It’s a little sketchily sourced, but according to Mark Hertsgaard Al Gore is “considering” joining the Rainforest Action Network in some direct action protest against coal plants — which could well result in his arrest.
Hertsgaard thinks it would be a good thing:
If Gore did end up getting arrested during a protest against a coal-fired power plant, it would make front-page news throughout the world and put a spotlight on what some climate scientists and activists consider the single most important priority in the fight against climate change: halting the use of coal as the world’s top source of electricity production.
Coby Beck isn’t so sure:
Yes it would make headlines, but it seems to me it also runs the risk of sidelining Gore in an issue in which he is arguably the most significant US figure. He could instantly plummet from Nobel laureate to dirty hippie. I don’t know what I would do in his situation. Al Gore has said ‘Why [aren’t there] rings of young people blocking bulldozers and preventing them constructing new coal-fired power plants?’ Maybe this is just for young people howling from outside establishment walls and not for suit-wearing, middle aged insiders whispering in the ears of the powers that be.
I have some thoughts, but I’d rather hear from y’all. Do you think Gore should do it?
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