The Internet just found Mordor and it’s in Germany. Even that acid is real at this place, which seems straight out of the Peter Jackson movies about Middle-Earth.
While these images may look like Durin’s Bane spawning up from the ruins of Moria, but it is actually acid sludge streaming out of coal mines. And be warned though, its no tourist spot.
These images are of the Lusatia mining district in eastern Germany. Although Germany is leading the way for green economies, it’s dependent on highly polluting lignite mining. The mines in the images generate a third of the country’s lignite resources.
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What is Lignite?
Lignite is a type of soft coal, and very dirt cheap at that. It’s that cheap because it’s less efficient than any other fossil fuel, producing less energy and more carbon emissions.
When lignite is mined, the sulphide minerals in the rocks oxidize. This releases acid and heavy metals like iron and copper which mixed with rain and groundwater to produce that magical orange looking sludge.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency that sludge isn’t at all as magical as it looks. Rather, it’s highly toxic. Which really makes us wish these horrors were left in Mordor.
Environmental Protests at Mordor
Germans knew about Mordor even before we did, and they’ve been protesting for an end to lignite mining.
Kids protesting at a lignite mine in Germany (aka Mordor) today. U have brothers & sisters everywhere @Emma4Change pic.twitter.com/YScNLXcvK2
— Barbara Schnell (@Barbara_Schnell) March 18, 2018
Despite the protests, just last year Germany mined 166.3 million tons of lignite. That’s three times the amount from the US mines. All that lignite just to meet a quarter of its energy needs.
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Some 34 billion tons of lignite lie in German reserve. While Germany is pushing toward a greener future, it’s lignite mines will remain operational till 2038.
Meanwhile more efficient coal mines have been closed as of 2018. Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg highlighted how lignite mines are effecting German forests earlier this March. She dedicated her Golden Camera Award to protesters squatting in the Hambach Forest of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Germany plans to cut down the forest for an 11,000-acre open-pit mine.
via The Wired
