4A. Forces of nature — Workbook

The small town of Longyearbyen, on the Norwegian island of Svalbard, is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth. In the last thirty years, average winter temperatures have risen by more than 4 °C. Local scientists predict that by 2050 the town will have lost more than a third of its permafrost, and the airport runway, built directly on frozen ground, will be shifting slightly every year. Most houses are already on stilts. Tourists still come for the northern lights and the polar bears, but by the end of this decade the guides will be leading visitors along completely different routes — the old glacier trails have become too dangerous. Locals joke, darkly, that their grandchildren will be growing tomatoes in the garden.