#39 | Polar Ambassadors: At the Heart of Climate Change with Hilde Fålun Strøm
Though many imagine the North Pole perennially covered in snow, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, located just 650 miles south, was long warmed by jet streams resulting in a climate drier that the Sahara Dessert. That began to change in the 1990’s when massive snowfalls began creating a dangerous environment. When a powerful avalanche just missed burying her home in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, the northernmost year-round settlement on the planet, Hilde Fålun Strøm’s life changed forever. Though her home was spared by mere meters and she and husband survived, the lives of two of her neighbors, one just two-years old, were taken, and seventeen of her neighbor’s homes were destroyed.
That event woke Hilde up to the immediate dangers caused by climate change, and she decided to “change from being part of the problem to becoming part of the solution.” A lifelong polar explorer and adventurer, Hilde realized the world needed to quickly learn about the Arctic region where precipitation is increasing, but at the same time ice is rapidly melting as seasons are shifting. Hilde began her climate change activism by becoming a citizen scientist, conducting research she could do while taking visitors on North Pole expeditions.
“This area is the fastest warming region in the world… seven times faster than any other. And that is very scary. Actually, not only to this area where I live, but around the world. It impacts the floods and the wildfires, and impacts the whole world weather systems. So this is actually the pump system, the air conditioner, the weather stabilizer.”
When Hilde met a woman who had spent her life traveling to the South Pole who was also engaged in conducing citizen science, she recognized her as a kindred spirit at once. They joined forces to create Hearts in the Ice, a “platform for social engagement connecting students, scientists, manufacturers, environmental organizations, and all who care about the health of our planet, in the conversation around climate change.”
“As a polar ambassador, think it's important that people know about how important these areas in the end of the world are on the North Pole, South Pole, the ice caps, the cryospheres, the white parts of our earth. I think that's a knowledge that I and Sunniva are trying to spread through our mission and our movement.”
Hilde with best friend Ettra who shares her polar adventures. (Click photo to learn more.)
In this episode, we discuss:
• The rapidly changing climate in polar regions.
• The raw beauty that defines the polar north.
• Why polar bears are starving without enough sea ice.
• First women to over-winter in an isolated Svalbard cabin.
• Counting polar bear pups during Covid lockdown.
• Drilling Arctic ice to count phytoplankton, the microscopic marine algae that is a key source of world’s oxygen.
• Life lessons learned in isolation during polar over-winter.
• The joy of living with absolute purpose each day.
• How expressing gratitude daily profoundly strengthens human connection.
• Preserving Indigenous traditions in the Canadian Arctic.
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