Langyin'er City lacks some of the prosperity of the world, but has more of the beauty wrapped in silver.
When viewed from above by a drone, in addition to the endless white, you can also see a touch of green, which is the plant life growing in the snow.
Different from what the audience imagined, Svalbard is not completely covered in ice and snow, and there is also rare "vegetation" as far as the eye can see.
In low-lying and humid places, you can always see plants of various colors.
There are flowers, grass, and even a special plant - edelweiss.
The shape of this flower is very much like cotton. It is a white flower that blooms all over the mountains and plains.
There are no towering trees or dense jungles here. This touch of green is the "swan song" of summer in Svalbard.
Year after year, you can finally see those tenaciously growing vegetation in summer.
When walking on the road, warning signs can be seen everywhere. Instead of "Beware of Vehicles," they say "Beware of Polar Bears."
Such a scene makes people feel ridiculous, as if they have not come to the real world, but to the polar bear kingdom in "The Golden Compass".
Bi Fang pointed at the sign and laughed: "Only the road sign in Longyinl City in Svalbard in the world says this, because there are nearly 5,000 polar bears in the entire area, but there are only less than 2,000 permanent residents."
Yes, there are more polar bears here than locals.
Although it is a habitable place, the low temperatures throughout the year and the endless snowfields keep many people away.
With the depletion of mineral resources, the original gathering points for scattered people have disappeared. Only the city of Longyin is left.
There are only more than 2,000 people living here all year round. Among the more than 2,000 people, the majority are Norwegians and White Bear people, and the rest are scientific researchers from all over the world.
Of course, there are also some people who live scattered around Svalbard, but most of them live together because they are worried about polar bear attacks.
This situation reminds Bifang of the story about kangaroos invading Uruguay.
"So, if there is an organized riot among polar bears, it means that one person will have to deal with more than two polar bears on average."
"This is the largest carnivore in the world, with a body length between two and three meters, and adult males can often weigh more than half a ton."
As the northernmost city on earth, it is only 1,300 kilometers away from the North Pole. It is also the only remaining large landmass besides Greenland and is one of the strongholds of polar bears.
While walking on the path, Bifang even saw a polar bear looking at him from a distance, but as soon as he made eye contact, it ran away in a hurry, with all its hair fluttering in the wind.
【Hahaha, escaped】
[Polar Bear: We have looked at each other, he is someone I cannot afford to offend]
[A chill comes from the back of the polar bear]
If people live there, there will be various infrastructures. Hotels, churches, post offices, and even pedestrian streets. This place is no different from an ordinary city.
The only difference is generally that there are very few entertainment, transportation, financial and educational facilities.
But this is also an inevitable dilemma for Svalbard.
There were no cars on the road and it looked very deserted.
"The city itself is not big, so there is no need to drive. Usually only when there is a birth or death, people will drive to the coast to board a ship or fly away."
"Is there no hospital on the island?"
"Yes, but everyone still tries to go to other places as much as possible. On the one hand, the local medical conditions are poor, and on the other hand, it is to protect the environment."
【???】
[What does this have to do with protecting the environment?]
It was a bit difficult for the audience to understand.
"It seems that you didn't read the prohibition carefully just now. There is another article on it that says burial is not allowed."
"Svalbard is the only place in the world where birth and death are prohibited."
The audience was in an uproar.
What's the point?
Bi Fang explained: "This is actually for safety reasons, because it is severely cold here all year round and there is mostly permafrost underground. This causes viruses produced by corpses to be easily frozen and preserved. Once the frozen soil melts, the virus will begin to spread.
, will bring unimaginable disaster."
"There is only a small cemetery in the entire city of Longyin, and this cemetery stopped accepting new corpses 70 years ago."
"Due to the poor local medical conditions, pregnant women who are about to give birth and people who are seriously ill will be taken away from here to give birth or be buried in other cities in Norway. Therefore, unless you die suddenly, you have no right to die here.
of."
"Of course, there are no explicit local regulations prohibiting birth and death. Everything we do is to protect this pure land as much as possible."
In Svalbard, everyone is a guest.
In addition to polar bears, you can also see whales, Arctic foxes, walruses, Arctic reindeer and other animals on the shore.
Creatures in the snow that are usually rare to see can be seen everywhere here.
People even saw a polar bear eating
But these are not the real purpose of Bi Fang's trip.
As a survival expert, Bi Fang has been curious about a certain place on the Svalbard Islands for a long time, and it is impossible to miss it this time.
Doomsday granary.
Also called the Global Doomsday Seed Vault.
The strong apocalyptic wind made many viewers feel ridiculous. It was the first time they had heard of such a place?
What is it for?
"This doomsday granary is built deep underground in Svalbard and is the last line of defense to ensure global food security."
"This seed vault can store 2.25 billion seeds for a thousand years and is designed to protect crop diversity and respond to disasters such as asteroids hitting the earth and nuclear war. The Norwegians also gave it a resounding name - the Doomsday Dome
.”
"Currently, there are about 100 million crop seeds from all over the world being stored in cellars at minus 18 degrees Celsius."
【Hey, why do I feel a little nervous?】
[Stop talking, I'm already nervous.]
[What is this illusion that everyone is preparing for the doomsday behind my back, and I am the only one who is drunk and dreaming? 】
[Already watching Fang Shen’s videos to learn how to survive]
【Fang Shen! Save me!】
【Hold your thighs tightly】
[Wait a minute, is it possible to go to this kind of place casually? 】
"Of course not." Bi Fang put his hand into the inner pocket of his jacket and groped as if he was looking for something. "The existence of this doomsday warehouse has been very weak since it was built, because there are almost no news reports about it."
"The only internal filming was between September and October 2008, when French photographer Caroline Pollan filmed the entire process of transporting plant seeds from a farm in India to the seed bank. There has been no more since then."
"Fortunately, I got the pass."
Bi Fang finally took his hand out of his pocket. It was a stamped document and magnetic card.
Unfolding the document, there are a few very simple sentences on it, but the seal on it obviously has extremely high permission effect.
Bi Fang requested this from the Norwegian government two days in advance.
Norway agreed very readily and mailed the corresponding documents directly.
"Let's go and take you to see the modern version of Noah's Ark!"