An interview with forest occupiers resisting the expansion of a Tesla factory and a translation of a statement by a group that shut down the power grid serving it.
There is a few things that deserve clarification imo.:
For who it wasn’t clear from the pictures, this is not a natural grown forest. It is a pine tree plantage, and as such subject to getting cut. Also there exist plans from the 90s to develop the area for a factory. So the value of the forest is less in its quality as a natural habitat. This is a distinctive difference, from the protests around the Hambacher Forst for the expansion of a lignite mine, where people also built a treehouse camp. The Hambacher Forst was the closest to a natural forest you could get in Germany, before it was cut down for the coal mine.
In ecological terms the damage from the Tesla plant primarily comes from its water usage and possible water pollution in a region under high water stress. The violet means an extreme drought. I circled the region we are talking about, where the Tesla plant stands.
The act of sabotage temporarily cut off electricity to thousands of households in various parts of Berlin.
The households affected werent in Berlin, but in the area in Brandenburg. Berlin is all surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, with what we call the “Speckgürtel” the “fat belt” around it. That is many towns and villages directly outside the city limits, whose inhabitants usually work in the city. The Tesla area is kind of at the outer edge of that belt.
It also halted work at the Tesla factory for at least a week, likely costing the company hundreds of millions of euros.
It is important to note, that this is exclusively the claim of Tesla. It is not yet verified by third parties afaik.
There is suburbs inside the city limits and suburbs outside the city limits. But there is also areas where on the city inside there is a field and right outside the city limits there are houses.
Often your only indication is a sign at the street reading that you enter or leave the city.
They have a long history. It is also understandable originally as the goal was to achieve a certain level of energy independence in the cold war era (on both sides of the wall). But as that they are relicts of a time long past. We have the means to achieve high energy independence through renewables and every year the mines and coal plants run longer, the damage to the environment is increasing exponentially.
There is a few things that deserve clarification imo.:
For who it wasn’t clear from the pictures, this is not a natural grown forest. It is a pine tree plantage, and as such subject to getting cut. Also there exist plans from the 90s to develop the area for a factory. So the value of the forest is less in its quality as a natural habitat. This is a distinctive difference, from the protests around the Hambacher Forst for the expansion of a lignite mine, where people also built a treehouse camp. The Hambacher Forst was the closest to a natural forest you could get in Germany, before it was cut down for the coal mine.
In ecological terms the damage from the Tesla plant primarily comes from its water usage and possible water pollution in a region under high water stress. The violet means an extreme drought. I circled the region we are talking about, where the Tesla plant stands.
The households affected werent in Berlin, but in the area in Brandenburg. Berlin is all surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, with what we call the “Speckgürtel” the “fat belt” around it. That is many towns and villages directly outside the city limits, whose inhabitants usually work in the city. The Tesla area is kind of at the outer edge of that belt.
It is important to note, that this is exclusively the claim of Tesla. It is not yet verified by third parties afaik.
The fat belt is what you call suburbs?
There is suburbs inside the city limits and suburbs outside the city limits. But there is also areas where on the city inside there is a field and right outside the city limits there are houses.
Often your only indication is a sign at the street reading that you enter or leave the city.
Germany’s brown coal mines are so dumb. Seems like a US thing to do tbh
They have a long history. It is also understandable originally as the goal was to achieve a certain level of energy independence in the cold war era (on both sides of the wall). But as that they are relicts of a time long past. We have the means to achieve high energy independence through renewables and every year the mines and coal plants run longer, the damage to the environment is increasing exponentially.
It doesn’t really matter though, they’ll have insurance for lost business then gap insurance to cover excesses and on and on.