Rovinari Power Plant

We generate electricity by burning coal – a practice deeply embedded in modern civilisation, yet one that European Union member states have agreed to abandon, committing to the gradual closure of coal-fired power plants and the development of green energy sources. Every nation in the world should move in this direction, to reduce environmental pollution whose effects have grown increasingly visible with each passing year. Yet in the context of the energy crisis affecting economies worldwide, keeping coal-fired plants running remains an unavoidable compromise. Breaking free from the energy comfort we have grown so used to is far from easy. And yet, from the ease of our armchairs, we remain blind to a quieter, more intimate tragedy unfolding out of sight – entire villages vanishing from the map, swallowed by expanding mines. The pain of being uprooted, torn from the land of one’s ancestors, is made all the more devastating by the often deplorable circumstances in which these expropriations take place.