in response to global warming germany is in the process of closing down its coal industry for many years the country's principal source of energy especially in the form of the communist east but there's fierce all humans about the pace of that closure between those worried about the economic consequences and those who believe that immediate action is necessary to come back to climate change so who will win germany's cold war. only germany's just real. a region of factories smokestacks and shop it's. so this is just for the visitors now just as

a result of his. and like thousands of men before me i'm going down a coal mine. this is stepping into the bowels of modern german history. 875. shifts were built in the 2nd world war the boots of 1st the 1st comers in this ok. the. coal from the rule valley the dutch border helped build the steel that the 3rd reich. when germany lost the war and was split into a capitalist west and the soviet run east this cold helped remake germany into would economic power. my grandfather this is like this yes

this is of course. called. it we use it like this to destroy big storms right. siegel was born into this world and thought he'd die and that by when. my father was a miner my son was on my luck or 6 years but. that's that's the end cause you have gone all mining in permanent black coal mines anyone else how do you feel about that oh the turret so. i told me it was very sad areas here. this is no longer a working. mine and some fellow ex miners run it as a tourist attraction to show visitors how life used to be so.

it was. in 2018 germany closed its last black. and a rule tradition dating back centuries to us such. this is the corporate headquarters of the rule coal giant rangy its main job now is rehabilitating the closed minds the foyer proudly displays one of the last black nuggets never mind that christophe biker is the company's last spokesman in colson's this is like a piece of the berlin wall yes this is a part of a burglar or a wall for us at the last coal and we take care of this part and nobody is allowed

to told to take a piece of it. it's like a baby. germany's transition from calls started in 2007 when the call corp sat down with the unions and politicians and agreed to close down all the black coal mines by 28 saying the deal was that no workers would be sacked that all be given early retirement or found jobs in other industries it was an heroic gult and back then it had nothing to do with climate change it was all about money. but the 1970s it was cheaper to import coal than to dig it up from the rules underground mines the industry was surviving on government subsidies politicians decided in 2007 to $2.00 pay not any longer subsidies father coal production. and to re decided to

close. with the polluters in this company and they asked us how much time you need to do that without any problems so you close the black coal industry without firing any workers yes for this you need to think of some time and money but we have had both. the. was not in my view. many of those workers still get together in the rule colquhoun bought their days underground or. older miners were given early retirement younger ones will help to find new jobs.

in this choir that ranges from a. research scientist to a budding trade union delegates christian who's 31 is looking forward to his new life representing workers the titles like that you found me last summer with a mission then to hear him say called back now let me spend this also on. to not to listen to the play an alpha instead of give this a label. but elsewhere in the country mining continues. because germany is still europe's biggest producer of brown color. i'm driving from the rule valley to the old east germany. the region of loose a show on the polish border has huge reserves of this low grade high polluting fuel . brown coal is

a big employer here and they keep the jobs. to communism collapsed in 989 and germany reunited towns like shrem big did it tough as the christina hints here explains. i had just bought. into a further thought rushed home taught aided hurt kept as i am in the shite and foreshortened intel hours or. as a slight us or does not dare i need gunson under an industry class and mostly only textile industry back apartments and. brown coal is profitable because it isn't deep on the ground it's dug up near the surface taken to nearby power plants and burned to boil water to make electricity.

but it's even dirtier than black culture. the problem isn't the steam you see pouring out of cooling towers it's the carbon emissions you can't send. in the cosmopolitan capital bloom environmentalists have been demanding politicians shouted down. we need to end fossil fuels right now we don't have any time to waste anymore we can't wait another 18 years so we're taking direct action to call for the immediate phase out of culture made. daniel hoffecker is an activist with a new kind of protest movement called. meaning game. as a mass action of civil disobedience against cold climate injustice and germany and what we're doing right now is to prepare ourselves for this action.

doesn't march in the streets it uses military style tactics to occupy col areas fielding thousands of disciplined activists in strategic formations to evade police and shot infrastructure down. the movement has put intense pressure on a government already struggling to cut emissions since the paris climate change agreement of 2015. germany can't hope to meet its paris targets unless it closes all this so a commission representing politicians corporations unions and local government has just sounded the death knell for brown call but crucially in what's called the call compromise the going to be given nearly 2 decades to adjust the plan is that by 2038 at the latest the last brown coal mines and all the coal fired power

plants will be gone for good. you might think people in lieu say she would be horrified. if the course is a dance how safe and unfeeling to do it does it. was one of the members of the cole commission thrashed out the compromise. and i am molly i have to have come from this step i told us. shrem big smear insists it's much better than waiting for cold inevitable long term why. the government has agreed to kick in 40000000000 euros to kick start new industries in the brown coal region. when.

auntie in a given a full end result at a starched and enzyme household fire may arden pour ya boy be outside and most us ima. get is just counted on this is to her i know and spec and get leaked the region is already seeing the fruits of germany's embrace of britain nubile energy wind turbines and solar farms are sprouting up next to power plants germany still relies on domestic and imported coal for about a 3rd of its electricity but around 40 percent comes from renewable energy. the i aim is to make that 65 percent by the end of the decade of oil in a given. was a competence in a game a toy. in there in a. region hoping to turn the old coal fields into an eco tourism destination as disused mine pits

a rehabilitated into artificial lakes. the 2038 deadline should give the region plenty of time to adapt. but many activists insist the world can't wait. we have to phase out call in germany right now if we don't do that it's going to be quite deliberate the end of the world as we know it the i.p.c.c. tells us that if we continue burning coal we're running into catastrophic climate change. as the transition details are being worked out and a good lender announces its next to mass occupation will be loose aisha. the

announcement doesn't go down well with most locals hello not going to my car for all. our. absolutely common. trunks a ferret is a security guard at a coal plant he's as passionate about bruce a shia as he is about hunting i'm life my god blesses us oh. got some i got yard. well there's with many loose ations he had to find a new way to communism ended and state subsidies dried up as well as working security for energy companies he runs a small business selling preserved to me from his kills. is thus the notion that i'm to be zamata and i'll call that out of here.

as it doesn't. make my day the size and. this is fleiss yes in fact. it's worse and worse. frank's a felt believes the east was hard done by off to reunification geometry been avoided by a few 1000 my knowledge and i know my cock off or do as a culture come home female when you try to devalue are not happy about having to identify with africa. valma 4th child. people loans to rely on each other and they don't like being pressured by outsiders less food dollars it's marketing dollars it's a false delouse it does is. fine shaft as this is unmarked and yes but i'm all for god it does on my part i didn't our. mustang can see. the

videos and the condition vanzant of was your heart of. your former. i wasn't. said later to. find out i. believe new orleans. or indeed i was a spend. 2 days before the threatened protest to say shit the staging a counter approaches they've set up a vigil at a power plant that slated to close early in 2028. banners proclaiming we live from coal not great fairytale. and then i give up hope but i get. started. and then

a coil of pop like i get on the phone here but. i don't get older than me. in the main loose ation town of compost there's a growing police presence and then not just keeping an eye out for and again and. well it's the day before the big protest and by coincidence across germany school students are going on strike for climate change though in this coal town it's a little more difficult right now the millennial are almost outnumbered by police. in many other cities tens of thousands of students are marching the organize a hear constantine got a good ski has kept his expectations lower. so close to him how many people do you think the marching thanks i am content with all 250 maybe we had in the. year

that's it's good but it's a lot less than other german cities yes is it difficult to do a protest like this in this cold down yes it does that mean you're already had demonstrations against venue is uncommon in every other joe and city i think. so do you feel a bit divided being from a cold community but protesting against coal and not because we all know that we have to end color the question is how fast do you have to do it and. in my opinion that you have to stop it this was discussed. mr gandhi was with david and now you know and there you are. all nick him you know their daughter if you can see he's a foretaste oh you know we can but it's all i can do you. know

never get my attention. you know the only bush budget that's been on my. own been on my mind and getting home this weekend and given me given the good news now i'm going to call it. but the only ones are to go yes. no no no. i. just found out here the lies the 5 i don't think was out that day yet there is a generational divide. the kids don't remember communism and they don't see a future in an industry that's heating the planet for now they can tend to make their point in peaceful street much as. god. oh you are either. home. before you are

you though that night coal mining families gather at a power plant to show their support for the coal compromise its. giant videos praise the industry and accuse end the glenda of intimidation the i was in. the speech. this is my point. this is the line that i would follow both and happy as they come in plenty to stand on point to christina him a the mayor of tells them i won't be pressured to stop cold sooner. will miss stanley our sky 100 have that is i know good and i was as i can speak to you to beat it forth and.

from 4 am end the girl in this activist start assembling at berlin central station ready to board a train to say show me. that i mean it sounds yeah. he doesn't feel like a gathering of football hooligans they insist it's only the police who use violence they've lost faith in peaceful. a little bit anxious that because of course doing these blockades of civil disobedience it's a different form of protest because we've seen it marching doesn't you know bring a change if we need to if that's a form of action to take. and but we're going to be like thousands of people so i'm really looking for today. none of them know they're a soft target yet coordinators will use an encrypted app to message them to make it

harder for police to stop them. an hour into the journey they start putting on red beautiful eyes this is just one of 6 groups heading for the new sation coal fields. so in order to be more flexible and more effective with our pockets trend we're splitting up a direct offering nurse actor colors for the record we are 5000 people maybe perhaps here in the strength of. one of the reasons for the uniforms is to make it harder for police to identify. many ask us not to film their faces and start scratching out the fingerprints and. just leave it for you to flee a scary thing else give our i.d.'s. arriving at the station they still haven't been told their destination but at

a given signal they split in 2. ok i'm ok with that one group rushes down the road to drool the main police force away while daniels group cuts into the forest. of good. police awaiting at the forestay. but a lower use both players lets the crowd rush through. suddenly we're at the age of a giant coal mine and there's not enough police to stop the. frustrated some resort to pepper spray and bats an. eye.

on the last times oh you. guys. don't. want to just park door but the 1st action has been successful and you'll keep on the lip of the mind but the entire mind is now follow staff and elsewhere in the region there are 5 other things is talk of the other mines power stations and wildlife crossings it's going to be up. for the next 10 hours they bring moose say she is cold in the street to a standstill c. it's a symbolic act colleagues struction and burning soon resumes. but the message is as much for the government as the corporations call is going to wind up so now. the german government wants to support to call industry but there's

a huge social movement in the way if that and what we've seen in germany is that the. change for climate justice didn't come from the government it was fought for and won by a strong socialism we are part of that in fact the government is under intense pressure to show the transition the green party is demanding a maximum of 10 days but germany is still light years ahead of countries planning to expand to coal production. it's not a question of if coal goes the way.

mulch is the rose here it's a report on the people often ignored but who must be hurt how many other channels can you say will take the time and put extensive thought into reporting from under reported areas of course we cover a major global of friends about our cost of lives and making sure that you're hearing the stories from people in places like palestine libya yemen and assad whole region and so many others we go to the you make the efforts we care we stay. out is the road good is beneath the waves with a team of women determined to save the day old friends we all share the same responsibility they need to do something today but next time a thing on their minds using a variety of scientific techniques to try to study their behavior we can monitor them and therefore in their local codes and behavior we're able to how they're

adapting to their new environment women make science dolphin sanctuary on al-jazeera. getting cooler. you just watch the classified day as u.s. president donald trump continues to deny climate change and instead blames mismanagement for the catastrophic fires raging across the west coast. of this is al jazeera life and also coming up a jewish settlers given 3 life sentences for the fire bomb attack which killed 3 members of a palestinian family.