Poland has traditionally been heavily reliant on its southern coalfields, with people there exposed to the health and environmental impacts of mining."The coal dust is everywhere," Wozniewska told AFP from in front of the house she grew up in.
Faced with soaring energy prices, it turned to Kazakhstan, Colombia and Indonesia for supplies, with port authorities storing coal closer than ever to residential areas."We have air filters and humidifiers running non-stop. And when we want to take our kid outside... we drive elsewhere for a walk, instead of hanging around here," she said.
"I have asthma, so sometimes when the pollution gets really bad, it leaves this bad aftertaste in your throat." His wife too has struggled with her own health issues. Recently she went away and"miraculously her headaches stopped", Motyl said. Pressure from the movement led to a special city council meeting, where residents unfurled banners that read,"Gdansk: the black city."
A lifelong Gdansk resident, she said the situation reminded her of the communist-era pollution of her own childhood.