Climate Changed
A Climate Summit in the Heart of Coal Country
The UN’s COP24 conference will seek to create new rules for cutting carbon emissions
The Bielszowice coal mine, a 15-minute drive from the COP24 venue.
Photographer: Bartek SadowskiThis article is for subscribers only.
As government officials, scientists, and green activists gather for the United Nations climate conference in Poland, Adam Pietron has a few words of advice: Try to avoid the air. Pietron lives in Katowice, a coal-mining and steel-making stronghold for centuries that's host to the conclave, and he says the pollution is so bad that this year he installed an air purifier.
“Sometimes the smog is terrible,” Pietron says, consulting an app on his phone that measures air quality. “A few days back, it was tough to breathe.”