As cheap Russian energy runs dry due to Western sanctions, the people of Poland, the latest country to make energy crisis headlines, are now resorting to burning trash for heat.
Circulating images (see Great Game India) show large plumes of black and brown smoke bellowing from homes and filling the sky with stinky smoke as Poles struggle to stay warm with winter approaching.
Under normal circumstances, Poland would not allow the burning of trash like this because of all the pollution generated. The country's leaders have created special exemptions, in this case, because this is their idea of sticking it to Vladimir Putin.
Instead of allowing Putin to clean up Ukraine with his "special operation," Poland and its NATO bed-buddies are destroying themselves by refusing to buy Russian energy. In the end, it will be Poland that collapses, not Russia. (Related: Germany is now burning Chinese Virus face masks for warmth.)
"To ease the biggest energy crisis in a generation, Poland has temporarily waived air quality regulations so that residents can burn coal for home heating till next April," Great Game India reports.
"Polish houses are burning more coal and wood to counter the rising prices of electricity and natural gas, but some people are also burning trash to remain warm."
Early autumn temperatures in Europe are still fairly mild – what happens when winter arrives?
Polish citizen Paulina Mroczkowska told Bloomberg that the lack of Russian gas caused by Western sanctions against Russia have made it next to impossible to live apart from such drastic measures as the burning of trash.
"It's so bad this season that you can smell trash burning every day, which is completely new," Mroczkowska, a resident of the capital city of Warsaw, said. "Rarely can you smell a regular fuel. It's scary to think what happens when it really gets cold."
Keep in mind that this is just the beginning of Europe's cold season. We are barely in autumn, after all, and temperatures are still fairly high. What happens once temperatures drop to freezing or below freezing in the coming months?
Law & Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is recognized as Poland's most powerful politician, made the suggestion last month that Poles should find whatever they can to burn for heat.
He told supporters at a rally in Nowy Targ, located in southern Poland, that "one needs to burn almost everything, except for tires and similarly harmful things."
A decision to ban the burning of coal and garbage has also been postponed until 2024, though it was supposed to come into effect more recently. NATO's hardline stance against Russian energy is changing all sorts of "green" policies in Europe that are now going on the backburner (no pun intended).
Seeing the writing on the wall, many Poles are desperately trying to snatch up firewood, pellets, coal, and anything else they can find that will burn and create heat this winter.
"People are scared and they are collecting anything that can be used for burning," said Piotr Siergiej, a spokesman for an environmental network of activists called Polski Alarm Smogowy, or Polish Smog Alert in English.
There is also a trash panic, according to one local Polish mayor who said people are saving their trash for burning rather than throwing it away.
"We're seeing a significant drop in garbage collection, especially when it comes to materials than could at least in theory be suitable for burning such as paper, cardboard and packaging," the mayor said.
“We'll fine those who are trying to poison us and our children."
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