The Rhineland’s lignite mines and coal plants in Germany are Europe’s biggest source of CO2 emissions and home to the world’s largest coal digger – the Bagger 288. The rapid expansion of coal mines and plants is causing health problems due to high pollution rates and the destruction of local villages, forests and farmland. That’s why this summer the Rhineland will be the target of a mass act of civil disobedience in the lead-up to the Paris climate negotiations.
On the weekend of 14-16 August, grassroots groups are calling on people from all over Germany and other parts of Europe to stand together to stop the world’s largest coal diggers in their tracks.
The mass action is being called “Ende Gelände” — which translates literally as ‘Here and no further”. Ende Gelände will make a powerful call to keep Europe’s coal in the ground, in the face of increasingly dangerous climate change.