Those who devote their lives to fear of climate change probably have spent little time chatting with Aleqa Hammond, Greenland’s prime minister. The latest Bloomberg Businessweek devotes six pages to Hammond and Greenland’s response to a changing climate.
[E]ven as global warming puts an end to one way of life, it may enable another. Longer periods of open water mean easier access to resources for ships and workers and the unlocking of the Arctic for drill rigs and mineral exploration. “The people of the Arctic have to adapt very fast,” says Hammond. “I simply refuse to be the victimized people of climate change.” In their long history on Greenland, the Inuit have survived changes in the climate that wiped out other cultures, including the Vikings. “We’re going to manage this one too, just this time differently,” she says. “This time we have other options than just hunting. We have the right now to our own underground.”
