They call the forest “Unser Aller Wald” and have made it their home. 25-year-old “Indigo” takes us inland into the small wood.
Suddenly a small community reveals itself. Elaborate wooden huts, connected by bridges, 25 meters up in the treetops.
“Indigo” has lived here for a year now.
– ACTIVISTS: High up in the trees, the activists have built elaborate wooden huts. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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With accustomed roofs, she fastens her climbing harness and hoists herself up to the cabin she currently lives in.
– So I guess you do not have a fear of heights?
«Indigo» read:
– Not any more!
Will protect the forest
The purpose of living here is to prevent the forest from being cut down to extract lignite. The nearby village, Keyenberg, is one of six villages in this area that are scheduled to be leveled.
Like the others who live here in the forest, “Indigo” is a climate activist. “Indigo” is not her real name either, but an activist name.
– ACTIVIST: For one year, Indigo has lived in this woodland near the village of Keyenberg Photo: Hilde Gran / TV 2
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She is originally from Berlin, but the 25-year-old moved to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia when she heard about the expansion of the Garzweiler lignite mine.
– I actually like living in the trees, but it’s a way to protest. The fact that we are fighting against this mine and the capitalist system that makes such destruction possible is with us all the time, she says.
The 25-year-old has always been involved in the climate.
– When I grew up, it became clear to me that the life we are offered is simply not worth living. That we are forced to sell our own time for money and live at the expense of others, Indigo says firmly.
– When I got to know people who were organized in a different way, it became clear to me what I was going to do and I dedicated my life to it.
– COMMITTED TO THE CLIMATE: Indigo has dedicated its life to the fight against climate change. Photo: Hilde Gran / TV 2
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The next big battle
Not far from Keyenberg, lies the village that more than anyone else has become the symbol of the German climate struggle; Lützerath.
When TV 2 visits the village, more than 1000 activists have come here to join the protest action.
– PROTEST: Lützerath is the next village to be leveled. Photo: Hilde Gran / TV 2
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This is where the next climate strike will be in Germany. Lützerath is the next village to be demolished.
As we drive into the village we can see the edge of the mine, which slowly but surely eats closer and closer.
Germany’s black energy
Every year, between 30 and 35 million tonnes of the world’s most polluting energy source, lignite, is extracted from the Garzweiler mine.
A dozen small villages have already been swallowed up by the brown-black crater.
– CONTRAST: Renewable and fossil energy sources side by side. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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Germany has decided to phase out the extraction of coal by 2038.
The three political parties that are now negotiating to form a government in Germany, the Social Democratic SPD, the Greens and the Free Democrats in the FDP, say this date can be accelerated by eight years.
But so far, coal and lignite are important energy sources for Germany. In 2020, during the pandemic, coal accounted for 23.8 percent of Germany’s energy supply. In 2021, activity in German industry has picked up again, and the use of coal has increased 26.2 percent.
The coal mined in the Garzweiler mine is transported to power plants in the area.
From the mine you can see the smoke from the two thermal power plants Neurath and Niederaussen, which are in the top 5 list of the biggest polluters in the EU.
– DIRTY: Neurath thermal power plant is the second largest polluter in the EU after the Belchatow power plant in Poland. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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Neurath power plant alone was released in 2020 18 million tonnes of CO2.
The scapegoat
The energy giant RWE owns and operates both the Garzweiler mine and the Neurath and Niederaussen power plants.
They do not want to meet TV 2 for an interview, but say in an email that the coal is necessary to secure German energy supply.
Press spokesman Guido Steffen also points out that the company follows the coal phasing-out plan laid down by the German authorities, and says RWE is making large investments in renewable energy.
– – NECESSARY: The energy company RWE says coal mining is necessary to secure German energy supply. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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– All three open pits operated by RWE will be closed earlier than originally. Two of them by the end of 2029. Garzweiler will be operational a little longer, Steffen writes.
Refuses to move
Thus, the fate of Lützerath is sealed. All of the approximately 90 residents who lived here have moved after being bought out by RWE. That is to say; all but one.
Farmer Eckardt Heukamp still holds his own, and refuses to give up without a fight.
– HOLDER: Eckardt Heukamp is the only original resident left in Lützerath. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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– We must find a way to phase out the use of coal, and not demolish villages. They want to move people, but for what? asks Heukamp.
– For controversial lignite mining that is considered one of the dirtiest technologies we have.
He is the fifth generation to have lived in Lützerath. The 56-year-old points to the yard, which is now covered by a large protest banner on the front.
– PROTEST: The building on the right is Eckardt Heukamp’s farm. On Sunday 31 October, there was a large protest march in Lützerath. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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– The buildings are from 1763, the house and the side wing there. This is an old cultural landscape, says Heukamp.
Several houses in the village have already been leveled.
– It may well be that I am the last generation to live on this farm. It is very sad.
Will fight to the end
Heukamp also owns the plot of land, which has now been converted into an activist camp.
Here the tents stand close together.
– PROTESTING: This is what it looked like in the tent camp when TV 2 visited Lützerath. Many had traveled to the site to demonstrate the last weekend in October. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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Here they have a kitchen, an information station, a first aid tent and an action office.
– KITCHEN SERVICE: The activists run an outdoor commercial kitchen in Lützerath. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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“Indigo” she says and the others are ready to fight to the end. She believes Germany should stop coal mining immediately, preferably she should have seen it happen the day before yesterday.
– But Germany, if you take away 25 percent of Germany’s energy, would it be a complete crisis?
– We need a complete change in the way we run our society. We must produce what we need, and not just produce for pure profitability, says Indigo.
– The question is rather what people in Germany need, and what Germany needs as a society. We are convinced that it is enough clean energy for everyone to live well here.
– NO TO COAL: Climate activist Indigo is ready to fight against Lützerath being razed to the ground. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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The 25-year-old also does not have much faith that the world’s top leaders will come up with a good solution for the climate during the UN summit in Glasgow, COP26.
– For 25 years, politicians have made promises at climate summits that they do not keep. Change will not come from the authorities, they are too dependent on the economy, Indigo believes.
– The change must come from us, from below, and in solidarity with those who began this struggle long before us, namely the people of the global south.
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