AltWeeklies Wire
'You may want to go home' – for the last time evernew
I’m throwing clothing, books, electronics and everything else wildly about in my apartment, not caring where any of it lands except for what I most treasure. Minutes ago the building was declared uninhabitable due to climate change damage and we have two hours to evacuate.
Frenemy alert: Svalbard still a hot target for foreign spiesnew
Russian troops all around us, Chinese hackers trolling our climate-monitoring satellite equipment, foreigners from dozens of other countries living here under lax residency laws. The frigid Svalbard archipelago is once again a hot spots for spies and other troublemakers in Norway's annual threat assessment report.
Icepeople |
Mark Sabbatini |
02-18-2016 |
Policy Issues
Tags: svalbard
High price of failure: another government bailout for coal mining in Svalbardnew
The price of keeping Store Norske barely alive keeps increasing, with the government now asking Parliament for 749 million kroner during the next four years to support operations at Mine 7 and maintenance of two larger mines in the hope coal prices recover.
Icepeople |
Mark Sabbatini |
02-05-2016 |
Business & Labor
Large-scale rehearsal planned for 'inevitable' oil spil in Svalbardnew
Lots of folks are eager to send ships and oil rigs toward Svalbard’s warming waters, but few are prepared to deal with what happens when mishaps result in fuel and oil spills in the still-harsh Arctic environment.
Icepeople |
Mark Sabbatini |
02-03-2016 |
Environment
Tourists Flocking to Avalanche Wreckage Leaves Some Residents Coldnew
Espen Rotevatn is grateful he can still go to his undamaged home, just below 11 others destroyed by last month’s avalanche, at the end of the day. He just wishes visitors weren’t there with cameras expecting him to play the role of tour guide.
Is someone to blame? Longyearbyen ignores two decades of warnings before devastating avalanchenew
The catastrophe that permanently scarred Longyearbyen occurred within seconds. But there was at least 23 years to heed warnings and take actions that might have prevented the tragedy. Many are now asking why almost nothing was done.
Longyearbyen's Post-Coal Fate Appears Fishynew
For the first time since the coal mining crisis crippled Longyearbyen's economic foundation more than a year ago, it's a good thing lots of folks are in a crabby mood as a change to Norway's Marine Resources Act will allow seafood processing facilities in Svalbard.
Icepeople |
Mark Sabbatini |
01-19-2016 |
Business & Labor
Chillingly Clueless: Svalbard’s 10 Strangest Stories of 2015new
Which is stranger: a year where parasitic wasps went on an Arctic killing spree and robots rode roller coasters in the world's northernmost ghost town, or the year that actually happened? Yeah, we’re not sure either.
Into blackness: Svalbard’s 12 biggest stories of 2015new
The world's northernmost town was already facing the devastating loss of its cornerstone industry and a quarter of its residents – and then just before Christmas was permanently scarred by an avalanche that ranks as one of the area's worst-ever disasters.
