By Bethan Croft | Earth Day 2024
The world's most Northerly travel destination and known as the Arctic Desert, Svalbard is the scientist's hope to save humanity.
For many years, people have been preaching about the negative change in our climate, with the likes of Greta Thunberg becoming the heart of campaigns and protests. But the global situation is becoming increasingly dire and while scientists are panicking, politicians are relaxing eco-efforts. And it is becoming apparent that the rest of us need to do more than just watch a David Attenborough documentary to understand the gravity of the circumstances we are facing.
It's hard to picture how much damage humans are causing when we can't feel significant effects here in Britain. However, places like Svalbard are pleading for help as the destruction of their homeplace is already occurring.
First put on the map in 2008 after the Global Seed Vault was built, people rushed to find out more about this small Norwegian archipelago. The vault was opened to store seed samples from all over the world to help reboot humanity in the event of a major natural disaster. Currently, almost one million seed samples are stored there, with the capacity to store up to four times that number if needed. Whilst the purpose was to save the future, the seeds have already saved humanity once; carefully preserved samples were returned to Syria in 2015 to be duplicated by scientists in the face of conflict.
But with the one place that is meant to save us melting at a rapid rate, what happens if the permafrost thaws?
Line Nagell Ylvisaker has lived in Svalbard since 2004 and whilst many of her reports have gained several awards, it is the book that she published in 2020 that captures my attention the most.
Just as Line settled into the life she had built, she became uneasy at the realisation that she was amid a hotspot of climate change. Her book, 'My World Is Melting' follows her investigation into how times are changing. Throughout the novel, she questions whether the area she once loved, was a safe enough place for her to bring up her family.
From the very beginning, this book captures your attention with its devastating story of the 2015 avalanche from the Sukkertoppen Mountain that hit 11 houses and killed a two-year-old girl and her father - with this particular chapter told from the perspective of those held captive by the crushing snow.
As the book continues, Line talks to a meteorologist that was buried beneath the avalanche, a climate scientist, and a trapper that has experienced 40 Svalbard winters. She discovers how the Deep Sea has warmed up, causing a change in Svalbard's seasons, and whether the increase of avalanches in recent years is a by-product of the Earth heating up.
Line discusses how the stereotype of polar bears being the face of climate change is a realistic representation for Svalbard. With ice caps melting, the number of hunting points for the bears decreases and their hunt turns towards the village as they forage for food. She talks of the red herring that lures people into a false sense of security, as people don't realise that whilst the number of polar bears is currently on the rise, soon there will be a dramatic drop as food sources deplete.
A few years ago, Line would never have expected to see polar bears in town, in fact, she said that she had often laughed those questions off in the past, but now when her concerned daughter asks if it is a possibility, the answer has changed and she has to reply truthfully. Her six-year-old daughter is equipped with knowledge on how to handle a situation of coming face-to-face with a polar bear, something the rest of us could never imagine.
Since 2012, it has become mandatory to carry a gun outside the settlements in order to scare off polar bears, and for Line this came to be handy when her family had a run-in with polar bears - a mother and her cubs. They made it out safe due to a distraction technique, but Line says this was a point when she realised how her future would look.
Whilst Svalbard itself is preserving the future, authors and scientists are working to spread the word and research as many possibilities as possible that could save humans and life as we know it, from extinction. This realistic account of how climate change is progressing is illustrated through interviews with scientists who believe we have limited time to reverse the destruction that mankind has caused, as well as locals who are scared of what this means for them - must they move house, is it safe to live there, will the avalanche zone increase as the earth warms up? But, also how some believe the heating up of this planet was inevitable and how it would have happened anyway, whether or not our C02 emissions were speeding up the process.
Just like how the history of our planet can be seen through remnants of extinct species that are etched into fossils, written records are now showing a difference in global temperatures too, and 'My World Is Melting' by Line Nagell Ylvislaker is educating the unknowing upon what is happening to their planet. Already her book has been translated from its original Norwegian script into German, Swedish, Belarusian and English (this version is currently only available to purchase from Svalbard itself.) Given the correct amount of advertisement, her book could be revolutionary, encouraging more people to take action into preventing the worsening of global warming.
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