He wants to eliminate carbon-based fuels within a decade:

“The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk,” Gore said.

In a speech at Washington’s Constitution Hall, Gore touched on an array of the nation’s current woes, saying the economic, environmental and national security crises are all related.

“I don’t remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously,” Gore said.

To begin to fix all the problems, Gore said, “the answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.”

He actually went even further and said that “the future of human civilization is at stake.” And as if all if this isn’t melodramatic and unrealistic enough for you he wants a completely bizarre taxation system in place as well:

Mr. Gore said the most important policy change in the transformation would be taxes on carbon dioxide production, with an accompanying reduction in payroll taxes. “We should tax what we burn, not what we earn,” he said.

It gets even crazier:

“We should guarantee good jobs in the fresh air and sunshine for any coal miner displaced by impacts on the coal industry,” he said by way of example. “Every single one of them.”

The energy crisis is serious and solving it will require realistic proposals. This, on the other hand, is absolute insanity, even by Gore’s standards. I can’t imagine anyone, other than possibly the guy who hires Directors of Greening, to give this pitch serious consideration.