RE: European Stories

Captain Andreas Lackner sails his cargo ship across the world without a motor. It transports up to 40 tons of goods across the sea, without emitting any carbon or needing any fuel other than wind. He's part of a growing movement to decarbonise the shipping industry. Ralf Oltmanns from East Friesland rediscovered the Flettner rotor. The innovation is a kind of sailing machine: a cylindrical structure that rotates in the wind and generates thrust. It could drive fuel consumption down by up to a quarter. From 2026, only emission-free ships will be allowed to sail in Norway's most beautiful fjords. Climate-friendly tourist ships are already in operation on the traditional mail boat route.

33 years ago, Max Audibert left his hometown Marseille to live and hunt like the Inuit in Greenland. For 10 years, he hunted with them in the ice and cold, wanting to discover their way of life first-hand rather than through books. The 53-year-old Frenchman still lives in Tiilerilaaq, the only inhabited settlement in the Sermilik Fjord, with about 70 residents. There are no roads or even running water, and the loneliness is not always easy to bear, but Max now has access to the internet. He is a teacher and runs the village school, realising he was needed rather than choosing this profession. Most of Greenland's 56,000 inhabitants live in the west and the capital city of Nuuk. Verena moved there for her Master's thesis in 2016 and is now a head of HR at state-owned Royal Arctic Line. She has embraced the Greenlandic work culture.

Les cheveux au secours de la nature ? Grâce à leur grande capacité d’absorption, ceux-ci sont en effet un excellent moyen de dépolluer les mers et les cours d’eau. Des milliers de salons de coiffure participent d'ores et déjà au projet "Coiffeurs justes" : ils envoient leurs déchets capillaires à une association du Var, qui les transforme ensuite en de longs et épais filtres antipollution.

Gay people in Russia are increasingly under attack from violent groups that seem to operate with impunity. Although "promoting non-traditional sexual relations" has been condemned by law since 2013 by Moscow, the situation for the LGBT+ community in Russia has got worse since the Russian invasion of Ukraine as Russian attacks the enemy within.