In Germany’s Rhineland, the Hambach open-pit coal mine is wreaking irreversible havoc on the region. Situated in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, this colossal mining complex is slowly devouring small villages and towns, dispensing with their existence like they never existed. But sadly, these places do exist — and the ones living there are paying a heavy price for the energy consumed by millions of people elsewhere.
Standing at 362 meters deep, this excavation site is one of the biggest in Europe and is still expanding. The landscape here has been forever changed; hundreds of homes have been demolished to make way for this human-made chasm. The once lush green valleys and rolling hills are now pockmarked with slag heaps and covered in coal dust; trees are being felled for miles around; air pollution has skyrocketed to hazardous levels, making it difficult to breathe; wildlife habitats have been systematically decimated.
The magnitude of this tragedy is best highlighted through “Hambacher Forst” – a forest that was meant to be a protected area but is now under threat from deforestation as part of the expansion project of the mine. Not only does such destruction threaten many species local to the region but also stands as an ominous reminder about how vulnerable nature can be when pitted against humans’ relentless quest for energy resources.
The documentary “Hambacher Forst: How Coal Mining Could Destroy Two Thousand Years Of History” sheds light on some of these issues faced by locals living around this pit mine – their haunting stories about having their homes forcibly torn down and
InIn Germany Germany’s’s Rh Rhininelandeland,, a a village village is is disappearing disappearing right right before before our our eyes eyes.. What What was was once once a a vibrant vibrant community community of of people people and and families families is is slowly slowly being being engulfed engulfed by by an an open open–
