I was recently taking a look at a long-ago article published in Fly Travel: Norilsk, the worst city to live in. I was frankly awed by what this place offers under its little honorific title: extreme pollution, acid rain, an inhuman cold, a gray and dim light … The truth is that I could not help but feel sorry for the people of Norilsk.
However, reading this text led me to investigate what has happened to the city in recent times; And the truth is, without being a paradise or a place where I would like to live, the truth is that the lion is not as fierce as they paint it. Norilsk is going ahead with future projects to improve their living conditions, and curiously it is a place where people suffer much less from depression than in other Russian capitals …
Degrees and degrees below zero …
Norilsk is located about three thousand kilometers from Moscow, and the route is saved in about four hours thanks to the local Nord Star airlines. What is certain is that the temperatures in this place are really impressive: in November they are around 28 degrees below zero … Something that does not intimidate its inhabitants. In December 2012, a Russian journalist went to Norilsk to see and learn how people lived in "the worst city in the world", and was pleasantly surprised to find some citizens happy with their living conditions.
The problem of pollution
One of the most unpleasant aspects of Norilsk is without a doubt its factories, especially those of the company MMC Norilsk Nickel. Although this city is not yet the most polluted in Russia, it is on the right track to be so … So for the year 2019 a project has been established (with a price of billions of dollars) that will help reduce it by about 4.5 parts sulfur dioxide discharges into the atmosphere. It is curious to note that, although the air quality in this city is quite bad, this is not the case with the water, which is considered almost the best in the country.
Every week, arguishim
But if something characterizes the inhabitants of Norilsk, it is undoubtedly their joy. Far from suffering levels of depression similar to those of the rest of the Russians (of the highest on the planet), they like to have fun. The keyword for them is arguishim, a concept related to fishing and interesting travel. They are events that are held every week for fun, the most important of which is the great arguish, a party that celebrates the beginning of the “great polar night”. Norilsk is undoubtedly a cold city… But its inhabitants have a warm heart and spirit!