Poland Grapples With Coal Transition as It Holds on to Tradition

Jaclyn Diaz spent two weeks this summer reporting on the ground in Poland as part of an international reporting fellowship, allowing her to examine how the global pressure to transition from fossil fuels would impact the country’s workforce and culture.

The three miners dressed in their traditional black miners uniforms plopped themselves down—happy to finally get out of the hot sun. Poland was in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave and it was only June.

Over mugs of cold beer, the men described their decades of working underground in Poland’s coal mines. It was incredibly hard work, they said, ...