Waste Liquid At Brown Coal Mine

Niederzier, Germany

On this spot stood an ancient forest, untouched even by agriculture. Hambach Forest is nearly 12,000 years old, and comprised primarily of oak and hornbeam. It is home to 13 of the threatened species listed in Europe’s 1992 Habitats Directive.

In 1978, when it was bought by a power company to dig for the brown coal buried deep below, the forest covered 5.500 hectares (about the size of Manhattan). Now, only 10 percent of that remains. In its place is the largest man-made hole in Europe, from which is excavated an average of 49.6 million tons of brown coal each year. This coal feeds three giant power plants, which together are the largest source of carbon emissions in Europe, and the largest source of mercury emitted, and uranium released into the air, not to mention dioxins, furans, arsenic, benzine... The list of toxics is long.

But this is also a story about the power of the people. In 2018, as the coal company prepared to cut the rest of this ancient forest, outrage developed across the continent, leading to peaceful protests, the largest involving 50,000 people from across Europe coming together in the forest to demand that it be saved. Then, finally, a court in Cologne, in response to a lawsuit by multiple environmental groups, stopped the cutting of the forest.

So Many Thanks to Motorfluggruppe Grenzland for flight support!