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Coal Scars: The Landscape Trauma of Fossil Fuel Extraction
Despite indications that coal is on the way out, this photo-essay shows the staggering long-term impacts of coal extraction in Germany.
Having lived in Germany for a year in 2020/21, I was vaguely aware of the country’s relationship with coal — particularly the lignite that is still being mined in the west. But I was totally unprepared for what I saw when I visited in the mines in 2023. As an aerial photographer, I often have a bird’s eye view of the land that allows me to get a real sense of scale for a place. But this was something I find myself unable to describe. Nothing can capture the depth and the size of these mines.
Germany’s carbon emissions were lower in 2023 than all of the last 70 years. Analysts are not overly optimistic, however — just 15% of this reduction can be considered long-term change, the rest is largely ‘good luck’. Germany has promised to phase out coal use as the climate crisis worsens — the Coal Phase-out Act of 2020 states coal extraction will end by 2038, also aiming for 80% renewable energy in the mix by 2030. After Fukushima in 2011, Germany also relatively swiftly closed the last of its nuclear power plants in 2023. Along with the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and its associated oil supply…
