Pretty sure there are other threads - anyone? (I left out the ones about the seed vault and other topics that mention Svalbard but aren't related to residency)
Article from Cambridge University journal "Polar Record" [0] (I came across this while looking up the film "The Age of Stupid" [1], which IIRC had the Svalbard Seed Bank as more-or-less the last place standing after severe climate change).
"The trouble with local community in Longyearbyen, Svalbard: How big politics and lack of fellesskap hinder a not-yet-decided future"
One thing I didn't see in here that is absolutely relevant to life (but perhaps considered a foregone conclusion by the Norwegian government) is the concept of midnight sun and polar night, where the sun is periodically either above or below the horizon for 24 hours a day for months on end. It's a real mind-bender and can be very tough on the spirit in the winter. Quoting the 'time in Svalbard' Wikipedia article:
> As Svalbard is located north of the Arctic Circle, it experiences midnight sun during summer and polar night during winter. At the 74° parallel north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at the 81° parallel north are 141 and 128 days.[11] In Longyearbyen, midnight sun lasts from 20 April until 23 August, and polar night lasts from 26 October until 15 February.
If you desire to experience such polar wackiness in a less isolated location, one place I can definitely recommend is the mainland Norwegian city of Tromsø.
> If you desire to experience such polar wackiness in a less isolated location, one place I can definitely recommend is the mainland Norwegian city of Tromsø.
Tromsø is great! I went there on vacation when I aspired to go to Svalbard and then discovered that that's rather difficult and expensive. So I went to Tromsø instead.
Tromsø is definitely thoroughly Arctic and life as a tourist there is still reasonably convenient and enjoyable. You can also take a ferry along the coast in either direction (either a short-distance commuter-oriented boat or a long-distance tourist-oriented cruise ferry). There's quite a bit to do in the vicinity!
> It is cold in Svalbard. The average temperature in summer is 5 degrees Celsius. During winter, the temperature can drop below minus 30 degrees Celsius. The polar night lasts from October to February.
As someone who has pulled the night shift for a couple years, I could handle it no probs; black out curtains, a white noise box fan, a regular sleep schedule, and soft music are all you need. Just to get to live in a Scandanavian country, i could deal with it. Unfortunately, I'm not rich enough to buy my way in :) .
People always talk about the winters, but the thing that really messes with you is the summers, if you're light-sensitive then that's a really long period of not getting any proper sleep.
I'm light-sensitive but for me the problem of sleep can be remedied adequately with technology. Aluminum foil is one easy way to make a room extremely light-proof, and from there one just has to simulate the sunrise/sunset with lighting, for which there's a bunch of consumer electronics available these days that are good enough to trick my brain into sleeping correctly. Supplemental melatonin helps me to get back on schedule if I mess up, or switch schedules.
By contrast, in my experience artificial lighting in the polar night helps but just can not warm my soul enough to dispel the oppressive dark mood of winter.
> The use of all violence is prohibited in Norway. You are not allowed to abuse children or use any other kind of corporeal punishment when bringing up children. Severe penalties may be applied to anyone who has physically abused a child.
Never saw that before. This should be standard everywhere.
I can't vouch for how seriously those different countries look at the issue, though, despite what they have legislated, e.g. I once had a relationship with a Korean who had been physically abused by both parents and teachers. Here in Denmark it was outlawed in the 90s and isn't very common.
In the US, it is generally legal to spank a child. Or do things like make them do physical labour or write the same sentence 100 times, knowing it makes hands cramp. The elementary and middle schools I went to technically could spank you with a paddle too. I'm only 44. I know similar things happen in other countries: Another commenter has a link with a map.
I live in Norway now. If you spank your child, even if it obviously doesn't hurt them, you can get child services visiting your home.
All violence sounds pretty extreme to me by most standards. For instance, boxing would be illegal, and toddlers would be in jail if seen hitting their parents/siblings. In practice I imagine it means something like "no violence from someone larger to someone smaller."
Most places no one really gives a shit if it goes the other way around, like young kid hitting parent or wife hitting husband.
The notion of being covered by the social insurance system for only four weeks after unemployment is quite fascinating. I guess it's a compromise between having to completely exempt Svalbard from Norway's social insurance system (and thus having to find some replacement for it) and completely including it (and thus having to raise taxes).
This might seem almost libertarian in design, but it's important to remember that Svalbard is not meant to be a self-sufficient place where people can live their entire lives. You literally are not allowed to die there, and I assume the solution to unemployment is to simply return where you came from. No normal place has this luxury.
I find the ex-Soviet colonies particularly fascinating. One, Barentsburg, is still operating, and living there as a coal miner sounds absolutely hellish. Soviet era tech and safety standards, extreme climate, nearly entirely male population, living off cabbage and canned food -- it's like the gulag, only at least you get paid for it.
> The Barentsburg Pomor Museum presents Pomor culture, Arctic flora and fauna, and archaeological objects preserved in the permafrost.
Wow, this is hardcore. Wikipedia says that Russian Pomors reached there around the same time vikings did. (Pomors are Russians who historically lived far North.)
Amazingly, streetview is available for Longyearbyen in Google Maps. You can see from the silhouette that it was done by a guy on a bicycle with some sort of backpack mounted camera -- the results look just as good as regular Google streetview. I assume it was some sort of volunteer effort rather than a Google employee or contractor.
They don't skimp on raising children even up in Svalbard. Clubs for kids and pool open every day and strict anti-abuse laws were what popped out to me as I read it.
As well as being a stunningly surreal environment, there’s a really, really good whisky bar there too: https://www.karlsbergerpub.no/. The walk there in -30C is worth it.
Readit News
Svalbard – where the sun don’t shine (for 5 months) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33577717 - Nov 2022 (1 comment)
Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago that anyone can call home - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29865861 - Jan 2022 (5 comments)
Bearing Witness to Svalbard’s Fragile Splendor - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29463405 - Dec 2021 (3 comments)
Editor of world's northernmost English-language newspaper expelled from Svalbard - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28154838 - Aug 2021 (1 comment)
Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26670465 - April 2021 (158 comments)
Svalbard is as close as you can get to a place with open borders - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20642156 - Aug 2019 (253 comments)
Running the Arctic’s Alt-Weekly Newspaper - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20626734 - Aug 2019 (5 comments)
Pretty sure there are other threads - anyone? (I left out the ones about the seed vault and other topics that mention Svalbard but aren't related to residency)
"The trouble with local community in Longyearbyen, Svalbard: How big politics and lack of fellesskap hinder a not-yet-decided future"
[0] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/polar-record/article...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Stupid
> As Svalbard is located north of the Arctic Circle, it experiences midnight sun during summer and polar night during winter. At the 74° parallel north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at the 81° parallel north are 141 and 128 days.[11] In Longyearbyen, midnight sun lasts from 20 April until 23 August, and polar night lasts from 26 October until 15 February.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Svalbard#Geography_and...
If you desire to experience such polar wackiness in a less isolated location, one place I can definitely recommend is the mainland Norwegian city of Tromsø.
Tromsø is great! I went there on vacation when I aspired to go to Svalbard and then discovered that that's rather difficult and expensive. So I went to Tromsø instead.
Tromsø is definitely thoroughly Arctic and life as a tourist there is still reasonably convenient and enjoyable. You can also take a ferry along the coast in either direction (either a short-distance commuter-oriented boat or a long-distance tourist-oriented cruise ferry). There's quite a bit to do in the vicinity!
By contrast, in my experience artificial lighting in the polar night helps but just can not warm my soul enough to dispel the oppressive dark mood of winter.
Deleted Comment
Never saw that before. This should be standard everywhere.
I can't vouch for how seriously those different countries look at the issue, though, despite what they have legislated, e.g. I once had a relationship with a Korean who had been physically abused by both parents and teachers. Here in Denmark it was outlawed in the 90s and isn't very common.
In the US, it is generally legal to spank a child. Or do things like make them do physical labour or write the same sentence 100 times, knowing it makes hands cramp. The elementary and middle schools I went to technically could spank you with a paddle too. I'm only 44. I know similar things happen in other countries: Another commenter has a link with a map.
I live in Norway now. If you spank your child, even if it obviously doesn't hurt them, you can get child services visiting your home.
Most places no one really gives a shit if it goes the other way around, like young kid hitting parent or wife hitting husband.
This might seem almost libertarian in design, but it's important to remember that Svalbard is not meant to be a self-sufficient place where people can live their entire lives. You literally are not allowed to die there, and I assume the solution to unemployment is to simply return where you came from. No normal place has this luxury.
Tell that the polar bears
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Svalbard_polar_bear_att...
I find the ex-Soviet colonies particularly fascinating. One, Barentsburg, is still operating, and living there as a coal miner sounds absolutely hellish. Soviet era tech and safety standards, extreme climate, nearly entirely male population, living off cabbage and canned food -- it's like the gulag, only at least you get paid for it.
Wow, this is hardcore. Wikipedia says that Russian Pomors reached there around the same time vikings did. (Pomors are Russians who historically lived far North.)
Deleted Comment
EDIT: It looks like it's a German company that's doing it: https://www.mapyourtown.com/