When we think of an oasis, the first image that comes to mind is usually that of a lush green area amidst the endless sands of a desert, with camels quenching their thirst at a spring and caravan drivers dozing in the shade. Oases provide refuge from the heat and…
As aptly pointed out by the Polish Nobel prize-winning poet Wisława Szymborska, humanity has adopted a number of aesthetic and moral resolutions with regard to nature. And while those of a moral kind are slowly being retracted, the aesthetic ones prove a lot harder to eliminate. The comment was made…
Even a child knows that poles are the points at the Earth’s very top and very bottom. The thing is, though, that the Earth is spherical and spheres, by definition, do not have tops or bottoms. Besides, a closer inspection makes it quite clear that there are no fewer than…
With the end of March upon us, spring is already in full swing. Unless, that is, you happen to be in Svalbard, which is still white, empty and downright wintry. The islands will finally come to life when the peace and quiet of polar winter gives way to the commotion…
It’s no mean feat to survive in the Arctic. There are some, however, who have brought the skill to perfection. In the course of evolution, northern species have developed a whole range of ingenious mechanisms and abilities, which help them thrive despite the cold and the dark. The adaptational virtuosity…
They’re everywhere. From carpets beneath our feet, through contact lenses in our eyes, to planes above our heads. Synthetic materials, although synthetic, have become perfectly natural, and the growing piles of plastic waste are just another element of our world. But discarded plastic accumulates not only in areas with thousands…
Trapper cabins have been an integral part of Svalbard’s scenery for more than two hundred years. Over time, they’ve changed hands and character, undergone alterations and renovations, while those which were already beyond repair became a source of material for the construction of new cabins, thus going through partial reincarnation.…
The archipelago was probably known of already by the Vikings. Brief mentions of “cold shores” in the area, which is now instantly associated with Svalbard, appeared for the first time in 12th-century Nordic sagas. The thing is, though, that no evidence has ever been found to confirm that the Vikings…
Plastic is such an obvious element of today’s world that hardly anyone wonders what it actually is and why the negative consequences of its overuse can now be felt even in the most remote corners of the globe. Let us therefore shed some much needed light on the issue. Plastic…