Give the strawberry republic a chance

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Give the strawberry republic a chance

A changing climate has serious consequences, but not all of them are negative.
Text: Mads Nordlund. November 2010
30 years ago, two sheep farmers at Eqaluit Ilua in South Greenland had to give up growing potatoes because of the frost. Now this summer their sons have grown up to 100 tons of potatoes in the same fields.
  A few years ago a bunch of bananas was successfully grown in a greenhouse in the South Greenlandic town of Narsaq. Now there is talk of trial cultivation of strawberries. Where the sea ice used to be a given factor in the winter, it is now either gone or is so unreliable that the baby seals fall through before they can swim and the polar bears are being forced further north on the east coast.
  On the west coast there are fewer dog teams, because the hunters can now sail all winter.
In several places the permafrost is disappearing, causing great problems for buildings and roads. And while there have been brush fires in South Greenland following several years of drought, heavy rain is falling in other parts of Greenland in hitherto unseen quantities.
The original fish stocks and prawns are moving northwards, while new species are coming to the waters of Greenland. On the plus side, fishing for crab has gone on for years, while sea urchins are still undergoing trials.
  Where a layer of snow previously protected the food found by reindeer and musk-oxen during the winter, the summer’s melt water has now caused a crust of ice to form over the vegetation. Whales and polar bears are turning up in places where they have seldom been seen before and huge ice-floes the size of Manhattan are breaking.
Global interests
The world is watching developments in Greenland and increased accessibility by sea has given new life to plans for sailing through both the Northeast and the Northwest Passages. At the same time as the mining and oil industries are stirring, Greenland is getting ready to handle the new forms of industry. On a global level, it is being asked whether Greenland is ready, but to some degree it has been forgotten that the reason for oil exploration is the world’s increasing demand for fossil fuel.
  Some people are also asking whether Greenland wants an increase in its relatively limited tourism, since both cruise ships and aircraft contribute to the world’s CO2 emissions.
In Greenland up to 70% of the country’s energy consumption will be produced by hydropower in coming years.
  But since it is hardly Greenland’s 55,000 inhabitants who alone are the cause of global warming, it must be hoped that the rest of the world has a more objective viewpoint, as fewer people work at traditional occupations such as hunting and fishing, it is hoped that other enterprises can create new jobs and give employment to Greenlanders in the future.
So bee-keeping and strawberry farming at one end of Greenland and oil exploration at the other end are understandable and acceptable attempts at adjusting to reality and making the best out of climate changes. That is, unless the international community is willing to pay so that Greenland can become one huge nature reserve.
Premier Kuupik Kleist told the world press this summer that Greenland is striving to introduce the same regulations and high safety requirements with regard to oil exploration, mining and shipping as the rest of the world.