War

Al Gore is suggesting that young people commit civil disobedience in the name of stopping 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," Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering to loud applause.

Well, OK, maybe. But such a call would have much more heft if Gore himself were willing to take part in this civil disobedience, even to lead it. Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn't have gotten very far if he'd only called for revolt and not lead it. Gore is someone who could truly gather large numbers of protesters willing to go over the line, if he were willing to take the same risk he's asking of others. Without that, it comes across as somewhat of an empty, easy gesture.