… but it’s probably not the best way to get your point across.

Al Gore twittered about a new project he just helped launch, called “This is Reality.” It’s aimed at tackling the pervasive and popular phrase “clean coal” — which seemed to be every major politician’s 100% nonoffensive answer to tackling our energy crisis over the election season.

Problem is — clean coal doesn’t exist. Anywhere. It’s a theory. Not a single coal burning power plant in the United States uses carbon sequestering technology, and it’s never even been tested on a commercial scale. That’s what the first video from This is Reality tries to convey:

… I’m not sure if it succeeds, though. If you didn’t already know there’s no such thing as Clean Coal, you’d probably just end up being confused by this.

I hope Gore can crystallize his message about Clean Coal, and quickly. We need to get away from this diversionary tactic and focus on ACTUAL renewables if we’re truly going to make an investment in clean energy infrastructure. Especially since Bush’s EPA decided to take its title ironically and approved new rules making it easier to use mountaintop removal mining earlier this week.

Tags: al gore, clean coal, Environmentalism, mountaintop removal, renewable energy, this is reality