A sea of loss: Pieria mussel farmers face climate devastation

A funeral of sorts is taking place at the Kitros Salt Pit in Pieria, northern Greece, as local mussel farmers bury their harvest, lamenting the massive loss of 80% of this year's yield. On this overcast day, the harbor is quiet; instead of collecting mussels, the growers sit in cafes, desolately sipping tsipouro and nibbling on meze.

The conversation drifts to the climate crisis, rising temperatures and pollution in the Axios River. The people facing the industry's collapse this year do not use scientific jargon; theirs is a straightforward idiom. Climate change is something they experience firsthand every single day when they pull up their mussel ropes only to find shells that crumble on the deck. They witness its effects when they pull up a mix of mud from the sea - a "slime," as they call it - that is poisonous to the delicate mussels. They feel it in their bones as the...