8 ms·

Norilsk: Otherworldly Photos of an Arctic City

128 points by dskrvk 7y ago

pmoriarty 7y ago
Shame that this is yet another website that requires Javascript to simply to display some static images.
nnq 7y ago
Wow. I find these places amazing. I don't understand how they can "work". Like in... why do people stay?! Russia's a huge country and with free movement you'd imagine such places would get depopulated quickly...
- alexott 7y ago
  Very good compensation, you can retire earlier, etc. Talking about living in other places - you can leave in Siberia believe Arctic circle and still have -40C for a long time, etc.
  - rinchik 7y ago
    "Very good compensation" - haha, unfortunately not true. Well... they get "milk coupons" though (to literally get a couple liters of free milk per month), as a "sorry" for the exposure to the dangerous environments and toxins at work. It's more a legacy inherited from USSR where it was largely believed that milk reduces the danger of hard work envs, removes toxins: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%BE_%D0%B7%D0%B0_%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA...
    - netsuileo 7y ago
      Salaries in Norilsk are really 2-3 times more high than in Krasnoyarsk, for example. But same applies to prices too, unfortunately. And that is true about milk thing in USSR, people actually still believe that milk removes toxins.
      - avodonosov 7y ago
        In Minecraft milk removes potion and poison effects
  - dredmorbius 7y ago
    Typos?
- rinchik 7y ago
  "free movement" - false. Why did people stay in Detroit when it was down? Moving is not as easy as it seems. Only very few have courage to leave their nest. But that's a whole different story. In Russia, besides the fact that movement is not "free" because of propiska ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propiska_in_the_Soviet_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propiska_in_the_Soviet_Union ), general conservative propaganda highly encourages pin-pointed "nationalism". You leave your city - you are a traitor, how could you leave your friends and family.
  - netsuileo 7y ago
    Well, "propiska" in Russia is a dying institution, actually no one is really interested where your "propiska" is. In recent past there were some troubles finding job without "propiska" in region, but it passed. We have fees for people, who do live outside of their "propiska" region and do not tell government where they live, but these fees applied to people extremely rarely. About "traitor" thing - well, usually everybody understand that there are better places to live than small city in Siberia. People move very often. For example, after school 20% of my classmates moved outside of Siberia and almost everybody left my small city and moved to a bigger one. I were born in Siberia and moved to Saint-Petersburg a year ago -- no one called me a traitor. They even come as guests, stay in my apartment and sometimes think about moving too. I've met a couple of people from Norilsk - they are glad they moved out, but proud of the place of their origin. Which I consider pretty healthy position.
  - ivan_gammel 7y ago
    „Propiska“ was a Soviet thing and it no longer exists in the same form - in no way it restricts free movement. It is called now a registration on a place of residence and it is a thing that exists in many countries. There’s no difference between the Russian registration and German Anmeldung - they restrict your life in a similar way (though in Russia you have much more time to register).
  - avodonosov 7y ago
    Strange fantasy
- deanCommie 7y ago
  1) Basic economics. Most people around the world do not have the means to uproot their lives and move. It's a big 2) Momentum and roots. Norilsk was founded in 1935, which means at this point you have multiple generations of families for whom it's their home. 3) Work and money. Norilsk exists because of mining. It continues to employ mostly people in mining, and pays them reasonably well for the harsh environment.
  - hn_throwaway_99 7y ago
    I think your comment #2 is the most important one. Basically, people just get used to it. I think this way about a lot of cities that are basically awful when it comes to human habitation. For example, New Delhi. I visited New Delhi a couple of times for work and I couldn't imagine why anyone with means wouldn't get the hell out of there ASAP. Especially the area around Gurgaon reminded me of something out of Bladerunner. The pollution was just so ungodly indescribable I couldn't stand being outside for even a couple minutes. But a lot of my Indian colleagues stayed there by choice. They thought the pollution was bad, too, but they looked at it in more of a "pros vs cons" mindset, where I looked at it in a "not being able to see the sun at noon due to smog is a deal breaker for me" mindset.
- siruncledrew 7y ago
  In the gallery it says just outside Norilsk is the biggest metallurgical mine in the world. So it's an industrial city.
- ivan_gammel 7y ago
  Russian north is either industrial (mining, oil and gas), commercial (sea ports) or military and have enough money for people to spend some part of their life there. Norilsk is not the only city on the far north, though probably one of the most notable ones along with Mirny (huge diamond mine).
- dimitar 7y ago
  The plants and mines around the city have a double digit percentage share of the world production of platinum, palladium, nickel, rhodium, cobalt and other metals. The area is extremely rich in resources. Looking at the way people live they definitely deserve a bigger share of those resources. The company that produces those metals and spoils the environment is owned by billionaires Vladimir Potanin, Oleg Deripaska and others, closely associated with Putin.
- throwaway5752 7y ago
  It has the richest nickel-copper reserves in the world. Sulfide deposits from the vents of the largest large igneous province known (Siberian traps). People would be paid whatever is necessary to stay.
robertelder 7y ago
I find this city fascinating for some reason. It's something about the fact that it's so harsh, but humans are still able to live there. Here's a YouTube video of it that makes it look almost artistic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9E9XQp_2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9E9XQp_2k
- antisthenes 7y ago
  Make no mistake - humans are only able to live there while burning copious amounts of hydrocarbons to stay warm and/or generate electricity. And they don't live particularly well. Also at the massive cost to the surrounding environment. I guess Inuits live in the extreme cold as well, but their entire world population is smaller than the city of Norilsk.
  - lostmsu 7y ago
    > Also at the massive cost to the surrounding environment. Assuming you didn't mean global warming here, there was never much of environment there humans could damage.
    - saagarjha 7y ago
      > there was never much of environment there humans could damage There’s a lot of ways humans can ruin the environment even without global warming.
      - lostmsu 7y ago
        By "there" I mean Norilsk.
  - Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
    Trust me, global warming does not sound like something bad for citizens of Norilsk.
    - est31 7y ago
tomohawk 7y ago
Its amazing what unfettered socialism can lead to.
- rinchik 7y ago
  Great point. Not sure about unfettered though, it's just socialism period. Everything is controlled by the government and not the market. Planned economy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy). Unfortunately some see socialism as a candy, a glorious oasis we should all paddle towards without realization that it's a giant trap. A pure hell with great marketing for ordinary people.
  - newshorts 7y ago
    Like Denmark?
    - rinchik 7y ago
      Ah right, great fallacy! Great argument! Love when people throw Denmark, with population of 5M, under the bus while having not a slightest idea of what's actually going on. And why bother researching. Good old bernie sanders already said US can become a Denmark of tomorrow. Right? Right?? :D
      - tom_ 7y ago
        Your argument could be improved. Like, for starters: what is actually going on? Don't leave us in suspense. Spit it out, lad.
        rinchik 7y ago
        That could be a great and passionate discussion over a beer with snacks and pizza. But since we are far removed (on the "internet") I'll just say that socialists tendencies are extremely destructive long term in complex economies/countries. My arguments are a nagging, somewhat harsh (maybe annoying), nudge towards research and unbiased conclusions about the matter. Unless you are a running "democratic" politician, you should get the gist.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Merrill 7y ago
Sudbury Ontario is farther south and has a warmer climate. However, it is of a similar size, fairly isolated, and has severe environmental problems due to a history of nickel mining and smelting.
archagon 7y ago
I recommend watching the documentary “A Moon of Nickel and Ice” about some of the varied inhabitants of this city. Interesting interviews and great cinematography. Free for Prime members: https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Nickel-Ice-François-Jacob/dp/B07592GDWN https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Nickel-Ice-François-Jacob/dp/B07...
MagnumPIG 7y ago
Much less cyclopean than I expected!
PopeDotNinja 7y ago
My favorite Norilsk trivia is that the topsoil is so polluted that it'd be profitable to mine it for heavy metals. [1] [1] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15120490-300-rich-pickings-from-russias-polluted-soils/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15120490-300-rich-pic...

128 points by dskrvk 7y ago

Shame that this is yet another website that requires Javascript to simply to display some static images.

nnq 7y ago

Wow. I find these places amazing. I don't understand how they can "work". Like in... why do people stay?! Russia's a huge country and with free movement you'd imagine such places would get depopulated quickly...

alexott 7y ago
Very good compensation, you can retire earlier, etc. Talking about living in other places - you can leave in Siberia believe Arctic circle and still have -40C for a long time, etc.
- rinchik 7y ago
  "Very good compensation" - haha, unfortunately not true. Well... they get "milk coupons" though (to literally get a couple liters of free milk per month), as a "sorry" for the exposure to the dangerous environments and toxins at work. It's more a legacy inherited from USSR where it was largely believed that milk reduces the danger of hard work envs, removes toxins: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%BE_%D0%B7%D0%B0_%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA...
  - netsuileo 7y ago
    Salaries in Norilsk are really 2-3 times more high than in Krasnoyarsk, for example. But same applies to prices too, unfortunately. And that is true about milk thing in USSR, people actually still believe that milk removes toxins.
    - avodonosov 7y ago
      In Minecraft milk removes potion and poison effects
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  Typos?
rinchik 7y ago
"free movement" - false. Why did people stay in Detroit when it was down? Moving is not as easy as it seems. Only very few have courage to leave their nest. But that's a whole different story. In Russia, besides the fact that movement is not "free" because of propiska ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propiska_in_the_Soviet_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propiska_in_the_Soviet_Union ), general conservative propaganda highly encourages pin-pointed "nationalism". You leave your city - you are a traitor, how could you leave your friends and family.
- netsuileo 7y ago
  Well, "propiska" in Russia is a dying institution, actually no one is really interested where your "propiska" is. In recent past there were some troubles finding job without "propiska" in region, but it passed. We have fees for people, who do live outside of their "propiska" region and do not tell government where they live, but these fees applied to people extremely rarely. About "traitor" thing - well, usually everybody understand that there are better places to live than small city in Siberia. People move very often. For example, after school 20% of my classmates moved outside of Siberia and almost everybody left my small city and moved to a bigger one. I were born in Siberia and moved to Saint-Petersburg a year ago -- no one called me a traitor. They even come as guests, stay in my apartment and sometimes think about moving too. I've met a couple of people from Norilsk - they are glad they moved out, but proud of the place of their origin. Which I consider pretty healthy position.
- ivan_gammel 7y ago
  „Propiska“ was a Soviet thing and it no longer exists in the same form - in no way it restricts free movement. It is called now a registration on a place of residence and it is a thing that exists in many countries. There’s no difference between the Russian registration and German Anmeldung - they restrict your life in a similar way (though in Russia you have much more time to register).
- avodonosov 7y ago
  Strange fantasy
deanCommie 7y ago
1) Basic economics. Most people around the world do not have the means to uproot their lives and move. It's a big 2) Momentum and roots. Norilsk was founded in 1935, which means at this point you have multiple generations of families for whom it's their home. 3) Work and money. Norilsk exists because of mining. It continues to employ mostly people in mining, and pays them reasonably well for the harsh environment.
- hn_throwaway_99 7y ago
  I think your comment #2 is the most important one. Basically, people just get used to it. I think this way about a lot of cities that are basically awful when it comes to human habitation. For example, New Delhi. I visited New Delhi a couple of times for work and I couldn't imagine why anyone with means wouldn't get the hell out of there ASAP. Especially the area around Gurgaon reminded me of something out of Bladerunner. The pollution was just so ungodly indescribable I couldn't stand being outside for even a couple minutes. But a lot of my Indian colleagues stayed there by choice. They thought the pollution was bad, too, but they looked at it in more of a "pros vs cons" mindset, where I looked at it in a "not being able to see the sun at noon due to smog is a deal breaker for me" mindset.
siruncledrew 7y ago
In the gallery it says just outside Norilsk is the biggest metallurgical mine in the world. So it's an industrial city.
ivan_gammel 7y ago
Russian north is either industrial (mining, oil and gas), commercial (sea ports) or military and have enough money for people to spend some part of their life there. Norilsk is not the only city on the far north, though probably one of the most notable ones along with Mirny (huge diamond mine).
dimitar 7y ago
The plants and mines around the city have a double digit percentage share of the world production of platinum, palladium, nickel, rhodium, cobalt and other metals. The area is extremely rich in resources. Looking at the way people live they definitely deserve a bigger share of those resources. The company that produces those metals and spoils the environment is owned by billionaires Vladimir Potanin, Oleg Deripaska and others, closely associated with Putin.
throwaway5752 7y ago
It has the richest nickel-copper reserves in the world. Sulfide deposits from the vents of the largest large igneous province known (Siberian traps). People would be paid whatever is necessary to stay.

robertelder 7y ago

I find this city fascinating for some reason. It's something about the fact that it's so harsh, but humans are still able to live there. Here's a YouTube video of it that makes it look almost artistic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9E9XQp_2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9E9XQp_2k

antisthenes 7y ago
Make no mistake - humans are only able to live there while burning copious amounts of hydrocarbons to stay warm and/or generate electricity. And they don't live particularly well. Also at the massive cost to the surrounding environment. I guess Inuits live in the extreme cold as well, but their entire world population is smaller than the city of Norilsk.
- lostmsu 7y ago
  > Also at the massive cost to the surrounding environment. Assuming you didn't mean global warming here, there was never much of environment there humans could damage.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    > there was never much of environment there humans could damage There’s a lot of ways humans can ruin the environment even without global warming.
    - lostmsu 7y ago
      By "there" I mean Norilsk.
- Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
  Trust me, global warming does not sound like something bad for citizens of Norilsk.
  - est31 7y ago

tomohawk 7y ago

Its amazing what unfettered socialism can lead to.

rinchik 7y ago
Great point. Not sure about unfettered though, it's just socialism period. Everything is controlled by the government and not the market. Planned economy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy). Unfortunately some see socialism as a candy, a glorious oasis we should all paddle towards without realization that it's a giant trap. A pure hell with great marketing for ordinary people.
- newshorts 7y ago
  Like Denmark?
  - rinchik 7y ago
    Ah right, great fallacy! Great argument! Love when people throw Denmark, with population of 5M, under the bus while having not a slightest idea of what's actually going on. And why bother researching. Good old bernie sanders already said US can become a Denmark of tomorrow. Right? Right?? :D
    - tom_ 7y ago
      Your argument could be improved. Like, for starters: what is actually going on? Don't leave us in suspense. Spit it out, lad.
      - rinchik 7y ago
        That could be a great and passionate discussion over a beer with snacks and pizza. But since we are far removed (on the "internet") I'll just say that socialists tendencies are extremely destructive long term in complex economies/countries. My arguments are a nagging, somewhat harsh (maybe annoying), nudge towards research and unbiased conclusions about the matter. Unless you are a running "democratic" politician, you should get the gist.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Merrill 7y ago

Sudbury Ontario is farther south and has a warmer climate. However, it is of a similar size, fairly isolated, and has severe environmental problems due to a history of nickel mining and smelting.

archagon 7y ago

I recommend watching the documentary “A Moon of Nickel and Ice” about some of the varied inhabitants of this city. Interesting interviews and great cinematography. Free for Prime members: https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Nickel-Ice-François-Jacob/dp/B07592GDWN https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Nickel-Ice-François-Jacob/dp/B07...

MagnumPIG 7y ago

Much less cyclopean than I expected!

PopeDotNinja 7y ago

My favorite Norilsk trivia is that the topsoil is so polluted that it'd be profitable to mine it for heavy metals. [1] [1] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15120490-300-rich-pickings-from-russias-polluted-soils/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15120490-300-rich-pic...