Hi everyone, thanks for your feedback and kind support! I've been enjoying the replies that have come in so far, and, as per usual, I want to share some of the things I've learned and address some comments. - Thank you to @Davidthorsteinsson7502 , who wrote a few long comments about the intersection of Allemansrätten, Norse mythology, and the Norse language. Essentially, much of this section in the video seems to be based on shaky research. For example, the aurora borealis finds very little mention in Old Norse literature. The story about the Northern Lights being a reflection off the shields of the Valkyrie seems to have been invented in the 19th century. Make sure to find David's comment below for more interesting information on this! - I can't believe this happened but: I totally misspelled Allemansrätten several times in the video. You'd think that if you work on a single video for weeks, you'd catch the misspelling of the NAME OF THE SUBJECT YOU'RE DISCUSSING but apparently it slipped through. I remember making some changes mere minutes before the final export and changing them from the correct version to the incorrect version, for whatever reason. I now changed the spelling back to the correct version (wherever I could). Maybe this warrants a re-upload at some point in the future, but for now I will leave it up as it is. Thank you for understanding :) - Some of you have pointed out that this type of "right" seems to be the lived experience in many places, even if there are no well-defined access laws on the books. This could have been a whole separate chapter in the video, which I chose to leave out. In reality, the lived experience of transgressing laws surrounding, for example, wilderness camping differ greatly between places. For example, it seems like the Balkans don't technically have very liberal access rights, but people can and do wild camp all the time. - Finally, I'm not oblivious to the connection between the social trust in countries like Sweden and the historical ethnic and cultural homogeneity of these places (This is a pattern that can be observed throughout the world, from Scandinavia to Japan). Nor am I oblivious to the fact that the social makeup of Sweden has changed significantly in the last years. There is a conversation to be had about what these changes mean for social trust and Allemansrätten. I guarantee you, I am not one to shut this down. But when groups of humans are being referred to as "hordes", a term that very clearly evokes imagery of animals, I'm just not on board with that. Have some decency, state your concerns clearly, and allow the other side to actually hear what you have to say, instead of propagating talking points that you know full well won't sway anyone. Cheers!
Thanks for pointing this out! In my research I also learned that in Norway, there are quite a few lawsuits brought to individuals who build their cabins too close to the shore, making it impossible for hikers to reach the coastline. Also, my Swedish friend told me that back when he was a child, he would make his way to his friends through random people's yards all the time - it was just a normal thing to do! This is so fascinating to me, because where I am from this would result in big trouble!
We have something very similar in the UK, you can walk through nearly all farmland and estates. Though equally you can be charged with trespassing when you go on people's homes and gardens and commercial/industrial land. Which sounds really similar to what you described in this. I think this isn't dissimilar in much if not most of Europe.
Hi there, thanks for your comment! My information on the situation in the UK was in part informed by this podcast by the New Economics Foundation (neweconomics.org/2023/03/new-economics-podcast-the-right-to-roam). Here, the contributors argue that access rights in England are being taken away one piece of land at a time and that the lack of a body that deals with access rights makes it difficult to produce a serious resistance to this trend. You will also hear how Scotland dealt and continues to deal with this issue. Most of the land in both Scotland and England is held privately, but Scottish people get to access almost all land, while this is not a right in England. If you have a different perspective on this, I'd be curious to hear it! Thanks again!
This was a pretty good video. I have a bit of a gripe to raise about the aurora in Norse mythology though: Surprisingly enough, there's very little mention of the aurora in actual Old Norse literature. You'd think that something like the aurora would be central in the mythology of any culture that interacted with them, but apparently they just weren't for the Norse. Of course, people in the past have made all kinds of claims about the Norse beliefs surrounding the aurora and they've been spread pretty heavily, to the point where they would seem credible to anyone not familiar with the actual literature of the Norse, so I don't blame you at all for believing them. One of the more common ones, which you mentioned in the video, is that they are the bridge Bifrǫst which connects Miðgarðr and Ásgarðr. But our original sources state pretty clearly that this bridge is actually the rainbow: here's a quote from the Prose Edda (written about 1250AD) in the original Old Norse, plus an English translation: Old Norse: Þá mælti Gangleri: "Hver er leið til himins af jǫrðu?" Þá svarar Hár ok hló við: "Eigi er nú fróðliga spurt. Er þér eigi sagt þat er guðin gørðu brú af jǫrðu til himins, er heitir Bifrǫst? Hana muntu sét hafa, kann vera at þat kallir þú regnboga. Hon er með þrim litum ok mjǫk sterk ok gǫr með list ok kunnáttu meiri en aðrar smíðir. English: Then Gangleri said: "What is the way to the sky from the earth?" Then Hár responds, laughing: "That's not a wise man's question. Didn't anyone ever tell you that the gods made a bridge to the sky called Bifrǫst? You must have seen it, though you might call it the rainbow. It's made of three colours, it's very strong, and it's made with more artistry and skill than most other creations" (colour terms worked a bit differently in Old Norse, which is why he says it's made with three colours rather than what are traditionally 7 in English). Another common myth you mentioned is that the aurora are the reflections of light from the shields or armor of the valkyries (which I wouldn't necessarily call angels of death, more like Odin's prestigious group of hired help for finding strong warriors to fight at Ragnarǫk). As far as I can tell, this story originates in the book _Bulfinch's Mythology_ published in 1867. I don't know where Bullfinch got that idea, but it's possible that this could be a story he got from Scandinavian folklore of his own time (though probably more likely that he just invented it). As far as I know, this is never implied in actual preserved medieval sources. As far as I know, the only time that the northern lights are mentioned in medieval sources is in Konungs Skuggsjá, written in Norway in about 1250, which is a long time after Norway became Christian. The quotation is a bit long for a RUclips comment, and heaven knows I don't have time to translate it properly right now, but he mostly goes on for a while describing them, then suggesting many different theories as to how they could originate, e.g. that they could be the glow from the fires surrounding the ocean which surrounds the world, or that the frost and cold occasionally become so intense that they begin to glow. You'll notice that the only mention of the northern lights in Norse sources comes way after the Christianisation of Scandinavia. That's not a coincidence, since the vast, vast, _vast_ majority of our sources are. It could be that the aurora had some role in Norse myth (I can't imagine they didn't). but whatever their role was, it wasn't important enough for Snorri to write down in the Prose Edda or for it to appear in any of our preserved poems, so whatever (probably) minor role they played has unfortunately been lost to time. Anyways, great video and sorry for the essay!
Yeah, it's mostly close to the Arctic circle and further north where the aurora is regularly visible, I grew up an hour north of Oslo and I've never seen it. It's only ever visible this far south very rarely when there's a big solar storm. But from what I have heard, the northern lights are very prominent in Sami culture. Apparently it's seen as somewhat evil or at least ominous and you're not supposed to acknowledge it or it might hurt you.
Hi David, thank you so very much for this detailed comment! I will readily admit that I did not delve deep enough into Norse mythology, or Sami culture, for that matter, to arrive at this level of engagement with ancient mythology, and so I'm genuinely grateful for your insights into this matter. Would it be fair to say that you're an enthusiast about Norse mythology? Where does your knowledge about this stuff come from? I'm very curious! Thanks a ton and hope to hear from you!
@@library_of_everything Hi! No worries, I'm happy to help. I would say that I'm more of an enthusiast of the language than the mythology, but whenever you read anything in Old Norse a lot of the material will be about the mythology, so you kind of can't avoid learning a lot about it alongside the language. The main reason why you can't really separate the language from the mythology is how much of the surviving myths are preserved as poems, not to mention that our other biggest source for the mythology (the Prose Edda, which I quoted in my previous comment) is basically a poetry textbook. So as for where I learned about this stuff, reading the sources is obviously the biggest factor. I know that the original text isn't maybe the most accessible seeing as you basically have to learn a new language in order to be able to read it, but there are some great English translations like Henry Adams Bellows' 1936 translation of the Poetic Edda. It's a bit archaic in places (which is probably mostly a consequence of observing the alliterative structure of the original), but still pretty easily readable. It also has really good notes explaining what the poem is talking about, since the original was originally written for an audience familiar with the stories. It's in the public domain now, so you can find it at voluspa .org (RUclips doesn't like links in the comments, so I had to put a space), or in the Internet Sacred Text Archive. If you'd prefer a more modern translation, I would recommend Jackson Crawford's translation, though you'd have to buy a copy of that one. Actually, Jackson Crawford has a really good RUclips channel where he talks about all kinds of topics related to the language and literature of the Norse. He's a specialist on the language, so he's an excellent and easily accessible source of information. He has great sort of Sparknotes-esque summaries of most of biggest poems and sagas, and he even sometimes does full readings of poems from the Poetic Edda and translates each stanza as he goes, which is a great treat. A lot of his videos are also made with the assumption in mind that not everyone in the audience will have the time or will to read the actual texts, so he's an excellent sort of expert secondary source if reading the texts themselves feels like too much of a commitment. Hope that helps! PS I can't say I know much about Sami culture, but that's interesting about their view on the aurora. I don't remember having heard that before.
@@davidthorsteinsson7502 Hi again, thanks for your response. You're opening up a whole new world here. I will definitely check out Jackson Crawford's channel and watch a few videos. I realize typing this that I haven't really been enthused about a language as such in quite some time, and so the prospect of digging into this subject is pretty enticing. I also had to laugh a bit when you said that there's a better, more modern version of the Poetic Edda, because I once tried to read an older translation of meditations by Marcus Aurelius and got bitten, before I paid a bit more and got a more modern one, so the latter would probably be my choice! Thanks again for offering this up and hope you have a nice weekend!
Hi Stefan, thanks for your kind words and your feedback! I'm glad you found the video informative! Regarding your pointers, I realized I misspelled Allemansrätten for most of the video. This is a really annoying mistake, especially since I had it right throughout and only changed it a few hours before upload. But I will write a bigger disclaimer soon and address it. The other two things were really interesting to hear because I had similar thoughts about these exact parts, especially the two similar-looking videos, but couldn't seem to find any better footage. Thank you for your eye for detail!
It’s only permitted to sleep at one spot for one night, not two nights. Also it’s not allowed to pick all flowers and twigs. But otherwise you are correct
In Norway picking flowers and berries is allowed. All twigs are not equall, if you want to pick twigs for a twig stove nobody would care. And it's two nights in Norway.
Really good video, you've gained a subscriber. I will say that Ireland's GDP is misleading - there's no denying that we are a wealthy country and that we absolutely should be making more of an effort to support sustainable practices, but our GDP makes us look better off than we are because so many tech giants have their European headquarters here. Their money doesn't necessarily hit our economy in the way it's supposed to thanks to fancy tax arrangements.
Hi there! Thank you for your kind words! I considered getting into this in the video, but I do have to make decisions every once in a while on what to delve into and what to leave sort of up in the air. You are obviously 100% correct about this: when you look at OECD rankings, for example, Ireland is totally midfield in terms of income (www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/ireland/). Thanks for pointing this out and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
I'm from Bosnia and I thought it's like this everywhere? (Well, at least in Europe). I've been camping wherever i wanted since i was 13. I don't believe a law like in the Nordics exist, but isn't it common sense?
Here in switzerland you are not allowed to camp in a tent (only above the treeline in the mountains, if necessary) but we circumvent the law by using hammocks and sleeping in places that are not frequented much.
That's very interesting! Many places have the written law around this subject and then an implicit law as well. So for example in Albania there's not technically a right to roam, but effectively I hear stories of people camping wild there all the time. This makes me wonder whether there really is a need for a right to roam when people already live as though it exists. Regarding the question of common sense, it's a matter of definition. In Germany, for example, it's considered "common sense" to not disturb nature at all, because humans are generally seen as enemies to nature who are best kept away from it in order for nature to flourish.
@@library_of_everything I have to disagree with you on the "common sense" part. I think the main reason it is technically illegal is to prevent random people from just pitching their tents in the wilderness. If it was legal, the forests in germany would be full of people who don't really care and leave their garbage behind & you also have to consider that forests in germany are not as vast as in some nordic countries. That's the exact reason why here in switzerland it is technically not legal to go camping in the woods. It prevents people that have no idea what they are doing & how to treat nature from destroying the forests. We have a lot of places that are really attractive for mindless tourists...so having to actually research the laws surrounding camping out in the wilderness is like a filter to prevent those people from fucking up the enviroment.
Unusually I’m happy at RUclips algorithm suggestion. May be because I recently searched about some camping rules, after moving to Sweden an year ago. Particularly liked your take from 13:00! Surprised to see only 300+ views on this one after a day. I guess it’ll pickup. ATB.
Hi there, and thanks a ton for your encouraging words! I only recently reactivated this channel and I'm grateful to hear you've found this video helpful and interesting. How nice to be living in Sweden where there is this vast amount of nature around you, at your disposal. Thanks again!
Great content, and as a Swede I can confirm that this clearly explains why we (yes, including Greta) generally are among those most concerned about the changes seen due to global warming. Many of us experience the changes first hand as part of Allemansrätten. For sure we do have deniers also here, but personally I prefer being safe than sorry. Thanks!
Thanks for your perspective on this! I totally can see how the Connectedness to Nature idea would work wonders for a people in their relationship to the threat of climate change! Better safe than sorry seems like a great way to go about it as well. Thank you for your perspective!
In the US, we have almost outlawed non economic existence. If you exist in a space, you must be paying money (mortgage / rent), earning money (at your job), or spending money (at a shop). You are allowed to travel along roadways to move from one economic zone to another - but if you stop along the roadways, you will be challenged by authorities and forced to move along. The only exception to this is parklands, which are severely regulated by states or the federal government and often require a fee to access. The US has far less "freedom" than they realize.
It does feel like that sometimes. Some people have started to use the term "violent space" for this phenomenon, as in the space forces you out whenever you get there. I also find it regrettable that the United States' "best idea" (the national parks) are becoming increasingly expensive and hard to stay in, due to overcrowding. I think that Allemansrätten is just one way to think about land use in new ways. Maybe there is a whole set of ideas that the US could do to kill two birds with one stone in this situation! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Malthusian Darwinism.... You are a chattel slave, a serf, a pleb... Unless we collectively take back our sovereignty the corporation will only tighten it's stranglehold. RISE UP DESTROY ALL VAMPIRES ⚔️
I liked the video. The topic is very important. I think its the question of who owns the country? People or the government. If people "own" the country, then they can acces it, and they are responsible for it at the same time. But if government "owns" it, then it uses it and forbids people from the same. The people feel like its not their business. The relation between this right and littering and caring for land is interesting. In my country government owns forests and we saw in recent years that he abuses his right and cut down large parts of it. Even ancient forest. People get resentfull. If people in a sense felt they have more rights and ownership of the forest and land, they could be more like stewarts, and not only tried to use it and abuse it. But I dont know. Just few thoughts.
Hi there, and thanks for your thoughts! Such an interesting perspective! Are you referring to Poland? I would love to read up on this. This whole issue does indeed bring up questions around the idea of property that we should examine. How do you think a government, or your government, should handle this kind of problem?
@@library_of_everything I am not an expert in this issue. But there was whole debate in Poland about cutting down houndret thousands of trees in "Puszcza Białowieska". Its ancient forest in nature reserve. Government told people that the trees were infected with european spruce bark beetle, but many people didnt believe that. I am not sure what was the truth, becouse there was no proper investigation. I am not sure what should be a solution. I think its best to leave nature alone. It will handle "the problem" when its given time and space. But I might be wrong. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_spruce_bark_beetle#Conservation I will agree with this section of Wikipedia. Logging and cutting infected trees have more devastating effect on the forest than leaving it alone. Its more about ecosystem. Logging industry is trying to save its profits, not the forest itself. Thats the issue. Becouse the wood becomes damaged, but the forest eventually can heal itself and adapt. I think the govermnent should instead do educational programs about cutting down on paper usage. I think we use paper alot more than we need to, becouse its convenient. Nowadays, with everyone having an email, we could cut down paper usage drastically. And use it only when neccesary. I also think that maybe thats not the government issue, but promoting bidets instead of toilet paper would be good idea in the future :)
Hi, I really understand where you're coming from! It reminds me of the Marxist doctrine of reformism, which says that the bourgeoise (land owners, capital owners) will allow small concessions to the proletariat in order to prevent a revolution that would ultimately remove the power from the hands of the upper class (www.marxists. org/archive/lenin/works/1913/sep/12b.htm). This is a totally valid point, which I understand. The state remains the arbiter of power (land, in this case) and the concessions it make are indeed easily revokable. But I would add two caveats to this: 1. The government is subject to elections. Sweden has a very high democracy index, and if there were truly a majority of Swedes who wanted to implement changes to these laws, I think it would be possible. 2. If the state were to remove itself entirely from the arbitration process, then this would mean anarchy over the land (landarchy? patent pending...). Most likely, a few powerful players would gobble up the available land and the people would truly not have access to it. The way it looks to me, property rights and access rights are in near-perfect balance to each other in Sweden. I asked my Swedish friend in the making of this video to find some examples of serious transgressions of Allemansrätten, and he really struggled to find any. He ended up sending me some police report over an RV that was parked in the wrong spot, but it does feel like the combination of social trust, connectedness to nature, and knowledge about nature create a pretty solid framework for the specific Swedish case. Norway does seem to struggle a bit more with "bad" nature enjoyers, which is why they have restricted the right to free camping in a handful of places.
It is generally not allowed to make a camp fire, it's equivalent to cutting down trees/branches since it destroys parts of nature. You should also be a bit careful if you're a group of people. The law is quite "fluffy", it's a lot of freedom with responsibilities, and not as clear cut as most laws.
It's not only a right, but having basic knowledge of basic survival in the wilderness is expected of everyone: i.e. locate a source of water (most running water is clean enough, or you could melt snow in winter) and make a temporary shelter (using a tent, or building a "gapahuk" which is a small roof made of pine tree branches, or simply digging a snowcave). Without water and shelter from the wind and cold, you can easily literally die in less than a day.
This type of connection of the people to the land seems like such a fundamental element of being on this planet. I really think most places have lost this sense of importance around outdoor survival, and it hurts societies and governments alike.
We have that in Germany too, even if not to that extent. We have the Jedermannsrecht (also everymans right), which allowes anyone to go on any non-fenced land and to freely use nature's ressources like twigs, mushrooms and fruits. But sadly camping is not included
Hi Propagandalf, Thanks for your comment! To my mind, the extent of the German Betretungsrecht that I mentioned in the video does not quite encapsulate the Swedish Allemansrätten. In Germany, you can't forage on private lands, you cannot make a fire even on public lands, and you cannot set up camp. Thus, the two systems seem to be different enough to consider them apart from each other. I do wonder though, if I missed something in my research! If there's something you can share with us, I'm sure we'd be happy to hear about it!
@@library_of_everything Like you said, you can't make a fire (due to fire hazard reasons, except if you own the property or have the explicit permission from the owner, which on public land is represented by the Förster (Woods management person). He won't give out permission to make fires to anyone in practice) . But you can gather fruits, berries and small sticks (as kids we often went to the woods and even cut down small trees to make bows and arrows) so like you mentioned, the everyman's right gets weaker the more south you go, but we still have it by name and by practice except for the camping and fire part. But also, you can make a camp for just one night, if it is not in a protected area, no one will say anything against it.
I realized this as well. Very annoying mistake, especially because I had it right just a few moments before uploading, but somehow I changed it everywhere (I blame sleep deprivation!). Anyway, I changed it where possible (Title, thumbnail) and will point it out in a general comment soon!
Hey, that's not pedantic at all! I just realized I misspelled it and changed it in the title and thumbnail. Thanks a lot for drawing my attention to it! And thank you for watching!
Yeaha.. if one like to have an experiens of "Allemansrätten", one should visit Scandinavia, and Finland and Iceland! Oh Finnland and Iceland isnt part of Scandinavia and Denmark have a bit different rules altso.. kinda more like Germany!? Its this.. the rules is for the moste part approriate to every country! In anyway, Sweden, Norway and Finnland (I dont know anything about Iceland) is forested 70% and in Norway fjords and mountains.. 70% wildernes! Its this its unknown owners.. nobody to ask for "trespassing"! Soo.. its comon sens in our countrys to walk and put up a tent "in the countryside", not knowing if its public or private land! And one can put up a campfire to cook food and camp.. even several nights.. its rather this.. old viking rules, one suposed to be able to put up a camp for the night, its Viking hospitality.. in those days! Today its more like.. its a nice spot, I want to stay more days.. its okey as long as one dont disturb any others.. kinda the land owner or the locals! Surprice, surprice.. me as a swede, traveling in Sweden and Norway (and Denmark, its nice but different) there is a lot of comunitys in both Sweden and Norway that like you to "have you to use there "allemansrätten" oportunitys"! Its my perspective that allmoste every small comunity have a "tourist agency".. that funel tourists to there local tourist things, the best they can offer! And as a "fishing guy".. I have learned a lot frome local youth local fishing guides.. and even bought "fishing permits and local made fishflyes for there rivers"! But what about veichels then.. you are not allowed to use motor veichels in the nature or on private land/roads! Surprice surprice.. one probably need to be born in Scandinavia/Finland to understand how many roads can get you to a stop at a lake, river, on a island at a fjord, on top of a mountain.. for free.. Eh Norway have toll roads and ferrys! In anyway, "Summa Summarum", (is it latin?) its this that Scandinavia is low density and high forest areas/more fjords and mountains in Norway.. its this its few people out in the wildernes to tell you how to behave.. or force you to behave! Soo one is still liable for any damage done, its not liability freedom.. its "roaming freedome"!
I wonder how tomorrow’s Arab and African hordes’ understanding of Allamatratan will be and how they will change these laws once they fully take control of these countries. We will find out soon.
Hi Ron, we can have a conversation about the changing demographics in the Nordic countries, but I'm really not on board with calling any group of people a horde. It's unnecessarily dehumanizing and hurtful.
@@library_of_everything Mate, I say this to you respectfully: If you genuinely think the term "hordes" is offensive, much less my intentions behind using that term. . . then I don't think there is any discussion to be had. I think your interpretation of my comment already says more then enough of where you stand on this issue.
Considerations are underway to make changes to the Allemansrätten because that right has been abused to an increasing extent. It is not an answer to your direct question, but touches on law changes.
Hi everyone,
thanks for your feedback and kind support! I've been enjoying the replies that have come in so far, and, as per usual, I want to share some of the things I've learned and address some comments.
- Thank you to @Davidthorsteinsson7502 , who wrote a few long comments about the intersection of Allemansrätten, Norse mythology, and the Norse language. Essentially, much of this section in the video seems to be based on shaky research. For example, the aurora borealis finds very little mention in Old Norse literature. The story about the Northern Lights being a reflection off the shields of the Valkyrie seems to have been invented in the 19th century. Make sure to find David's comment below for more interesting information on this!
- I can't believe this happened but: I totally misspelled Allemansrätten several times in the video. You'd think that if you work on a single video for weeks, you'd catch the misspelling of the NAME OF THE SUBJECT YOU'RE DISCUSSING but apparently it slipped through. I remember making some changes mere minutes before the final export and changing them from the correct version to the incorrect version, for whatever reason. I now changed the spelling back to the correct version (wherever I could). Maybe this warrants a re-upload at some point in the future, but for now I will leave it up as it is. Thank you for understanding :)
- Some of you have pointed out that this type of "right" seems to be the lived experience in many places, even if there are no well-defined access laws on the books. This could have been a whole separate chapter in the video, which I chose to leave out. In reality, the lived experience of transgressing laws surrounding, for example, wilderness camping differ greatly between places. For example, it seems like the Balkans don't technically have very liberal access rights, but people can and do wild camp all the time.
- Finally, I'm not oblivious to the connection between the social trust in countries like Sweden and the historical ethnic and cultural homogeneity of these places (This is a pattern that can be observed throughout the world, from Scandinavia to Japan). Nor am I oblivious to the fact that the social makeup of Sweden has changed significantly in the last years. There is a conversation to be had about what these changes mean for social trust and Allemansrätten. I guarantee you, I am not one to shut this down. But when groups of humans are being referred to as "hordes", a term that very clearly evokes imagery of animals, I'm just not on board with that. Have some decency, state your concerns clearly, and allow the other side to actually hear what you have to say, instead of propagating talking points that you know full well won't sway anyone. Cheers!
One thing is that many house in Sweden, have a low fence or hedge around the garden, to establish the "private zone" around the house.
Thanks for pointing this out! In my research I also learned that in Norway, there are quite a few lawsuits brought to individuals who build their cabins too close to the shore, making it impossible for hikers to reach the coastline. Also, my Swedish friend told me that back when he was a child, he would make his way to his friends through random people's yards all the time - it was just a normal thing to do! This is so fascinating to me, because where I am from this would result in big trouble!
We have something very similar in the UK, you can walk through nearly all farmland and estates. Though equally you can be charged with trespassing when you go on people's homes and gardens and commercial/industrial land. Which sounds really similar to what you described in this. I think this isn't dissimilar in much if not most of Europe.
Hi there,
thanks for your comment! My information on the situation in the UK was in part informed by this podcast by the New Economics Foundation (neweconomics.org/2023/03/new-economics-podcast-the-right-to-roam). Here, the contributors argue that access rights in England are being taken away one piece of land at a time and that the lack of a body that deals with access rights makes it difficult to produce a serious resistance to this trend. You will also hear how Scotland dealt and continues to deal with this issue. Most of the land in both Scotland and England is held privately, but Scottish people get to access almost all land, while this is not a right in England. If you have a different perspective on this, I'd be curious to hear it! Thanks again!
This was a pretty good video. I have a bit of a gripe to raise about the aurora in Norse mythology though: Surprisingly enough, there's very little mention of the aurora in actual Old Norse literature. You'd think that something like the aurora would be central in the mythology of any culture that interacted with them, but apparently they just weren't for the Norse. Of course, people in the past have made all kinds of claims about the Norse beliefs surrounding the aurora and they've been spread pretty heavily, to the point where they would seem credible to anyone not familiar with the actual literature of the Norse, so I don't blame you at all for believing them. One of the more common ones, which you mentioned in the video, is that they are the bridge Bifrǫst which connects Miðgarðr and Ásgarðr. But our original sources state pretty clearly that this bridge is actually the rainbow: here's a quote from the Prose Edda (written about 1250AD) in the original Old Norse, plus an English translation:
Old Norse:
Þá mælti Gangleri: "Hver er leið til himins af jǫrðu?"
Þá svarar Hár ok hló við: "Eigi er nú fróðliga spurt. Er þér eigi sagt þat er guðin gørðu brú af jǫrðu til himins, er heitir Bifrǫst? Hana muntu sét hafa, kann vera at þat kallir þú regnboga. Hon er með þrim litum ok mjǫk sterk ok gǫr með list ok kunnáttu meiri en aðrar smíðir.
English:
Then Gangleri said: "What is the way to the sky from the earth?"
Then Hár responds, laughing: "That's not a wise man's question. Didn't anyone ever tell you that the gods made a bridge to the sky called Bifrǫst? You must have seen it, though you might call it the rainbow. It's made of three colours, it's very strong, and it's made with more artistry and skill than most other creations" (colour terms worked a bit differently in Old Norse, which is why he says it's made with three colours rather than what are traditionally 7 in English).
Another common myth you mentioned is that the aurora are the reflections of light from the shields or armor of the valkyries (which I wouldn't necessarily call angels of death, more like Odin's prestigious group of hired help for finding strong warriors to fight at Ragnarǫk). As far as I can tell, this story originates in the book _Bulfinch's Mythology_ published in 1867. I don't know where Bullfinch got that idea, but it's possible that this could be a story he got from Scandinavian folklore of his own time (though probably more likely that he just invented it). As far as I know, this is never implied in actual preserved medieval sources.
As far as I know, the only time that the northern lights are mentioned in medieval sources is in Konungs Skuggsjá, written in Norway in about 1250, which is a long time after Norway became Christian. The quotation is a bit long for a RUclips comment, and heaven knows I don't have time to translate it properly right now, but he mostly goes on for a while describing them, then suggesting many different theories as to how they could originate, e.g. that they could be the glow from the fires surrounding the ocean which surrounds the world, or that the frost and cold occasionally become so intense that they begin to glow.
You'll notice that the only mention of the northern lights in Norse sources comes way after the Christianisation of Scandinavia. That's not a coincidence, since the vast, vast, _vast_ majority of our sources are. It could be that the aurora had some role in Norse myth (I can't imagine they didn't). but whatever their role was, it wasn't important enough for Snorri to write down in the Prose Edda or for it to appear in any of our preserved poems, so whatever (probably) minor role they played has unfortunately been lost to time. Anyways, great video and sorry for the essay!
Yeah, it's mostly close to the Arctic circle and further north where the aurora is regularly visible, I grew up an hour north of Oslo and I've never seen it. It's only ever visible this far south very rarely when there's a big solar storm.
But from what I have heard, the northern lights are very prominent in Sami culture. Apparently it's seen as somewhat evil or at least ominous and you're not supposed to acknowledge it or it might hurt you.
Hi David,
thank you so very much for this detailed comment! I will readily admit that I did not delve deep enough into Norse mythology, or Sami culture, for that matter, to arrive at this level of engagement with ancient mythology, and so I'm genuinely grateful for your insights into this matter. Would it be fair to say that you're an enthusiast about Norse mythology? Where does your knowledge about this stuff come from? I'm very curious! Thanks a ton and hope to hear from you!
@@library_of_everything Hi! No worries, I'm happy to help. I would say that I'm more of an enthusiast of the language than the mythology, but whenever you read anything in Old Norse a lot of the material will be about the mythology, so you kind of can't avoid learning a lot about it alongside the language. The main reason why you can't really separate the language from the mythology is how much of the surviving myths are preserved as poems, not to mention that our other biggest source for the mythology (the Prose Edda, which I quoted in my previous comment) is basically a poetry textbook.
So as for where I learned about this stuff, reading the sources is obviously the biggest factor. I know that the original text isn't maybe the most accessible seeing as you basically have to learn a new language in order to be able to read it, but there are some great English translations like Henry Adams Bellows' 1936 translation of the Poetic Edda. It's a bit archaic in places (which is probably mostly a consequence of observing the alliterative structure of the original), but still pretty easily readable. It also has really good notes explaining what the poem is talking about, since the original was originally written for an audience familiar with the stories. It's in the public domain now, so you can find it at voluspa .org (RUclips doesn't like links in the comments, so I had to put a space), or in the Internet Sacred Text Archive. If you'd prefer a more modern translation, I would recommend Jackson Crawford's translation, though you'd have to buy a copy of that one.
Actually, Jackson Crawford has a really good RUclips channel where he talks about all kinds of topics related to the language and literature of the Norse. He's a specialist on the language, so he's an excellent and easily accessible source of information. He has great sort of Sparknotes-esque summaries of most of biggest poems and sagas, and he even sometimes does full readings of poems from the Poetic Edda and translates each stanza as he goes, which is a great treat. A lot of his videos are also made with the assumption in mind that not everyone in the audience will have the time or will to read the actual texts, so he's an excellent sort of expert secondary source if reading the texts themselves feels like too much of a commitment. Hope that helps!
PS I can't say I know much about Sami culture, but that's interesting about their view on the aurora. I don't remember having heard that before.
@@davidthorsteinsson7502 Hi again, thanks for your response. You're opening up a whole new world here. I will definitely check out Jackson Crawford's channel and watch a few videos. I realize typing this that I haven't really been enthused about a language as such in quite some time, and so the prospect of digging into this subject is pretty enticing. I also had to laugh a bit when you said that there's a better, more modern version of the Poetic Edda, because I once tried to read an older translation of meditations by Marcus Aurelius and got bitten, before I paid a bit more and got a more modern one, so the latter would probably be my choice! Thanks again for offering this up and hope you have a nice weekend!
Great job, I was surprised seeing you have
Hi Stefan, thanks for your kind words and your feedback! I'm glad you found the video informative! Regarding your pointers, I realized I misspelled Allemansrätten for most of the video. This is a really annoying mistake, especially since I had it right throughout and only changed it a few hours before upload. But I will write a bigger disclaimer soon and address it. The other two things were really interesting to hear because I had similar thoughts about these exact parts, especially the two similar-looking videos, but couldn't seem to find any better footage. Thank you for your eye for detail!
It’s only permitted to sleep at one spot for one night, not two nights. Also it’s not allowed to pick all flowers and twigs. But otherwise you are correct
In Norway picking flowers and berries is allowed. All twigs are not equall, if you want to pick twigs for a twig stove nobody would care. And it's two nights in Norway.
Really good video, you've gained a subscriber. I will say that Ireland's GDP is misleading - there's no denying that we are a wealthy country and that we absolutely should be making more of an effort to support sustainable practices, but our GDP makes us look better off than we are because so many tech giants have their European headquarters here. Their money doesn't necessarily hit our economy in the way it's supposed to thanks to fancy tax arrangements.
Hi there! Thank you for your kind words! I considered getting into this in the video, but I do have to make decisions every once in a while on what to delve into and what to leave sort of up in the air. You are obviously 100% correct about this: when you look at OECD rankings, for example, Ireland is totally midfield in terms of income (www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/ireland/). Thanks for pointing this out and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
I'm from Bosnia and I thought it's like this everywhere? (Well, at least in Europe).
I've been camping wherever i wanted since i was 13. I don't believe a law like in the Nordics exist, but isn't it common sense?
In most places no. You can roam free on publicly owned land everywhere, but not on private property.
Here in switzerland you are not allowed to camp in a tent (only above the treeline in the mountains, if necessary) but we circumvent the law by using hammocks and sleeping in places that are not frequented much.
That's very interesting! Many places have the written law around this subject and then an implicit law as well. So for example in Albania there's not technically a right to roam, but effectively I hear stories of people camping wild there all the time. This makes me wonder whether there really is a need for a right to roam when people already live as though it exists. Regarding the question of common sense, it's a matter of definition. In Germany, for example, it's considered "common sense" to not disturb nature at all, because humans are generally seen as enemies to nature who are best kept away from it in order for nature to flourish.
@@library_of_everything I have to disagree with you on the "common sense" part. I think the main reason it is technically illegal is to prevent random people from just pitching their tents in the wilderness. If it was legal, the forests in germany would be full of people who don't really care and leave their garbage behind & you also have to consider that forests in germany are not as vast as in some nordic countries. That's the exact reason why here in switzerland it is technically not legal to go camping in the woods. It prevents people that have no idea what they are doing & how to treat nature from destroying the forests. We have a lot of places that are really attractive for mindless tourists...so having to actually research the laws surrounding camping out in the wilderness is like a filter to prevent those people from fucking up the enviroment.
Unusually I’m happy at RUclips algorithm suggestion. May be because I recently searched about some camping rules, after moving to Sweden an year ago.
Particularly liked your take from 13:00!
Surprised to see only 300+ views on this one after a day. I guess it’ll pickup. ATB.
Hi there, and thanks a ton for your encouraging words! I only recently reactivated this channel and I'm grateful to hear you've found this video helpful and interesting. How nice to be living in Sweden where there is this vast amount of nature around you, at your disposal. Thanks again!
Really great video, well-researched, can't wait for more random topics!
You are too kind!
Great content, and as a Swede I can confirm that this clearly explains why we (yes, including Greta) generally are among those most concerned about the changes seen due to global warming. Many of us experience the changes first hand as part of Allemansrätten.
For sure we do have deniers also here, but personally I prefer being safe than sorry.
Thanks!
Thanks for your perspective on this! I totally can see how the Connectedness to Nature idea would work wonders for a people in their relationship to the threat of climate change! Better safe than sorry seems like a great way to go about it as well. Thank you for your perspective!
In the US, we have almost outlawed non economic existence. If you exist in a space, you must be paying money (mortgage / rent), earning money (at your job), or spending money (at a shop). You are allowed to travel along roadways to move from one economic zone to another - but if you stop along the roadways, you will be challenged by authorities and forced to move along. The only exception to this is parklands, which are severely regulated by states or the federal government and often require a fee to access. The US has far less "freedom" than they realize.
It does feel like that sometimes. Some people have started to use the term "violent space" for this phenomenon, as in the space forces you out whenever you get there. I also find it regrettable that the United States' "best idea" (the national parks) are becoming increasingly expensive and hard to stay in, due to overcrowding. I think that Allemansrätten is just one way to think about land use in new ways. Maybe there is a whole set of ideas that the US could do to kill two birds with one stone in this situation! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Malthusian Darwinism....
You are a chattel slave, a serf, a pleb...
Unless we collectively take back our sovereignty the corporation will only tighten it's stranglehold.
RISE UP
DESTROY ALL VAMPIRES ⚔️
I liked the video. The topic is very important. I think its the question of who owns the country? People or the government. If people "own" the country, then they can acces it, and they are responsible for it at the same time. But if government "owns" it, then it uses it and forbids people from the same. The people feel like its not their business.
The relation between this right and littering and caring for land is interesting. In my country government owns forests and we saw in recent years that he abuses his right and cut down large parts of it. Even ancient forest. People get resentfull. If people in a sense felt they have more rights and ownership of the forest and land, they could be more like stewarts, and not only tried to use it and abuse it. But I dont know. Just few thoughts.
Hi there, and thanks for your thoughts! Such an interesting perspective! Are you referring to Poland? I would love to read up on this. This whole issue does indeed bring up questions around the idea of property that we should examine. How do you think a government, or your government, should handle this kind of problem?
@@library_of_everything I am not an expert in this issue. But there was whole debate in Poland about cutting down houndret thousands of trees in "Puszcza Białowieska". Its ancient forest in nature reserve. Government told people that the trees were infected with european spruce bark beetle, but many people didnt believe that. I am not sure what was the truth, becouse there was no proper investigation.
I am not sure what should be a solution. I think its best to leave nature alone. It will handle "the problem" when its given time and space. But I might be wrong.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_spruce_bark_beetle#Conservation
I will agree with this section of Wikipedia. Logging and cutting infected trees have more devastating effect on the forest than leaving it alone. Its more about ecosystem. Logging industry is trying to save its profits, not the forest itself. Thats the issue. Becouse the wood becomes damaged, but the forest eventually can heal itself and adapt.
I think the govermnent should instead do educational programs about cutting down on paper usage. I think we use paper alot more than we need to, becouse its convenient. Nowadays, with everyone having an email, we could cut down paper usage drastically. And use it only when neccesary.
I also think that maybe thats not the government issue, but promoting bidets instead of toilet paper would be good idea in the future :)
Hi, I really understand where you're coming from! It reminds me of the Marxist doctrine of reformism, which says that the bourgeoise (land owners, capital owners) will allow small concessions to the proletariat in order to prevent a revolution that would ultimately remove the power from the hands of the upper class (www.marxists. org/archive/lenin/works/1913/sep/12b.htm).
This is a totally valid point, which I understand. The state remains the arbiter of power (land, in this case) and the concessions it make are indeed easily revokable. But I would add two caveats to this:
1. The government is subject to elections. Sweden has a very high democracy index, and if there were truly a majority of Swedes who wanted to implement changes to these laws, I think it would be possible.
2. If the state were to remove itself entirely from the arbitration process, then this would mean anarchy over the land (landarchy? patent pending...). Most likely, a few powerful players would gobble up the available land and the people would truly not have access to it.
The way it looks to me, property rights and access rights are in near-perfect balance to each other in Sweden. I asked my Swedish friend in the making of this video to find some examples of serious transgressions of Allemansrätten, and he really struggled to find any. He ended up sending me some police report over an RV that was parked in the wrong spot, but it does feel like the combination of social trust, connectedness to nature, and knowledge about nature create a pretty solid framework for the specific Swedish case. Norway does seem to struggle a bit more with "bad" nature enjoyers, which is why they have restricted the right to free camping in a handful of places.
It is generally not allowed to make a camp fire, it's equivalent to cutting down trees/branches since it destroys parts of nature.
You should also be a bit careful if you're a group of people.
The law is quite "fluffy", it's a lot of freedom with responsibilities, and not as clear cut as most laws.
It's not only a right, but having basic knowledge of basic survival in the wilderness is expected of everyone: i.e. locate a source of water (most running water is clean enough, or you could melt snow in winter) and make a temporary shelter (using a tent, or building a "gapahuk" which is a small roof made of pine tree branches, or simply digging a snowcave).
Without water and shelter from the wind and cold, you can easily literally die in less than a day.
This type of connection of the people to the land seems like such a fundamental element of being on this planet. I really think most places have lost this sense of importance around outdoor survival, and it hurts societies and governments alike.
We have that in Germany too, even if not to that extent. We have the Jedermannsrecht (also everymans right), which allowes anyone to go on any non-fenced land and to freely use nature's ressources like twigs, mushrooms and fruits. But sadly camping is not included
Hi Propagandalf,
Thanks for your comment! To my mind, the extent of the German Betretungsrecht that I mentioned in the video does not quite encapsulate the Swedish Allemansrätten. In Germany, you can't forage on private lands, you cannot make a fire even on public lands, and you cannot set up camp. Thus, the two systems seem to be different enough to consider them apart from each other. I do wonder though, if I missed something in my research! If there's something you can share with us, I'm sure we'd be happy to hear about it!
@@library_of_everything Like you said, you can't make a fire (due to fire hazard reasons, except if you own the property or have the explicit permission from the owner, which on public land is represented by the Förster (Woods management person). He won't give out permission to make fires to anyone in practice) . But you can gather fruits, berries and small sticks (as kids we often went to the woods and even cut down small trees to make bows and arrows) so like you mentioned, the everyman's right gets weaker the more south you go, but we still have it by name and by practice except for the camping and fire part. But also, you can make a camp for just one night, if it is not in a protected area, no one will say anything against it.
@@library_of_everything but since Germany is a federal country, there are 16 variations which all slightly differ from one another
nice video but a few misspellings..
it's spelled "Allemansrätten" in swedish :)
I realized this as well. Very annoying mistake, especially because I had it right just a few moments before uploading, but somehow I changed it everywhere (I blame sleep deprivation!). Anyway, I changed it where possible (Title, thumbnail) and will point it out in a general comment soon!
Thank you for your feedback :)
Very interesting!
Thank you so much!!
Great video, but just a bit of pedanticism, it's Allemansrätten, not Allemansrättan.
Hey, that's not pedantic at all! I just realized I misspelled it and changed it in the title and thumbnail. Thanks a lot for drawing my attention to it! And thank you for watching!
Yeaha.. if one like to have an experiens of "Allemansrätten", one should visit Scandinavia, and Finland and Iceland!
Oh Finnland and Iceland isnt part of Scandinavia and Denmark have a bit different rules altso.. kinda more like Germany!?
Its this.. the rules is for the moste part approriate to every country!
In anyway, Sweden, Norway and Finnland (I dont know anything about Iceland) is forested 70% and in Norway fjords and mountains.. 70% wildernes! Its this its unknown owners.. nobody to ask for "trespassing"!
Soo.. its comon sens in our countrys to walk and put up a tent "in the countryside", not knowing if its public or private land!
And one can put up a campfire to cook food and camp.. even several nights.. its rather this.. old viking rules, one suposed to be able to put up a camp for the night, its Viking hospitality.. in those days!
Today its more like.. its a nice spot, I want to stay more days.. its okey as long as one dont disturb any others.. kinda the land owner or the locals!
Surprice, surprice.. me as a swede, traveling in Sweden and Norway (and Denmark, its nice but different) there is a lot of comunitys in both Sweden and Norway that like you to "have you to use there "allemansrätten" oportunitys"!
Its my perspective that allmoste every small comunity have a "tourist agency".. that funel tourists to there local tourist things, the best they can offer!
And as a "fishing guy".. I have learned a lot frome local youth local fishing guides.. and even bought "fishing permits and local made fishflyes for there rivers"!
But what about veichels then.. you are not allowed to use motor veichels in the nature or on private land/roads!
Surprice surprice.. one probably need to be born in Scandinavia/Finland to understand how many roads can get you to a stop at a lake, river, on a island at a fjord, on top of a mountain.. for free.. Eh Norway have toll roads and ferrys!
In anyway, "Summa Summarum", (is it latin?) its this that Scandinavia is low density and high forest areas/more fjords and mountains in Norway.. its this its few people out in the wildernes to tell you how to behave.. or force you to behave!
Soo one is still liable for any damage done, its not liability freedom.. its "roaming freedome"!
I wonder how tomorrow’s Arab and African hordes’ understanding of Allamatratan will be and how they will change these laws once they fully take control of these countries. We will find out soon.
Hi Ron, we can have a conversation about the changing demographics in the Nordic countries, but I'm really not on board with calling any group of people a horde. It's unnecessarily dehumanizing and hurtful.
they will never take the North, Odin Allfather is still here.
@@library_of_everything Mate, I say this to you respectfully: If you genuinely think the term "hordes" is offensive, much less my intentions behind using that term. . . then I don't think there is any discussion to be had. I think your interpretation of my comment already says more then enough of where you stand on this issue.
@@kongvinter33 Its happening.
Considerations are underway to make changes to the Allemansrätten because that right has been abused to an increasing extent.
It is not an answer to your direct question, but touches on law changes.