Al Gore condones ‘civil disobedience’ against fossil fuel polluters

Published on November 8th, 2009

Civil unrest has a role in stopping climate change, says Gore – guardian.co.uk

Al Gore has sought to inject fresh momentum into the Copenhagen build-up, saying he is certain Barack Obama will attend and predicting a rise in civil disobedience against fossil-fuel polluters unless drastic action is taken over global warming.

Amid increasing incidents of climate protesters disrupting the operations of fossil-fuel industries and airports in Britain and elsewhere, Gore suggests the scale of the emergency means non-violent lawbreaking is justified. “Civil disobedience has an honourable history, and when the urgency and moral clarity cross a certain threshold, then I think that civil disobedience is quite understandable, and it has a role to play,” he says. “And I expect that it will increase, no question about it.”

In his only UK newspaper interview to mark the publication of his new book, entitled Our Choice, Gore says it is crucial for Obama to attend Copenhagen in person, adding: “I feel certain that he will.”

I’m by no means a man made climate change sceptic, and I fervently believe that dissent is the essence of a democracy, but isn’t Gore essentially calling for revolution? I’m uneasy about this guy’s motives.

28 users responded in " Al Gore condones ‘civil disobedience’ against fossil fuel polluters "

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# 1 Father said, on November 8th, 2009 at 4:51 pm

I guess calling for a reduction in birthrate is too radical for Gore

# 2 jack said, on November 8th, 2009 at 4:54 pm

Should the picture have a green thumb rather? I’m just saying…

[Fixed just for you - Ed.]

# 3 Antonio said, on November 8th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

Al should be more concerned with the hate pollution and moral pollution circling the earth at the speed of technology – pollutions that are known to destroy entire civilizations and which are now truly heating up the globe. Since Al lives in what can viewed as Bible belt country, he has to know that the traditional religion that surrounds him has always taught that S*tan is an expert on making the important seem unimportant and the unimportant seem important!

# 4 Cap'nKangaroo said, on November 8th, 2009 at 5:28 pm

But civil disobedience against the carbon credit profiteers is totally out of line.

# 5 Mark T. said, on November 8th, 2009 at 5:32 pm

Does this mean Gore will condone his own greenie disciples slashing the tires on his private chartered jet and armored limo?

It starts with a bunch of hippies having a sit-in. Big whoop. But it may well end up with riotous anarchist mobs vandalizing private businesses and setting fire to expensive cars. You need only look at recent G8 summit meetings to see where this is already happening in the EU and elsewhere.

Al Gore should be careful of condoning people to become outlaws. Without laws there cannot be society. However, if you are trying to destroy society so that you can rebuild it in your own image then this is one way to get the ball rolling.

# 6 jack said, on November 8th, 2009 at 5:44 pm

Haha, thanks. That made my day.

# 7 sargasso said, on November 8th, 2009 at 5:45 pm

No. Al Gore is not calling for a revolution. he is merely politely suggesting that one might be a good idea. Like Marx and Engels did, who were otherwise happy to stay middle classed, law abiding Victorian Englishmen.

# 8 pjcamp said, on November 8th, 2009 at 6:10 pm

Civil disobedience is not the same thing as revolution or immoral behavior. Civil disobedience is not sitting at the back of the bus, is sitting at the all whites lunch counter, is breaking the British salt monopoly.

And yes, the habitability of the planet is, if anything, sufficient justification. We don’t get two chances.

Gore is simply saying don’t be sheep. Let officials know you take this seriously. Otherwise, they won’t either.

# 9 Phydeau said, on November 8th, 2009 at 7:21 pm

Funny to see the wingnuts condemn Gore when they’re advocating much worse against Obama.

# 10 Al Gore said, on November 8th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

Perhaps they should action against Mr. Gore’s most inefficient corporate jet
Bunch of wannabee elitists

# 11 Animby said, on November 8th, 2009 at 7:47 pm

“I’m uneasy about this guy’s motives.”

Motives? You are sooo cynical. His motives are as pure as the tens of millions of dollars flowing into his bank account.

# 12 Lou Minatti said, on November 8th, 2009 at 8:36 pm

On a per person basis, Al Gore is in the top 0.005% of polluters. I doubt there are any Dvorak readers who emit as much CO2 as Al Gore. Not even John, who travels alot. Al Gore travels in a private jet to give lectures and lives in a mansion while he demands that his serfs lead different lives.

# 13 MikeN said, on November 8th, 2009 at 9:41 pm

So how about people engage in civil disobedience at the Gore family plot in Carthage, where they have zinc mining operations? Or at the site of Gore family owned Occidental Petroleum’s drilling on Indian lands? Maybe they can even have Greenpeace send the boat Rainbow Warrior Al to the offshore drilling sites.

# 14 pedro said, on November 9th, 2009 at 12:12 am

#4 for the win.

#8 Gore’s saying: “Don’t be sheep, berleive me!” Trouble is, you’re a bigger sheep if you believe him.

#9 Funny to see you fight so much for an extra ration. Have your masters been starving you? Poor pooch.

# 15 Glenn E. said, on November 9th, 2009 at 12:32 am

Interesting that the US Senate claims Obama’s Health Care plan will cost the nations billions. But they say nothing of what Al Gore’s Clean Air bill with cost us. That the Health Care plan won’t pass, has never been a surprise to me. It barely passed the US House (by two votes). And didn’t the Senate already have a whack at it, earlier. So now they have another chance to kill it. They’ll either kill it, outright, or change it some more, so it must go back to the House for another vote. Meanwhile the ACES bill will slip right on thru without any news coverage.

# 16 Glenn E. said, on November 9th, 2009 at 12:37 am

So when American citizens protest the war, they’re terrorists. But when Al Gore protests American citizens’ standard of living, he’s just being civil disobedient.

# 17 Thinker said, on November 9th, 2009 at 2:12 am

Whats Mr. Gore up to?? I agree, I hope that Copenhagen thing is a complete failure. But I guess no I’m fantasizing.

# 18 Dr Dodd said, on November 9th, 2009 at 4:36 am

The funny thing about Gore is he doesn’t realize that demonizing polluters and the rich is like sticking a sharp stick in his own eye.

Mr Hypocrite calling for civil disobedience… what a tool.

# 19 Dallas said, on November 9th, 2009 at 4:46 am

Go Al! Standing up for what you believe is setting great example for all of us.

This will rejected by the Conservative Sheep because CS always likes things just the way they are – like mommy and daddy did it.

# 20 Rich said, on November 9th, 2009 at 4:57 am

I’ll do my part- I’ll toss my new Microsoft mouse into the rotor in the engine of one of his jets.

# 21 Simon Filiatrault said, on November 9th, 2009 at 6:10 am

Did you know that if we stop all human activity from producing CO2 for 30 years, we maybe, MAYBE able to cool the planet by 1 degree C. And while we do this, you cannot burn wood to get warm or cook food.

Any level of cuts we will push, costing trillions of dollars, we have an impact on the climate that will be less than the precision of the measurements we can do on the global temperature inside 100 years.

Climate changes are REAL, we simply need to adapt. Like I explain on my blog, we may have 50-100 years of warm climate before we jump into another little ice age.

So if you want you grand kids no to freeze to death and be able grow food, we need to start thinking now about the future and adapt.

Following Goracle and his plan, will do nothing to help. It will only consume more fossil fuels and plunge humanity faster into another dark age.

# 22 soundwash said, on November 9th, 2009 at 7:28 am

Funny how a quick search shows none
of the U.S. MSM has bothered to pick up this story..

—

-this just means the CIA will be “making a few rucus crowds” soon to create “Gore the Prophet and his merry band of lemmings”

—

OR..the new script handed to the media instructs that he no longer
exists.

—

the people that still believe anything
this man says should be neutered, -or at least be smacked in the back of the head every morning when they first wake up, -for a month.

-then educated about how space “weather” effects the earth it’s weather, -and your mood.

Oh, and maybe told what sunspots are and how they effect *everything*

..Every planet in the system is heating up..

..Cycles.

oh and that NASA doesn’t know J…

-and, and, and..

—

-s

# 23 pedro said, on November 9th, 2009 at 7:34 am

Hotter summers? Colder winters? Check the earth’s precession. But I’m sure that will not make you richer ‘cuase you won’t have the carbon credit excuse anymore.

# 24 Dr Dodd said, on November 9th, 2009 at 7:48 am

On a more realistic twist, all this talk from Algore and the greenies about saving the planet is extremely deceptive. Imagined dangers 50 to 100 years away – what is that?

A bit closer to home – with Iran getting ready to launch the world into a nuclear age of fire and destruction maybe the world’s priories are a bit out of phase IF saving the planet is the true goal.

# 25 Animby said, on November 9th, 2009 at 9:00 am

Dr Dodd – I’ve said it before, if Iran goes nuclear, global warming is solved!

# 26 pedro said, on November 9th, 2009 at 9:15 am

#25 Great angle. I think nuclear program development should create a huge carbon footprint, yet I haven’t seen Gore saying a peep about this. Is it because he cannot get carbon offsets from that?

# 27 Dr Dodd said, on November 9th, 2009 at 10:06 am

#25-Animby

You got that right. Bet we can even break out the weenies and marshmallows.

# 28 deowll said, on November 9th, 2009 at 7:10 pm

# 12 does a fair job summing up Gore and his ilk. They have the carbon footprint of a small city but everybody else is supposed to sacrifice while he makes a profit off it.

#15 Um you seem to have missed a few things.

With Iran about to go nuclear the odds are decent that in a few years we’ll have a nice little nuclear war with lots of fallout. That should do wonders to reduce the carbon footprint of humans.

And people thought the Obama policies in the middle east were mere mindless stalling. He has a plan to save the planet and is going forward with it. He just didn’t tell the public what it was.

Of course I could be wrong about that because he seems to take both sides on a lot of issues depending on the audience and I find him as transparent as asphalt or at least he tries to be. I think people are getting a lot better at reading him.

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