There is no energy source in this world, which is damaging the climate in a more dramatic way than lignite. Germany extracts the worldwide biggest amount of it, a third in Lusatia. Well, not Germany, but big energy companies like Vattenfall or newly Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH). There are many fatal effects for people, nature and climate as by-product of lignite mining. The enormous amount of emission of greenhouse gas, the pollution of potable water and the pollution of the air with particulate matter are only some of them. The phreatic water is first pumped down and when it comes back very slowly, it brings iron and polluted mud with it which kills all underwater life. The sandy soil evoked by the mining is not able to store water. Plants cannot grow and the climate gets warmer and dryer. The stubbed forests cannot be replaced by reforestations because they do not have the same biodiversity and stability as the natural forests. To flood the resulting holes, natural rivers have to be detoured. The nature is no longer in its natural state. Many people of the area have to resettle. In the past, thousands of people had to leave their homes, some of them were forced by violence. But also before the resettlement, there is no future perspective in villages that risk to be replaced by a pit. Young people leave the area and there are no new industries coming. In addition, Lusatia is the traditional settlement area of the Sorbs, an ethnical minority in Germany and Poland. With the resettlement, they lose main parts of their culture such as social structures in a traditional community or the way of speaking, dressing, constructing and trading. And while the impacts get worse, the companies end their work in Lusatia, go back to their countries of origin and do not take responsibility for their actions.

Written by: Luise Sasse

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Lignite mining in Lusatia, Germany