Finding light: Faith, climate and identity in the Arctic's polar night

AP journalists traveled to Svalbard, a remote Arctic archipelago, to probe how people there approached the changes sweeping their communities amid climate change, the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine — all in the mid of winter's polar night, when it's dark 24/7.

Text by Giovanna Dell’Orto

Photos and video by Daniel Cole

Church helps mining community evolve in dark, warming Arctic

Social life in the Norwegian village of Longyearbyen — hemmed in by mountains, a glacier and a fjord on a remote Arctic island — has long revolved around its only church. Founded for and by coal miners, Svalbard Kirke is literally a beacon in the dark – its sanctuary and fireplace-warmed lounge stay open 24/7 even in winter, when the sun never rises this close to the North Pole. As climate change impacts the Svalbard archipelago faster and deeper than most of the rest of the world, its pastor is helping the community of miners and environmentalists grapple with transformation in this unforgiving, awe-inspiring wilderness.

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Watch the Rev. Siv Limstrand -- the world's northernmost pastor -- discuss the role that faith can play in climate change and in the life in this community, rooted in mining, that's one of the fastest warming places on Earth. The last Norwegian mine's foreman and the main city's energy transition leader also discuss what the closing of Gruve 7 mine will mean both for the environment and the community.