Why Polar Bears Need Greenland to Stay Independent
The leader of Greenland has recently reminded President Trump ‘paws off’ to his request to buy this self-governing island (owned by Denmark). Apart from people watching humpback whales, it has little tourism, and this has kept the area pretty unpolluted. And just like our Northumberland, the entire northeast of Greenland is a protected National Park, to leave its wildlife undisturbed.
Greenland’s native species include caribou and Arctic foxes. It protects is Tundra, by staggering the season for tourists, and putting in stringent rules, to protect local habitats for its birds, wildlife and marine creatures.
80% of Greenland is covered in ice, so few crops grow here. It is mostly in the news due to the massive ice sheet that is already cracking, due to climate change. If melted, it could raise sea levels by around 6 feet worldwide. Just one centimetre of rising seas can cause coastal erosion. of three feet.
This is scary, and why local Kalaallit Nunaat (native people) are very in tune with the natural world, and keeping it protected. However, recently President Trump has said that he wants to take over Greenland as a US territory, and even threatened to ‘annex’ it, if he doesn’t get his own way.
In an interview, Trump has denied that polar bears were in danger (?) yet recently has apparently been considering donating money to protect the country’s polar bears (it’s all very confusing). What about his own country’s polar bears at risk from Arctic drilling, is he going to protect them too?
He’s so obsessed with money and power and drilling for oil, one wonders of the motives. So you could imagine how much Greenland would be at risk from oil spills and pollution (Trump has even just reversed the ban on plastic straws, saying that ‘paper ones explode’).
There is only one airport (reached from just Iceland or Denmark) and most people travel by boat. And like Finland, its remote location means it has some of the world’s cleanest air and waters. Can you imagine, if the USA got involved?
Why Does President Trump Want Greenland?
He says for security, and ‘it will happen’ in acquiring the island. Greenland’s leader Jens-Frederick Nielsen however replied ‘We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders’. A recent poll found that 85% of the population (mostly native people) and all five party leaders are in favour of a referendum to become an independent country.
Could Trump Really Buy Greenland?
Unlikely. It’s not like the days when the USA bought Alaska from Russia. Today there are laws in place to consider the wishes of local people. The only advantages for Greenland would be military bases and finance (things that locals are not concerned about), and the right to live and work in the US (again they aren’t interested).
Hopefully this will be a good lesson for a world leader to realise, that sometimes money and power are not the most important things in the world, for some countries and people.
