Under Pressure

The region surrounding the city of Kozani in West Macedonian is the centre of the Greek energy industry. The country acquires around 60 percent of its electricity as a result of mining and using brown coal to generate power. This enormous source of brown coal is both a curse and a blessing for the area – on the one hand, in a time of crisis, it offers commercial stability, on the other hand, the expanding open pit mining is increasingly destroying nature and infrastructure. The Italian photographer, Francesco Anselmi, reports from the regions. “Most of the inhabitants have a job that is somehow connected to gaining energy. They are literally dying from the way they earn a living.”

In addition to brown coal mining causing environmental changes, the generation of energy also puts a heavy strain on the environment and the climate – the area has a total of five brown coal power plants. According to a study by the WWF, two of them are among the most environmentally-damaging power plants in Europe. Carbon dioxide, fine dust, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are set free, polluting the surrounding waters. “Most of the people born in the region were born under these conditions. I was impressed by their resigned attitude towards the damage they can expect to their health,” the photographer says.

Anselmi’s photo reportage with text by Stefano Balbi, researcher at the Basque Centre for Climate Change in Bilbao, appeared in LFI 5/2015.

You can find the picture that is among the photographer’s favourites in the LFI Blog.