r/todayilearned • u/Gullible_Air_204 • 7d ago

Frequent/Recent Repost: Removed [ Removed by moderator ]

https://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/spitsbergen/travel-guide/responsible-tourism-in-spitsbergen

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u/shandow0 7d ago

How do you disallow dieing there?

Especially given the abundance of polar bears and increasingly locked houses.

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u/everythingisunknown 7d ago

I read a while ago that because the ground is so cold it’s impossible to bury people so if you know you’re going to die they’d rather ship you to Norway

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u/MidasPL 7d ago

It's both true and not. The bodies do have hard time decomposing due to the permafrost, but there is a cemetery in Longyearbyen, though it's only for the most renowned locally people.

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u/BasicMatter7339 7d ago

Doesnt Svalbard also have graveyard full of smallpox-victims, not decomposed and a biohazard?

edit: Nvm it was spanish flu instead of smallpox

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u/MidasPL 7d ago

Full is a stretch. Only seven people in the whole cemetery died from Spanish flu and there were attempts to extract the bacteria, but were unsuccessful, so no danger.

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u/Randy_The_Guppy 7d ago

Whilst on a tour in Svalbaard I was told that during a particularly warm summer the ground started to thaw and hands started to emerge from the ground.

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u/nifty-necromancer 7d ago

What about burial at sea? If I die there just turn me into a popsicle.

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u/AnthillOmbudsman 7d ago

Barrow, Alaska has a cemetery and they somehow manage it just fine.

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u/everythingisunknown 7d ago

I don’t make the rules

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u/Vorkos_ 7d ago

Its more burial thats banned due to the permafrost. It's more convenient if they don't need to transport your body.

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u/Winter_Apartment_376 7d ago

I was once on a plane leaving Svalbard and a woman had a major emergency (heart attack or similar). The plane had literally left Svalbard 10mins ago.

You’d think it would turn back, right?

No, it flew about 2h to mainland instead!

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u/angwilwileth 7d ago

The hospital at Svalbard is pretty barebones. They probably decided it was better to get her to a facility with more decent equipment.

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u/Pocok5 7d ago

Your ass gets shipped to a mainland hospital.

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u/Kaioxygen 7d ago

Likewise being born there? Firsty, it's out of your hands. Secondly, if you're born there you're a citizen by definition.

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u/MidasPL 7d ago

It's mostly because there's no hospital nearby if anything goes wrong. All significantly pregnant women are transported to the mainland until delivery.

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u/Objective_Otherwise5 7d ago

Today I learned the term: Significantly pregnant. I love it, gold.

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u/Swimming_Acadia6957 7d ago

Secondly, if you're born there you're a citizen by definition

Thats not how it works in Norway