“The planet is facing a rapidly accelerating emergency, but it's not too late to act, says Christiana Figueres, architect of the historic 2015 Paris Agreement. "All of us start the transformation in one place — our mindset. This decade is a moment of choice unlike any...

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to...

Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation. It...

I have no hidden talents, I am merely passionately curious. – Einstein So much has changed in how we engage with each other, the world around us and how we learn. Especially now with everything online as we spent our week in Longyearbyen on numerous hosted zoom calls...

If you want to build a ship, then don’t drum up men to gather wood, give orders, and divide the work. Rather, teach them to yearn for the far and endless sea. – Saint Exupery How do you win a trip to Greece? Our 9km runs to the back side near Cap Fleur deLys and in...

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essentials of life and not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. H.D. Thoreau It’s been said that the greatest creative challenge is the struggle to be the architect of one’s own...

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead We have been reflecting on the power of the word “community”. Both the community that we have created through Hearts in...

I can’t hear what you are saying, what you do speaks so loudly. – Ralph Waldo Emerson Having a link to the “outside world” to communicate has been the cornerstone of Hearts in the Ice. Last July, two days before Sunniva left Canada for Svalbard she received the 2nd...

Life here has been all about pattern disruption. The way we lived a year ago is worlds apart from the way we have lived here at Bamsebu for the past 9 months. There is no excess here. No excess distraction, no excess consumerism, no excess waste and no excess use of...

Saturday May 2nd we rode our Lynx snowmobiles for 6 hours from Bamsebu to the town of Longyearbyen for a quick resupply of food, equipment, several interviews and a few meetings. Ettra running free with her head held high inhaling the fresh air, her bushy tail...

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. Rachel Carson, “The Sense of Wonder” In February we shared...

“The sky knows when its’ time to snow,
Don't need to teach a seed to grow.
It's just another ordinary miracle today” - Sarah McLachlan Right now we all seem to be living on our own “little islands”. Communication in the virtual sense being nearly the only way to...

“March Madness” happens every year in North America as the best college NCAA basketball teams in the league battle it out. The spring equinox month in 2020 has given brand new meaning to the words “March Madness”. It is unfathomable to grasp what is really happening...

The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers - Erich Fromm Wilderness is the great teacher. Our Arctic overwintering at Bamsebu has illuminated the depths of who we are; our strengths,...

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom – Viktor Frankl From our tiny trappers cabin “Bamsebu” a storm is whipping around us with violent winds and snowdrifts...

She’s a Lady, whoa, whoa, whoa, she’s a lady…. Talking about her…she’s a lady! Sung by the legendary Tom Jones How to turn a 1930 trappers’ cabin built for beluga hunting into a female friendly place? Simply put, it isn’t easy. The trappers' cabin “Bamsebu” was built...

I am just going outside and I may be some time Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates Oates was a member of the ill-fated Scott Expedition on the return journey from the South Pole who walked out of his tent… and into the white out! Remember what it was like to be a little...

What is it that is so special about Svalbard? This is a question no doubt many people have asked, including the host for “Minutt for Minutt” Kari Toft. That show was slow TV showcasing all of Svalbard where they filmed us here at Bamsebu on Feb 8th. Really what is it...

”Slow down you move too fast, you’ve got to make the morning last…. “ Simon and Garfunkel Finally, a day without a lot of wind. Time stands in complete peaceful, stillness at Bamsebu. It’s almost an eerie stillness when the hut is not shaking. It makes us pause long...

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes - Marcel Proulx One of our main goals here at Bamsebu is to “live the experience.” To be in it, fully immersed and live to tell about it. We can proclaim with 100% certainty -...

When the night has come, and the land is dark and the moon is the only light we’ll see. No, I won’t be afraid, oh I won’t be afraid, Just as long, as you stand, by me… Ben.E.King The last time we closed our eyes and tried to walk in total darkness was in Sept 2018 on...

Where do we actually find peace of mind? Open spaces in the Arctic and specifically right here at Bamsebu (77.55 latitude/15.06 longitude) are a geography of possibility. With the advent of technology and accelerated speeds at which we can literally “connect” with...