Inland residents in Västerbotten County are becoming increasingly snowmobile crazy. As soon as the winter snow has settled deep enough, the snowmobile season begins, and it does not end until all the snow is gone, for 19-year-old Irma Åkerblom in Storuman.
"I grew up snowmobiling, and that's very important to me," she says.
Despite the fact that the inhabitants are slowly becoming fewer and fewer, there are more and more people who - like Irma Åkerblom - seem to like the snowmobile life in Västerbotten County's inland.
Sharp increase in scooters
Since 2010, the number of scooters in traffic in eight inland municipalities has increased by 3,439. This at the same time as the population in those municipalities has decreased by 2,868 people. The number of scooters in traffic per inland resident has thus increased sharply over the past twelve years.
The author and debater Arne Mülller has written books on both rural problems and environmental aspects of different vehicles:
"It is understandable that the snowmobile is important for many people who live in the hinterland and the mountains. But the rapidly increasing number of scooters is a problem for the climate transition. The differences in emissions are large between different types of scooters, so a lot would be gained through policy instruments that made scooters with powerful engines and large emissions more expensive.
Sharing for the environment
He also has a proposal that would increase access to scooters for even more inland residents – and at the same time save the environment.
"Given that the scooters are generally not running for many hours per season, perhaps snowmobile pools, where you share a number of scooters, would be both resource-saving and good for the wallet," he says.
In the clip: Join Irma Åkerblom on a snowmobile tour and see why she loves the snowmobile life.