Global-warming: Another religion of peace?

Victoria is considering tougher laws to crack down on eco-terrorist attacks on power stations after a threat to a Melbourne power company executive by an extremist US group.

The FBI has described the group as America's top domestic terrorist threat.

The hardline  hand-delivered a menacing letter to the eastern suburbs home of Graeme York, head of the Hazelwood power plant in Gippsland.

In it, the group told Mr York he was responsible for the dirtiest power station in Australia, and the most polluting in the industrialised world.

"We hold you personally accountable for this assault against our Earth," the letter said. "We do not take lightly to the perpetual destruction of our land-base for the selfish and short-term objective of fattening your bank account.

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 The Earth Liberation Front says "direct action" - vandalism or arson - is needed to stop environmentally harmful acts.

The FBI says the group is responsible for more than 1200 acts of terrorism in the US, causing more than $US100 million ($A125 million) damage. The acts have included fire-bombing housing developments, torching car yards and attacking forestry research centres.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmental crusader Al Gore urged young people on Wednesday to engage in civil disobedience to stop the construction of coal plants without the ability to store carbon.

The former U.S. vice president, whose climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Academy Award, told a philanthropic meeting in New York City that "the world has lost ground to the climate crisis."

"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.