A photo exhibition about an endangered forest in Upper Lusatia (Eastern Saxony) was opened with a vernissage in the Tharandt Kuppelhalle on Friday evening (18 November). LEAG, a company owned by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, plans to expand the Nochten open-cast lignite mine and destroy the forest to do so. Together with the environmental network GRÜNE LIGA, photographer Markus Pichlmaier made the approach of the open-cast mine to forests and villages a visual experience. The exhibition "UNverkäuflich" was opened by Carolina Bräuer from the association "Kuppelhalle Tharandt e. V." and Rebekka Schwarzbach from the GRÜNE LIGA.

The photographs and collages, comprising 15 motifs, are on display in the cultural centre, which is known far beyond the region - a traditional former baths with a classicist entrance building - until 10 January 2023. (Pienner Str. 13, 01737 Tharandt).

Opening hours: Monday to Thursday: 8 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Friday: 8 a.m. - 1 p.m., Saturday / Sunday: according to event schedule.

"It is a special honour for us to be able to present our exhibition in Tharandt, a place known for forest research," said Rebekka Schwarzbach. In the Tharandt Forest, models of sustainable forestry were developed for the first time in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century. The Forest Botanical Garden, founded in 1811, is considered one of the oldest in the world. Already as a student at the Sustainability University in Eberswalde (Brandenburg), she had heard about Tharandt again and again as the "Mecca of forest research", Schwarzbach reported.

At a half-year meeting in Dresden on Saturday, the environmental network GRÜNE LIGA looked at how energy consumption can be limited in the long term beyond the current crisis. At the meeting, representatives of member groups from Berlin, Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony discussed with several speakers.
Dr. Lars-Arvid Brischke from the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Heidelberg presented the results of the "Living Spaces" research project, which has been running for several years.

"In many owner-occupied housing estates in Germany, single-family and two-family houses are only occupied by one or two people, and often complete flats in two-family houses are empty. At the same time, many older people feel overwhelmed and lonely in such living situations. They would like to see downsizing, barrier-free design and a mixed-generation house community." Dr Brischke summarises the results of a survey conducted in the project.

During the Christmas season, Berlin's Wörtherstraße will once again be transformed into a family-friendly Advent eco-market on Kollwitzplatz. The GRÜNE LIGA Berlin cordially invites you to attend on the Sundays 27 November, 4, 11 and 18 December.

The legal dispute initiated by an objection of the GRÜNE LIGA Thuringia concerning the overbuilding of the Werrabahn line in the district of Hildburghausen by the district road K 530 has now been decided. On 25 October 2022, the district of Hildburghausen withdrew its complaint against the objection decision of the Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation (Thüringer Landesamt für Umwelt, Bergbau und Naturschutz: TLUBN) of 7 May 2021. This means that it is now legally established that the district road K 530 in the 2nd construction section (CS) between Eisfeld and Heid is a blacktop construction that was built by the district without lawful authorisation.

Grit Tetzel, Managing Director of the GRÜNE LIGA Thuringia, explains: "First of all, this is good news for the reactivation of the Werrabahn. Even if the exact variant is still to be found in a regional planning procedure, all options for the important rail gap connection between southern Thuringia and Upper Franconia now remain. For us, it is now above all of interest how the unlawful state of the black construction of the district road K 530 is ended. We believe that both the district of Hildburghausen and the planning approval authority are now obliged to immediately implement the decision of the Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation. Moreover, the intervention by the new construction of the K 530 was superfluous, as an extension of the existing district road close to the existing situation would have been completely sufficient".

The German Environmental Aid (Deutsche Umwelthilfe, DUH), the Grüne Liga e.V. and the Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers (Verband der deutschen Höhlen- und Karstforscher e.V., VdHK) strongly warn against mining gypsum in unique natural areas. Minister of Economics and Climate Protection Robert Habeck must present a binding raw material strategy for a resource-conserving and cycle-appropriate use of gypsum, the associations say. The demand is prompted by attempts by the gypsum industry to compensate for the loss of gypsum from flue gas desulphurisation due to the coal phase-out by additional mining in natural areas.