3.8 million people in Poland depend on coal to keep their homes heated through harsh northern winters. Last month when the European Union slapped sanctions on Russian coal, Poles flocked to local coal mines, queueing for days in the late August heat and sleeping in their cars in hopes of securing enough coal to make it through the winter. While Poland is the third biggest coal producing nation in Europe (after Germany and Russia), the nation has grown increasingly reliant on cheap Russian coal imports in recent years, rendering them vulnerable…
