Ektor Dimisianos: Black Dust

“BLACK DUST” Under West Macedonia’s ground, there is hidden the 60% of Greece’s lignite. Fifty years ago, the power plants were built to produce the electricity of the country but also, to make jobs for the people of the surrounding areas. Nobody back then thought of the cost to the environment and to the public health. The area of Ptolemaida is one of the most polluted areas in Europe and suffers of a high percentage of unemployment. Many villages have given up to the hungry earth eaters and the social structure of the area has been destroyed. Where there were villages and farms now there is a huge open cast mines that the machines work day and night like ants to make food savings fo the winter. Desolation and desperation reigns throughout the area.