Environmentalism is emerging as Europe’s new culture war

IN THREE DIRECTIONS pine forests, bone dry in the scorching weather, disappear into the horizon of the central Polish plain. To the south is the lunar landscape of a city-sized opencast lignite mine. A tangle of conveyors carries the coal up to Elektrownia Belchatow, Europe’s largest thermal power station and its largest producer of carbon emissions, at a rate of one tonne a second. Pawel Koszek, a repairs specialist, surveys the scene with satisfaction. “Electricity”, he says, “is our comfort and our security.” Last weekend activists from Greenpeace projected the face of Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s prime minister, with the caption “shame”, onto one of Belchatow’s seven cooling towers. “They don’t understand the technology,” scoffs Mr Koszek, who has worked at the plant since 1989 and met his wife there.