A woman wears a mask in Krakow earlier this month
A woman wears a mask in Krakow earlier this month
Dominika Wantuch
February 24, 2017
-Analysis-
WARSAW — For the Polish government, coal is nothing to worry about.
Sixteen Polish cities exceeded the annual limit of days with smog in the first two months of this year alone. And still, the government hasn't taken any steps to restrict poisonous coal dust or remove the fossil fuel from the market. Coal is not poisonous, says the Ministry of Energy.
European regulations stipulates that smog days shouldn't exceed 35 days a year. But the Polish cities of Kraków, Nowy Targ and Wodzisław Śląski have already crossed this limit.
Activists from the Podhale Smog Alarm Initiative wrote a letter in January to Prime Minister Beata Szydło: ""We ask you to hold a government session in Nowy Targ. Only in this way will ministers be able to understand how serious the problem of air pollution is in our country." Szydło did not come to the city.
The energy ministry did announce a plan to combat smog but experts say that the proposal won't change anything because it still allows the use of coal dust, slurry and coal flotation concentrate, which are responsible for nearly 70% of pollution in the air.
The Minister of Energy Krzysztof Tchórzewski repeated what Minister of Health Konstanty Radziwiłł had already claimed that coal does not kill.
Tchórzewski added that he does not think banning the sale of coal dust is necessary. This year was the first year that this list of cities exceeded the smog restrictions within 46 days. The European Commission filed a lawsuit against Poland for not meeting the European Union's air quality norms and for not taking steps to reach the target. Poland might have to dole out 4 billion Polish złotych ($982 million) for not complying with EU regulations.
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Dottoré!
The Language Of Femicide, When Euphemisms Are Not So Symbolic
In the wake of Giulia Cecchettin's death, our Naples-based Dottoré remembers one of her old patients, a victim of domestic abuse.
A mural of a woman's face in Naples
Oriel Mizrahi/Unsplash
Mariateresa Fichele
December 08, 2023
As Italy continues to follow the case of 22-year-old Giulia Cecchettin, murdered by her ex-boyfriend Filippo Turetta, language has surfaced as an essential tool in the fight against gender violence. Recently, Turetta's father spoke to the press and used a common Italian saying to try and explain his son's actions: "Gli è saltato un embolo", translating directly as "he got a blood clot" — meaning "it was a sudden flash of anger, he was not himself."
Maria was a victim of systemic violence from her husband.
Every time she came in for a visit and told me about the abuse, I tried to encourage her to report him. But then she would begin to find excuses for him.
The last time I saw her, she had a large bruise on her forehead.
She said to me, "Dottoré, he got a blood clot and rained blows on me."
The next day, Maria passed away.
An actual cerebral embolism led to the interruption of blood flow to a specific area of the brain.
But in the narrative of violence against women, this much-referenced medical condition has bizarre consequences: The man who experiences it always escapes unscathed, while the woman by their side almost always dies.
Learn more about Worldcrunch's exclusive Dottoré! series here.
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