- 5/20/2025
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LearningTranscript
00:00I'm a long way north, about as far north as people live on planet Earth.
00:14This is the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard.
00:17I'm travelling south from here, around one of the most beautiful and interesting regions
00:22of the world, Scandinavia.
00:27On the rugged edge of Europe, I'm visiting five Nordic countries, travelling through
00:34glorious forests and spectacular fjords.
00:37I think Norway has a solid claim to be the most beautiful country in the world.
00:42I mean, look at it!
00:45Wow, a dog's pulling a car.
00:48It's more than half a million square miles of extremes.
00:51This is low, man, this is low.
00:54This is my life.
00:56Somebody's holding on to me, yeah?
00:59Now, breathe, breathe.
01:02Off we go.
01:04I'm hoping to understand how they've built some of the happiest societies on the planet.
01:08Hey, guys.
01:09Good morning.
01:10Good morning.
01:11And who've we got here?
01:12Morning.
01:13Oh, hello.
01:14Welcome, welcome.
01:15This is the most traditional Danish lunch I have seen.
01:22Yes.
01:23And why they now feel they're in the firing line.
01:25Santa Park is also a nuclear bunker.
01:28Yes, very much so.
01:30They are preparing to defend Finland.
01:37Bloody hell.
01:39You're wearing these in urban Sweden?
01:42Yes.
01:44There's another side to Scandinavia.
01:46Ready to fire?
01:56Yes.
02:04I'm travelling through the Scandi countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway,
02:08and adding in the wider Nordic family as well, Finland and Iceland.
02:14I'm starting here, off the Svalbard archipelago,
02:18the most northerly outpost of Norway.
02:22Do you see it?
02:24I do, you know.
02:25Frida, what is it?
02:26So, it's a blue fox.
02:28A blue fox?
02:30Yes.
02:31It's a genetic mutation in the polar foxes, and it's actually really rare.
02:35It's more rare to see a blue fox than to see a polar bear.
02:40Look at it, bouncing along.
02:42Yes.
02:43You're smiling as well.
02:44Yes, it's super nice.
02:46Frida Schaapve left behind life as a nurse in mainland Norway
02:50to explore and protect the natural wonders of Svalbard
02:53on this scientific research boat.
02:55How often have you seen a blue fox?
02:58I've seen it three times, four times.
03:00Three? In how many years?
03:02I've been here almost eight years.
03:04Whoa!
03:05We are very lucky.
03:07You can clearly see the fox bolting up the hill just above three reindeer.
03:12There's loads more reindeer in the hillside.
03:16Scandinavians first came here in numbers
03:19to hunt reindeer and seals for their meat and skin
03:22and even polar bears for their fur.
03:25Most of all, they came to plunder the riches of the ocean.
03:29Whale! Look at the whale.
03:31Whale straight ahead.
03:35It was whales that first drew settlers here in the 1600s.
03:42There was a huge population of whales around Svalbard
03:45and in one of the first great oil rushes,
03:48the whales were hunted for their oil to use in soaps and as a fuel in lamps.
03:54Thousands of whales were slaughtered.
03:58The fin whale is one of the largest animals ever.
04:02Unfortunately for the species,
04:04each can yield more than 1,000 gallons of whale oil,
04:07enough to fuel thousands of old lamps.
04:09Quick performance and then it's gone.
04:16Hence the hunting.
04:18But hunting bans were put in place on Svalbard from the 1950s.
04:22Numbers of polar bears and marine mammals, including whales,
04:25have increased dramatically over the decades.
04:28It's proved a simple but successful strategy.
04:31Turns out one of the best ways to conserve endangered animals
04:35is just to stop killing them.
04:40As an outpost of Scandinavia, Svalbard is a long way north,
04:46roughly halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole.
04:50The temperature up here can drop to minus 30.
04:53There are no trees, hardly anything grows here.
04:57But there are people, scientists, biologists,
05:00researchers and tourism industry workers.
05:03A couple of thousand hardy souls call this place home.
05:06So this is the settlement of Longyearbyen.
05:09It is the most northerly town in the world
05:12with more than 1,000 inhabitants.
05:17It's a little bit late now but in the morning
05:19Frida's going to show me around.
05:22This is very Svalbard, I think.
05:25Yeah, this is.
05:26Not a car park but a skidoo park.
05:28Yeah, everyone has a snowmobile.
05:30When you moved here, what were some of the big surprises?
05:33It is a very tiny community.
05:35I mean, we have a hospital on the island but it's very small.
05:38We have a hospital on the island but it's very small.
05:40It's a very small community.
05:42It's a very small community.
05:44And we have a hospital on the island.
05:46It's a very small community.
05:48It's a very tiny community.
05:50I mean, we have a hospital on the island but it's very tiny
05:53and you don't want to take risks with newborn babies.
05:55So all the pregnant women, they get shipped down to the mainland, Norway,
05:59to give birth almost four weeks before.
06:02Right.
06:03And, I mean, you can't really control where you die
06:06but you can't be buried here even if you wanted to.
06:09You can't be buried here?
06:11Not at all, no.
06:12Oh, because...
06:13Yeah, because the permafrost won't decompose your body.
06:17So we've seen now over time as well that a lot of the whalers and fishers
06:22that have been buried many years ago,
06:25their caskets and bodies are just being pushed up by the permafrost.
06:29Oh, my goodness.
06:31Lovely.
06:33You can't be born here and you can't be buried either.
06:35And life in between is spent in the freezer zone.
06:38So what keeps people here?
06:40It's raw, rugged and there's adventure.
06:43Norwegians also sweeten the deal with low tax rates and no VAT.
06:47That's got to help.
06:49Wow, a dog's pulling a calf.
06:51Is that training?
06:56Svalbard.
07:00Norway has wanted to keep a viable community here.
07:03It's keen to maintain a strong presence.
07:07For decades, one of the main reasons that people were on Svalbard
07:12was mining.
07:15And this is one of the last coal mines on Svalbard.
07:22Coal from here fuelled the power station, which generates electricity,
07:26and it also helped create a strong local community of workers and families.
07:36Bent Jacobsen and hundreds of other miners have done the tough work.
07:40They're not for much longer.
07:42We're going to get in the car. We'll see.
07:44We're going to drive down on the low seam.
07:48How deep in the mountain are we now?
07:51We are six kilometres inside the mountain
07:53and we have 350 metres of mountain over our heads now.
07:57Flippin' heck.
07:59OK, let's go. Take a seat.
08:02All right.
08:06There is only one rule when we're driving.
08:09As long as you keep your head lower than the bar, you're fine.
08:12I was just planning on keeping my head lower than you.
08:15But the fun thing is when I have people in the mine,
08:17they start up here and then they're like this.
08:20Right. OK.
08:21You will know when we get in there.
08:23All right, all right. I'm taking it seriously.
08:26Good. Ring the bell.
08:28BELL RINGS
08:37Bloody hell, man, this is low, isn't it?
08:39No, it's quite high, actually.
08:41Really? Yeah.
08:45You've got to get low under the belt, so keep your head down.
08:49OK, now it's low. Like this low.
08:51This is low, man. This is low.
08:55But the thing is, when you start working here,
08:57either you love it or you hate it.
08:59There's nothing in between.
09:01And you loved it right from the beginning.
09:03This is my life.
09:14Oh, goodness. We're right at the end.
09:16Step out on the right side. I'll show you something.
09:18OK.
09:21This is actually like a mining tunnel.
09:24And actually here you see the coal thing.
09:29Grab a hand of coal if you want.
09:34This is the compressed value of sunlight and plants,
09:41flowers, trees.
09:43It's been your life, Ben.
09:45Yeah, it has.
09:46For so long.
09:48Yep. Soon coming to an end.
09:52How do you feel about that?
09:54Yeah, of course it's sad.
09:56It's a long, proud tradition of miners,
09:59or mining, that's going to be gone.
10:02And the reason?
10:04First of all, we don't have actually enough good quality coal.
10:07That's one thing. And another one is the green shift is here also.
10:12So mining is not, what should I say, not very popular anymore.
10:17And so ends a tradition of mining,
10:20not just for you or your family,
10:23but for this community and Svalbard.
10:25Yeah, we are actually 70 guys that's out of work
10:28or out of a job when we're done.
10:32What will you do?
10:34I have no idea. We'll see.
10:36I'll probably get a job somewhere.
10:39The mine closure is tough for Bent and Svalbard.
10:43Despite a growing tourism industry,
10:45fewer people here are permanent residents.
10:47And that's not great news for Norway,
10:49which is desperate to maintain control over Svalbard.
10:52Because as the Arctic warms and melts,
10:55Svalbard's situated in a globally strategic position
10:58on an increasingly important shipping lane,
11:01with huge mineral resources and fishing in the ocean around.
11:04Other countries want a slice, including Russia.
11:07Under international agreements,
11:09Norway is in charge of Svalbard,
11:12but it has to share Svalbard with other countries.
11:16That can lead to tensions.
11:18I'm off to meet the neighbours.
11:22Russians have been coming to Svalbard for centuries,
11:25hunting furs originally.
11:27In 1920, a treaty was signed in Paris,
11:30giving Svalbard to Norway.
11:32But Russians are among those allowed to travel here
11:34without visas and to settle here.
11:37There are whole Russian towns.
11:39I have to say, I'm feeling quite apprehensive
11:41about going to this community.
11:44It's called Barentsburg.
11:46This is a Russian outpost,
11:49a Russian base, a settlement,
11:52up here in the very far north.
11:56There were relations between the Russian settlement
12:00and the main Norwegian community here.
12:04And then Russia invaded Ukraine,
12:07and relationships here have got decidedly frosty.
12:12Russia recently downgraded Norway as a country
12:16from unfriendly to very unfriendly.
12:21Russia is the dominant power in the Arctic.
12:24President Putin has claimed as it melts,
12:27natural resources like oil and gas worth trillions
12:30will become available.
12:32So Russia's been upgrading its naval forces
12:34and building bases across the Arctic.
12:36I just need to work out what's going on
12:38and what we can film,
12:40and then hopefully we can get a sense of the place.
12:50I'm flying the bloody Soviet flag here.
12:53That's astonishing.
13:01There's a coal mine on the Russian side too,
13:04owned by the state-owned mining company,
13:07which also controls almost everything else in the town.
13:11I headed for the mining company HQ,
13:14where the general director had agreed to meet me.
13:18Or so I thought.
13:20Daria? Daria. Daria, Simon.
13:23Now we're going to have a short meeting with the general director.
13:26OK. Yeah. All right. Yeah, welcome.
13:28It turned out the general director had had a change of heart.
13:32He doesn't want to be filmed.
13:37Well, that was weird.
13:39It was a sort of slightly farcical situation.
13:42If you were going to design a Russian bureaucrat
13:45who's living in the middle of nowhere, it would be him.
13:48Big office, big table,
13:50very starched white iron shirt and a tie,
13:53a photograph of President Putin,
13:55a photograph of the Soviet Union,
13:57very starched white iron shirt and a tie,
14:00a photograph of President Putin there, looked very stern.
14:03But basically he won't talk to us
14:05and he's palmed us off to a young interpreter.
14:07At least she's going to show us around.
14:10I felt a bit guilty Daria had been lumbered with us.
14:13But it turned out it wasn't her first rodeo.
14:15She took me straight to the number one tourist site.
14:18Well, usually, usually journalists stop here
14:22and make the interview on this spot.
14:27We've got a statue of Lenin here, still standing.
14:31Still standing.
14:33Looking around, we can very clearly see
14:36Russia is definitely back here
14:38and there is a sizeable community.
14:41What is the plan?
14:43What is the future of Barentsburg?
14:45For sure, we will continue coal mining
14:48and develop tourism.
14:50So we are trying to make this place
14:54as attractive as possible for tourists.
14:58So the tourism boycott and Western sanctions,
15:02the plan is not to shut this place down.
15:05You're actually expanding it
15:07and you're hoping more people will come.
15:10Yeah, that's true.
15:12A lot of people are romantics, you know,
15:15who come here for adventures
15:18because they want to travel around the world,
15:20see as many places as possible.
15:24What's he saying?
15:26He says some rude words, so just don't pay attention.
15:30I don't think that they're locals.
15:32I have never seen them here before.
15:35Hmm. Well, I've heard worse.
15:38Like Norway, the Kremlin wants Russians to settle here
15:41and they've stumped up for spanking new facilities
15:44to act as encouragement.
15:46This is our swimming pool.
15:48Oh, my good Lord.
15:50It's not cheap.
15:52It costs a lot of money to do this, doesn't it?
15:55But it is free for locals.
15:57We swim here for free.
15:59Despite sanctions,
16:01some suggest Russia still makes half a billion pounds a day
16:04in oil and gas exports.
16:06They've got money and have plans for more investment in Svalbard,
16:09including a science complex involving China and Iran.
16:13Meanwhile, the Russian navy plies the seas around Svalbard
16:17and the Kremlin now questions how Norway runs the islands.
16:21That's good vodka.
16:24Russia has also been accused
16:26of sabotaging critical undersea internet cables
16:29here and right around Scandinavia.
16:37There's lots going on here that feels like it's out of the pages
16:41of a Cold War spy thriller.
16:43One of the communication cables linking Svalbard to the outside world
16:49was hacked not long ago.
16:51The prime suspect is a Russian fishing trawler
16:55that was tracked going backwards and forwards
16:58over the cable that runs under the sea about 100 times.
17:03It feels like there is a bit of a scramble for the far north,
17:08for the mineral wealth that is up here,
17:11but also just to have this land as real estate, really,
17:16because controlling it means you can control access to the North Atlantic.
17:22And for Russia's naval fleet,
17:25they need to come round the top of Scandinavia
17:30to get into the North Atlantic.
17:32They need to come pretty close to Svalbard.
17:35Remember, Russia is just across the border from Scandinavia,
17:39and many Scandinavians really feel that presence.
17:44Russia has denied allegations of interference.
17:50It was time to leave Svalbard.
17:57In midwinter, I travelled to Lapland,
18:00in the northernmost region of Finland.
18:03It's one of the wildest areas of Europe.
18:14It looks utterly ethereal in the early morning light.
18:20Incredible. Incredible.
18:24I was heading towards the edge of Europe,
18:27Finland's historically bloody border with Russia,
18:30Europe's longest at more than 800 miles.
18:33It was brutally cold, minus 30 degrees centigrade.
18:37The moisture in my nose is freezing up.
18:40This is a very tough time of year in a very tough part of the world.
18:45The cold, the bitter cold,
18:48it seeps through every gap and crevice in your clothing.
18:52I've lost my guide. I can't see him ahead. I'd better speed up.
18:58A history of war looms over this magical frozen wilderness.
19:02Time and again, Finland has been invaded from the east,
19:06Under Russian Tsar Peter the Great,
19:08horrific atrocities committed against the Finns
19:11became known as the Great Wrath.
19:13During World War II, the Soviet Red Army invaded,
19:16and Finland sided with Germany.
19:18In the Cold War that followed, the country became neutral,
19:21always nervously watching the Russian bear next door.
19:26OK, Simon, this is as far as we can go.
19:29The Russia border is just right over there, 150 metres.
19:33It's just there? Yes, just there,
19:35and there's nothing between us and the border.
19:38Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022,
19:42tensions have ramped up.
19:44There's a sign up here.
19:54Border zone.
19:56There's no fence,
19:58border zone.
20:00There's no fence,
20:02but it's very definitely a border now,
20:05a closed border as well, for many months.
20:11Opinion polls in Finland show that more than 80% of Finns
20:15fear and think that Russia poses a military threat to the country.
20:22The Finns say Russia has weaponised this border
20:25by bussing hundreds of migrants and refugees here
20:28and encouraging them to cross in an attempt to destabilise Finland.
20:32The border's now permanently shut, the gates closed.
20:38Even in magical Lapland,
20:40thoughts and fears about future conflict are never that far away...
20:46..as I found when I travelled west.
20:56This is very strange.
20:58It's not Christmas, but it is here.
21:01365 days of the year.
21:06They now make huge amounts of money here in Lapland
21:09and attract hundreds of thousands of tourists every single year
21:13by branding Lapland as the real home of Father Christmas,
21:18despite the fact that we are hundreds of miles away here
21:21from the North Pole, which is where I rather stupidly thought
21:24Father Christmas actually lives.
21:26This is called Santa's Village.
21:29There's been fierce competition from towns in Sweden, Norway,
21:32Greenland and Alaska to be seen as the authentic home of Santa Claus,
21:36Father Christmas.
21:38But it's here, Rovaniemi in Finland, that seems to be the winner.
21:42Billions have been invested here
21:44and tourists now come from around the world.
21:47It is pretty damn impressive, really,
21:52that the Finns have built this luxury tourism economy here
21:58in a very hostile, extreme environment.
22:02At the end of the Second World War,
22:04large parts of their towns and cities were reduced to ash and rubble
22:09and they were really poor and they had no money.
22:13They were reduced to ash and rubble and they were really poor
22:17and they have built one of the most extraordinary countries
22:20on planet Earth.
22:32Dozens of Santa-themed resorts and attractions
22:35have sprung up around Rovaniemi.
22:37This one's called Santa Claus Secret Forest,
22:40which was set up by local businessman Ilkka Lankinen.
22:48Ilkka? Yes. Ilkka, hello.
22:51Hello, hello. Simon Reeve. Good morning.
22:53Is it possible to come in? Yeah.
22:56Good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome.
22:59What brought you to Lapland?
23:01I came here to study forestry
23:03and forestry is still quite big here in Finland and Lapland.
23:07It's a massive industry in Finland, isn't it?
23:10It is. I read you have 13,000 trees per person.
23:16Yes, but the travel and tourism industry
23:18is larger than the forest industry
23:20and that's something that people don't many times realise,
23:23but this is much larger than the forest industry.
23:25Wow.
23:26You've really managed to turn Lapland into...
23:30Some would see it as the ultimate Christmas experience, really.
23:34We are creating the best Christmas experiences in the world.
23:37And who have we got here?
23:41Welcome, welcome.
23:45Are you all right? I think so.
23:48I'm surprised to see you.
23:50You didn't expect elves in the forest?
23:52No, I didn't expect elves in the forest.
23:54How stupid of me.
23:56Right here, we are in front of one of our toy factories.
24:02He's got a sharp knife, just in case.
24:06This is what I would have imagined Santa's toy factory to be.
24:14We'll go this way quickly.
24:16What an honour to see you here.
24:18It's nice and warm here.
24:20It is definitely nice and warm.
24:22There is a significant risk of us overheating in here, Ilka.
24:25Well, it's not that hot.
24:27And you know, besides, you can always take a step outside
24:30and then I think that problem would disappear quickly.
24:33You are so right.
24:35Since you are here in Lapland,
24:37maybe we should give you a little reminder of our meeting.
24:40So, here's a little...
24:42Thank you very much.
24:44This is our fluffiest reindeer that we are able to make here.
24:47This is indeed a very fluffy reindeer.
24:50Thank you very much indeed.
24:57Oh, wow.
24:59Ilka is stuck with the theme.
25:01He also owns Santa Park, an underground shopping centre
25:04where visitors from around the world can meet Father Christmas
25:07and his army of little helpers.
25:10But there's a bit more to this grotto
25:12than reindeer and Christmas stockings.
25:14I'm going to show you something that I normally won't share,
25:17but let's have a quick peek.
25:22Literally behind the sign.
25:25So, now we are actually entering for the restricted kind of space.
25:30I mean, if you look at the doors...
25:32Oh, my goodness. Look at the size of that beast.
25:35And it's made from 50mm steel.
25:38And this is the first set of doors.
25:40This is...
25:42This is a bunker.
25:44Yes. Nothing known, missile or anything, can penetrate this.
25:48Santa Park is also a nuclear bunker.
25:52Yes, very much so.
25:54Oh, my good Lordy.
25:57So, how far do the tunnels extend?
26:00About 400 metres.
26:02And we have several sets of tunnels
26:04because in a case of emergency,
26:06you have to get in the people,
26:08you have to get in all the supplies and everything,
26:10so you can drive a semi-truck inside here.
26:12An articulated lorry.
26:14Yes, yes. My goodness.
26:16How many people can you house here?
26:19Over 3,000. 3,400.
26:21So, you have presumably the kit, equipment,
26:25bedding, food and stores here for that?
26:28Bedding, toilets, dry toilets.
26:31We have our own water supplies.
26:33We have our own waste supplies.
26:35And Finns are always prepared
26:37because we must have a shelter for all the Finns,
26:39but Finns are also very creative
26:41because if we would not have Santa Park here,
26:43then the city people would pay for the heating
26:45and electricity and everything.
26:47So, we have utilised all the shelters
26:49for swimming pools,
26:51swimming centres,
26:53tennis places, inside tracks,
26:55and this happened to be
26:57Santa's home cavern.
26:59So, go to a swimming pool in Finland
27:02and you may well actually be inside...
27:05A shelter. A public shelter, yes.
27:07..from nuclear war. Yes, yes.
27:09Across Finland, there are more than 50,000 bunkers
27:13to shelter almost the entire population
27:15of more than five million in the event of war.
27:18We're not going to go any further.
27:20So, this is another exit, entrance... Yes.
27:22..to the bunker. Yes.
27:31Like a huge number of Finns of all backgrounds,
27:34Ilkka's also an army reservist, an officer.
27:38He trains at a local rifle range.
27:41So, we're going to take a big, big boy out.
27:46OK, right.
27:48So, what have you got in here?
27:50This is what we call long-distance rifles.
27:53There are hundreds of shooting ranges across Finland,
27:56and for national defence, the government's opening 300 more.
28:00Finns have one of the highest rates of gun ownership
28:03after countries like the US and Yemen.
28:06Morning. Good morning.
28:08Good morning. Good morning.
28:10This is Janne. Janne. Janne, Simon.
28:12Lovely to see you. Hello. Yeah.
28:14Janne is a university lecturer and also an army reservist.
28:19It's their sheer number of reservists in the Finnish Armed Forces
28:23that make their military huge in terms of numbers.
28:27They have a military, total military,
28:30combined, including reserves, of nearly 900,000.
28:35That's five times the size of the UK's armed forces,
28:38of around 180,000,
28:40even though the UK's population is 12 times larger than Finland's.
28:47It's almost like a piece of artillery.
28:49Very powerful.
28:57I think what really surprises me about your armed reserve
29:02is just the scale of it.
29:04Someone might call Finland the Sparta of the north.
29:07I think the model is that the civil society defends itself.
29:11We're not outsourcing it.
29:13So everyone's responsible for the society.
29:16And you've got the Finnish flag and you've got the freedom flag as well.
29:20Yeah, and when I talk about the society
29:23taking responsibility of defending itself,
29:26I think that covers all of your values.
29:29So, for example, if one of these things is part of your values,
29:33if you're not ready to defend them,
29:35even with violence, do you really believe in them?
29:38Are they values or are they just opinions?
29:41You're saying if you believe in the values of the freedom flag,
29:45then you need to be willing to defend those.
29:48Yeah, exactly.
29:50And that is a possibility.
29:53Unfortunately so, yeah.
30:04It might seem unthinkable elsewhere in Western Europe,
30:08but they fear war here.
30:10It's happened before.
30:12And as a result, Finland is a highly militarised country.
30:16There's conscription.
30:18Each year, more than 20,000 young men and women
30:21head off for military training.
30:23I'm really quite moved by this.
30:26Just seeing these youngsters marching across.
30:32People's sons, people's daughters.
30:35National service is compulsory for men, voluntary for women.
30:39When it's finished, they join the reserves
30:41and are liable to be called up for refresher training until the age of 50.
30:45It's a doctrine of total defence.
30:48Under the Finnish constitution,
30:50all citizens have a duty to defend the nation.
30:53This is total belief in the country.
30:57Trust in the state.
30:59Trust that the state will do the right thing
31:01and that the state will, through its people, protect everyone.
31:07Surveys have shown 80% of Finns support compulsory national service.
31:17It is quite something to see.
31:20I've come to see the Jäger Brigade, an elite Arctic warfare unit.
31:24They're in charge of training green young conscripts
31:27in cold-weather combat.
31:34Youngsters leave behind often comfortable, warm lives in cities and towns
31:39to be turned into soldiers.
31:48Are you happy with that?
31:50Well, it was the first time.
31:52I'm not happy for every individual,
31:56but anyway, they are doing what they should do at the moment, yeah.
32:01So this is their first time shooting from skis?
32:05Yeah, I think so. At least it looked like it was.
32:08Right. But they're also...
32:10They're less familiar with skis
32:12and they're more familiar with central heating.
32:14Yeah, yeah, and...
32:16Telephones and so on. Yeah.
32:18Well, they are preparing to defend Finland.
32:21That is the purpose for the whole thing.
32:24In opinion polls, more than 80% of all Finns say they defend their country.
32:30In a similar poll of Brits, it was only 35%.
32:37What is it about Finland that means you all feel such a part of the country
32:41that you are willing to defend it in that way?
32:44We both love Finland, even if it's cold, even if it's dark.
32:49It feels like it's our obligation to defend the country.
32:53Finland is, in my opinion, the greatest country in the world
32:57and something to defend.
32:59I mean, we have very good standards of living, best education,
33:03we are wealthy.
33:05We have gotten everything we ever could ask for from Finland.
33:09So it's only right that we defend it.
33:12After the invasion of Ukraine, Finland and neighbouring Sweden
33:16have joined the NATO military alliance as protection from the Russian threat.
33:21They are a force to be reckoned with.
33:23Apart from a massive army,
33:25they have the largest artillery force in Western Europe,
33:28hundreds of huge howitzers.
33:30But they also bring something less easy to rate and measure,
33:34passion, patriotism and knowledge.
33:37What they are teaching the conscripts here isn't just how to be a soldier,
33:41it's how to survive in these extremely harsh conditions.
33:47The Jäger Brigade teach Arctic warfare to soldiers from other NATO countries,
33:53including the UK and US.
34:06Bloody hell.
34:08Students are learning how to rescue themselves
34:12in case if they go through the weak ice.
34:17Tell us about this word, this Finnish word, sisu.
34:22Sisu.
34:23What does it mean?
34:25I guess it's sort of some kind of Finnish version of some kind of grit.
34:32Grit.
34:33Grit or something like that.
34:35That's probably the closest English word.
34:37Guts.
34:38Guts, yeah.
34:39It's a big thing in Finland and it's something you try to cultivate.
34:42Yeah, yeah.
34:45This is one example, Finnish sisu.
34:48This is proper sisu.
34:50Yeah, yeah.
34:54They're pretty quiet when they go in.
34:56They're doing well.
34:58Yeah, screaming doesn't help.
35:00Screaming doesn't.
35:08Maybe we all need a bit of extra sisu.
35:14Oh, my God.
35:17A little bit of me is keen to test myself
35:20and a lot of me is definitely not.
35:26Last time we met, you were smiling.
35:31Do I see you smiling again?
35:33Well, sort of.
35:34Of course, because this is absolutely great fun.
35:37Yeah, that's exactly the phrase I would use.
35:40Put this on one shoulder.
35:41Oh, my God.
35:45OK, are you ready?
35:47Somebody's holding on to me, yeah?
35:49Are you ready?
35:50Yeah, I think so.
35:51You can go.
35:52Is anyone ever?
35:59Now breathe, breathe.
36:01Good.
36:03Bring your backpack here.
36:08Yeah, just like that.
36:09Get your skis.
36:11Oh, my God.
36:12Get your skis.
36:13You're doing good.
36:14It's really sharp.
36:16Take your pole.
36:17And now.
36:18Use your arms, use your legs.
36:22Exactly like that.
36:24Almost there.
36:27Keep crawling.
36:28A little bit more.
36:32Remove the rope.
36:35Good job, good job.
36:36Thank you, guys.
36:39All right, Simon.
36:40Now get warm.
36:41OK.
36:45The Finns, they're a little bit bonkers,
36:48but they really believe in this issue,
36:50and you know what?
36:51They start them young.
37:02Patriotism and a whopping army
37:04aren't what most of us associate with Scandinavia and the wider region.
37:09Just like its Scandi neighbours,
37:11Finland also cherishes liberal values like gender equality,
37:14gay rights and a generous welfare state.
37:17As a country, it scores near the top for wealth, health and happiness.
37:24And they start encouraging all those Nordic values,
37:27plus a dose of sea soup, even in their toddlers.
37:32They very kindly let us come and see a Finnish school.
37:36It is minus 18 degrees centigrade.
37:42Hello to you, look, a lovely wave.
37:44Hello, hello.
37:45They're asking if you are coming with us to the forest.
37:48Yes!
37:51These three- to six-year-olds are off out to forest school,
37:55hours outside.
37:57The headteacher, Josefina Marola,
37:59only takes them inside when the temperature drops below minus 30 degrees.
38:03They're different in Finland.
38:06It's a little bit surprising to me
38:09to see really, really young children going off in these conditions,
38:13but we have just a different mentality in Finland.
38:18It's a matter of wearing enough layers.
38:22It's not really cold, like, right now.
38:25No, I've got about 47 layers on.
38:27If you can go to that sort of level, then, yeah, you can be OK.
38:3147 layers on and you'll be fine.
38:33Yes!
38:35Formal education here doesn't start until kids are seven.
38:38Before that, they're playing.
38:40In Finland, it's all about the great outdoors,
38:43about getting mucky and not endless worrying about health and safety.
38:48What are the advantages of raising children this way?
38:52They don't get sick.
38:54They sleep well.
38:56They learn things more naturally.
38:59They have more space.
39:01Do the kids get colds a lot?
39:03No. Hardly ever. No.
39:07Their immune system is just really good.
39:10They don't get colds or get sick at all.
39:13I mean, it's minus 20 and something, but, yeah.
39:16And what I think is, like, the most important about going to school
39:21and growing up is that they get along together.
39:24Their social skills are just, like, great, I think.
39:28When they're in the forest, they just naturally, like, help each other
39:32and no-one gets left behind.
39:35I don't know why it happens.
39:37Maybe it's just the forest is such, like, a calming place.
39:47Forest schools boost children's immune systems.
39:51Finnish scientists claim contact with nature,
39:55prevents autoimmune diseases and allergies.
39:58Teachers here don't mollycoddle.
40:00They keep watch, but children are allowed to take risks.
40:04Yes, even leaping off anti-tank defences left from the war.
40:07When we know the children well and we know the whole family and staff,
40:13it's easy to, you know, build a trust.
40:17I think education overall just is, like,
40:20really, really a respected thing in Finland.
40:23So respect and trust are two key words that leap out at me there.
40:28Oh, yeah, definitely.
40:30Yeah, and they don't really question the things we do here.
40:35And if the teacher says it's OK to be outside, then it is.
40:39What a difference with the UK,
40:41where teachers too often face parents who don't trust or respect them.
40:45Here there were no complaints from the hardy youngsters
40:48or at school pick-up time.
40:50It's time for you, for Josefina,
40:52to take your precious son into the forest
40:56when it is minus 18 up there.
40:59Yes, because I know my son will survive.
41:03You have a lot of respect for education and educators, for teachers.
41:10Yes.
41:11You trust them.
41:12Yes, very much.
41:15This has been fascinating, mind-blowing even.
41:19It's about trust, and trust is something I'm really interested in.
41:23People in Scandinavia and the Nordic countries
41:26have much higher levels of trust in their institutions,
41:29their governments and each other.
41:31As this journey goes on, I'm really keen to learn the role
41:34that trust plays in making Scandinavia such a success.
41:39I headed west, through Lapland's vast forests,
41:43and crossed the border into Sweden.
41:47Lapland is a region of 150,000 square miles
41:51across northern Finland, Sweden, Norway and even a small bit of Russia.
41:56During winter it's buried under snow,
41:59but Lapland's still a major tourist attraction.
42:02Sweden's chop and plant millions of trees up here
42:05for all that flat-back furniture.
42:07Lapland's also important for green energy.
42:10Hydroelectric power provides 40% of Sweden's electricity,
42:14but requires power lines and railways criss-crossing Lapland.
42:20During the 20th century, Europe often outsourced
42:23a lot of energy to Sweden,
42:25and that's why it's so important
42:28During the 20th century, Europe often outsourced
42:32its extraction of fossil fuels and heavy industry as well
42:38to poorer, less developed parts of the world.
42:42But during what's being described as the green transition now
42:46to renewable energy, there will be a need for a huge number of mines,
42:52solar farms, wind turbines, wind farms,
42:56and that will cause problems with other people, with other groups.
43:02Lapland's home to the Sami people.
43:05They've lived here for thousands of years,
43:08long before modern countries,
43:10with their own language and culture
43:12for many inextricably linked to the reindeer.
43:15I'm meeting a reindeer herder called Mikkel.
43:19I've got a pin on a map where we've got to meet him
43:22in the middle of nowhere.
43:25Once nomadic, the Sami are now mostly settled.
43:29They still keep and herd reindeer.
43:31Sami elder Mikkel Kumonen makes his living out here.
43:36Mikkel? Hello!
43:38Hi, Mikkel, Simon. Mikkel.
43:40Very lovely to see you. The same.
43:42Hello, lads. Good morning.
43:46So, where are the reindeer?
43:50They are up there. Right, OK.
43:53We have to move the reindeers away from there,
43:56take them down to the road,
43:58and then the reindeers will probably follow the road.
44:04And how many reindeer do you have?
44:07That's a funny question.
44:09You don't ask anyone how many reindeers they have.
44:12It's quite... It's not polite.
44:14It's not polite. It's like asking how much money you have in the bank.
44:17Right. It's the same question.
44:19But I have reindeer, so I can survive.
44:24We're going to make a snowmobile track here, so...
44:27I'm quite lazy. I let the sons do the job.
44:32Reindeers, they shall not be too long in the same place.
44:35That's why we herd the reindeers, move them from one place to another.
44:39Right. So they don't destroy the grazing area.
44:42So they'll move in search of food,
44:45but that can obviously split them up and move them apart too far.
44:50And also presumably expose them to danger as well.
44:53Yes. A couple of years ago, we had about 50 reindeers.
44:56They went out on the railway and they were hit by a train.
44:59It was nothing left of them.
45:0150 reindeer were killed... By one train.
45:04By one train. Oh, my goodness.
45:06So then we learned the lesson.
45:08We are very afraid of the train, of the railroads.
45:12How do you avoid that?
45:14We can't. We can only take away the reindeers from the danger.
45:19Yes.
45:25This is something that has made our lives very easy.
45:31We are experts to adapt ourselves and we are...
45:34Every new thing, we take it.
45:37OK, now we go up in the air.
45:43Reindeer used to roam wherever they liked.
45:46Now there are dangers everywhere.
45:49Mikael and his sons, Asla and Nils,
45:51are worried about a small group from their herd
45:54that have strayed too close to railway tracks.
45:56We need to find them.
45:58So there's the reindeer.
46:00Yes. Then I put a GPS spot on it, so now I see on the map.
46:04Then I can show my sons where they are.
46:06Clever, clever.
46:09So we're heading out to look for the reindeer.
46:14Reindeer are tough and they still need looking after.
46:17They're crucial to the ecosystem in Lapland.
46:20But forest-rich in lichen, the reindeer's favourite food,
46:23have declined by 71% in Sweden.
46:30OK, so the reindeer, there's reindeer just ahead of us.
46:34OK, so the reindeer, there's reindeer just ahead of us
46:37and they're being corralled by the lads and by our skidoos
46:42and hopefully they're moving in the right direction.
46:46OK, they've got them into the open
46:48and they're now moving them towards the road.
46:57We gently guided them away from the train tracks.
47:01But roads, tracks, industry, people,
47:04it's all disrupting reindeer behaviour and migration.
47:08Even new green industries up here pose threats to wildlife
47:13and the livelihoods of Sami herders.
47:21That's it, they've reached the road.
47:28And so have we.
47:32TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
47:37What are they doing, Mikael?
47:39They are eating salt.
47:41Yesterday it was ice on the road, so they put salt on it.
47:44Now they... They love it.
47:46They love it. Of course, like a salt lick, almost.
47:50Yes. When they once find the salt, they will always come back.
47:54It's like a drug.
47:56And they're drawn to the road to eat it
47:58and that presumably results in collisions.
48:00Yes. Most of the people that are driving cars,
48:03they say that reindeer, it is the most stupid animal on the earth.
48:08Because they stand on the salt, just waiting to get hit by a car.
48:15So that affects their migration, their movement,
48:18your ability to herd them?
48:20Yes, it does.
48:22We are already so affected by everything you can imagine.
48:26We have the railroad, we have the hydropower.
48:29I'm just 15 kilometres away from here.
48:32Power lines.
48:34How do the power lines affect you and the reindeer?
48:38They stop before the power line.
48:40There's something that we don't see.
48:43Something is scaring them.
48:45They avoid the power lines.
48:47We don't need more things that affect us.
48:52It's so difficult, isn't it?
48:54Because obviously people will say that Lapland needs development,
48:59it needs jobs,
49:01but understandably you see your way of life being threatened.
49:06I see it that way, yes.
49:08It's like a lifestyle that's slowly fading away.
49:12The major threat here is climate change.
49:15The Arctic's heating nearly four times faster
49:17than the rest of the planet.
49:19It's simply not as cold as it is normally.
49:21This kind of snow, it's usually in the springtime,
49:25and now we're in the middle of the winter.
49:27It should be 30 minus.
49:29Should it really?
49:31Yes, but now it's almost 10.
49:33So you're caught really in a terrible catch-22, I sense,
49:40where on the one hand you're seeing climate change.
49:44I have seen it for almost 20 years now.
49:48On the other hand, you're threatened by the industry
49:52that is being developed to try and help prevent
49:56or at least mitigate the climate change that we're all threatened by.
50:01A rock and a hard place.
50:04The ones who get sacrificed, it's us, we, the rangers,
50:07the ranger herders, the Sami people.
50:09The thing I wonder, why do you have to destroy the planet to save it?
50:14It's quite, it doesn't make sense to me.
50:18I don't know.
50:33Not far from where Mikael herds his reindeer
50:36is the small Swedish mining town of Koruna.
50:40Legend says in the mid-1600s, a farmer hunting squirrels
50:44found a strange heavy black rock here.
50:47No doubt it was iron ore.
50:49Koruna's grown up around what's now a vast underground iron ore mine,
50:54the biggest in the world.
50:56All the mining and tunnelling underground has, of course,
50:59turned the land here, this area, into Swiss cheese.
51:02And it's destabilised many of the buildings here.
51:06And as a result, a number of them have got to be destroyed
51:10and a large part of the town here has got to be moved.
51:15So some of the buildings here, they're actually just relocating.
51:18This huge old church, for example, they're going to jack that up
51:22and then later this year they're going to move it to a new location
51:26at the very stately pace of half a mile an hour.
51:29Much of Koruna is being moved so they can keep digging underground
51:34because for Sweden and for Europe, the mine is vital.
51:39Geologist Laura Lowry works for LKAB,
51:43the state-owned Swedish mining company.
51:46They've extracted more than two billion tonnes of iron ore
51:49from this mine alone.
51:51By one reckoning, that's equivalent to the top third of Mount Everest.
51:55We headed in.
51:57There you see the mine entrance.
51:59So this is the largest underground iron ore mine in the world.
52:04It's about 80% what we use in Europe.
52:0880% of Europe's iron ore comes from here?
52:12Yeah. I would guess that if you have products that have been produced in Europe
52:17that contain steel, then it mostly comes from here.
52:22Well, this is very definitely not like the mine in Svalbard.
52:28So we will just park the car here.
52:30All right.
52:32We were nearly a mile underground.
52:35A subterranean world of huge tunnels, offices,
52:39a staff canteen, coffee machines, even pot plants.
52:46Hiya. Hello, hello, hello.
52:49It's one of the most high-tech mines in the world.
52:52And Emil is a very modern sort of miner.
52:56Hello. Hello.
52:58What are you doing? I'm remotely operating.
53:01I have my cameras on the machine. Yeah.
53:04And I also have a rock breaker to break the larger boulders.
53:07Oh, my goodness.
53:10So now I've just pressed the button and now it's going to dump the bucket.
53:13What's going on? It's driving itself.
53:15It's driving itself. It's autonomously.
53:17So now it's going to the ore pass and it dumps the rock down the ore pass.
53:21Right.
53:22And then it returns to the drift where I fill the bucket.
53:26So this is a very new style mining, isn't it?
53:30Where are the hard calluses on your hands?
53:33No. Where's your pick and your shovel?
53:35No, no pick and shovel here.
53:36Now you have a joystick.
53:37Yeah, joystick and Xbox control.
53:40Look, we mustn't film this because all the youngsters watching
53:44who are playing on their consoles will say,
53:47look, mum and dad, this is why I need to be gaming,
53:50so I can work in a Swedish mine.
53:52Exactly.
53:53So now I'm shaking the bucket.
53:55No, you're not. Go on, give the bucket a little shake.
53:59Oh, my goodness.
54:00You seem very happy with your job.
54:02Yeah, I like my job. This is very fun.
54:05Miles underground, machines do most of the dangerous and grubby work.
54:10Machines bring the iron ore to the surface.
54:13And if something goes wrong, there's someone, or something,
54:17who goes to investigate.
54:19This looks like a kennel.
54:21It does look like a kennel.
54:35Oh, my goodness.
54:45The robot reconnaissance dog can be sent
54:47into the most dangerous parts of the mine.
54:50I was a little bit taken aback.
54:52That's my first time in a mine.
54:54I've never been in a mine before.
54:56I've never been in a mine before.
54:58I've never been in a mine before.
55:00I've never been in a mine before.
55:02I was a little bit taken aback.
55:04That was my first time anywhere on the planet
55:07I have encountered a moving robotic creature, as it were.
55:13What can Spot do?
55:15After the blasting, it checks if something has happened,
55:18if there have been any rockfalls.
55:20This is like the future of mining here, isn't it?
55:23Taking humans, not out of the equation,
55:26but out of the danger zone.
55:28Yeah, yeah, yeah.
55:33HORN HONKS
55:36Come on, you've got to see this.
55:38Look.
55:40See, I'll bring it out.
55:44They really have put dog treats in here.
55:50The miners and their machines are still exploring underground here,
55:53hunting for more iron deep beneath the snows of Lapland.
55:57But a couple of years ago, they made a startling discovery,
56:00which could be a game-changer for the whole of Europe
56:03and for the future of green technology.
56:06Under this forested area here, we have another iron ore body,
56:10which contains quite a lot of iron, phosphorus and also rare earth elements.
56:16Rare earth elements.
56:18Most used ones are, for example, neodymium and praseodymium
56:22that are used, for example, for the wind turbines and battery technology.
56:27There's 17 rare earth minerals, including samarium, europium and scandium.
56:32They're critical for next-generation tech.
56:34What coal was to the 19th century and oil to the 20th.
56:38Rare earth elements could be to the 21st.
56:41So I've got a couple of pieces of drill core,
56:43and there's quite a lot of this pink and whitish minerals here,
56:47and that's the mineral apatite,
56:49the phosphorus mineral that contains also the rare earths.
56:51We have numbers that show that this deposit,
56:54it's almost one billion tonnes of ore.
56:56That's billion with a B.
56:58Yeah, one billion tonnes of ore.
57:01Here, these are the fundamentals of potentially of Europe's future economy.
57:06It's really true, and this only strengthens the importance of this region.
57:12This is geopolitics right here.
57:15The great powers are now scrambling to secure rare earth minerals.
57:20China currently has most of them.
57:23Europe doesn't produce any.
57:25This mine could change that.
57:28The environment here will be affected.
57:31Perhaps we don't have a choice.
57:33But it's a consequence we shouldn't ignore.
57:35You can see a train moving down there, taking out iron ore.
57:41What's happening here is really important.
57:44Europe is going to need these rare earth minerals and metals
57:49if we're going to transition to a cleaner, greener future,
57:52there are costs.
58:03Next time, I'm in Western Scandinavia, Orka,
58:07exploring the fjords of Norway
58:10and further west, the volcanoes of Iceland.
58:13I need to get out of here.
58:22Transcription by ESO. Translation by —
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