the more they control your life. We worry now about government recognizes that it must soon begin to satisfied with their quality of life. More than 96
paying the bills – not just about what’s happening to either move most settlement dwellers to towns or percent of respondents rate their health as excellent
PHOTO BY JAN BUTCHOFSKY-HOUSER.
the ice.” increase aid to them. By the fact that government or good and a surprising 92 percent speak the
THE NORWEGIAN EXPEDITION
VESSEL MS FRAM AT ANCHOR AND
is eliminating, cutting back or increasing the cost native language, an indication that the Inuit culture
Government policy with regard to support of
SURROUNDED BY ICEBERGS OFF of services to settlements, he sees a clear but is alive and reasonably well. Unemployment and
ILULISSAT, DISKO BAY, GREENLAND
traditional settlements has shifted in recent years,
undeclared policy of relocation in the making. alcohol abuse were cited as the community’s major
causing uncertainty among the roughly 9,500
problems. The overall unemployment rate is about
residents of 67 small settlements, most of which “Putting the squeeze on those who choose a
8.6 percent but is higher in most of the settlements.
are scattered along Greenland’s northwest coast. traditional lifestyle without a long term plan for
Technically Greenland remains a part of the Danish resettlement is just not the way to go about it,” he “It was quite surprising to most of us on this project
Kingdom as it has since the 18th century – but it has reasons. “Where are they going to live and what to discover such a high degree of contentment
gained an ever-increasing measure of home rule will they do for work?” He complains that ferry among most indigenous peoples,” notes Birger
since 1979. It is a situation that Oshima sees as service to Upernavik and points north has been Poppel, project chief of the “Survey of Living
both good and bad for traditional Inuit. discontinued. “Too expensive to operate is the Conditions in the Arctic,” and a guest lecturer on
official word,” he chides. “If you want to know about MS Fram. Danish born but a resident of Greenland
“The Inuit are very proud to have an Inuit prime
expensive, check out the airfares. I just paid about since 1984, Poppel served as chief statistician
minister (Hans Enoksen) who comes from a small
4,600 kroner ($836 U.S.) to fly 650 kilometers (400 for Greenland’s Home Rule government before
settlement himself,” says Oshima, “ but he and the
miles) to the international airport at Kangerlussuaq! joining the University of Greenland as a social
Parliament are under real economic pressure to cut
It’s getting so that many people in the North can’t science researcher, a role that supported his
back support for the settlements and there’s lots of
afford to travel.” involvement with the survey which was conducted
talk about moving people into the larger towns. They
are also raising the prices of subsidized services While seemingly beset with problems that threaten
such as transportation and communication which their traditional existence, climate change chief
is putting more pressure on us to abandon our among them, Greenland’s Inuit revealed in a recent
traditional lifestyle.” landmark survey of the Arctic’s indigenous peoples
that the great majority (69 percent) claim they are
Oshima is getting restless and he tells us he is, in
fact, becoming weary of interviews. “Reporters,
politicians and environmentalists all come with the
same questions and concerns,” he says in such a FISHING IS THE LIFELINE OF
manner as to conclude our conversation, “but I’m GREENLAND AND FULLY 87
not seeing enough being done to reduce greenhouse PERCENT OF THE COUNTRY’S
gasses to help stem the tide of climate change in EXPORTS COME FROM THE SEA.
the Arctic. We hope for such efforts, of course, if it PRAWNS LEAD THE PARADE,
is not already too late. And sometimes even the best FOLLOWED BY HALIBUT,
intentions of environmentalists who think they are CAPELIN, CRAB AND COD.
helping have backfired.”
His reference is to Greenpeace and Oshima derides
the environmental group’s campaign in the early 80s
to stop exportation/sales of sealskins to the U.S. and
Europe.
“Their actions were intended to help save seals,” he
says, “but they hurt indigenous peoples at the same
time. We’ve always eaten the meat of the seal and
used the hides for clothes – and the extra we could
sell. It was a small amount but enough to help with
the bills. So this has made things harder for us.”
Up and down the coast, from Qaanaaq (Thule) to
Ilulissat on Disko Bay, we hear similar lamentations,
mostly to do with the effects of thinning ice and
melting glaciers. Tour operators and outfitters in
Qaanaaq, Uummannaq and Qeqertarsuaq complain
that diminishing ice, both on sea and land, has
shortened the season for dogsled tours by several
months. Incomes have suffered as a result and so
have many of Greenland’s estimated 30,000 sled
dogs – a huge number when you consider there
are but 57,000 people here. These are large dogs
and expensive to feed and many are becoming
undernourished and diseased. Some are simply
shot when owners can’t afford to feed them.
Bo Albrechtsen is neither a hunter nor an Inuit.
He’s Greenland born of Danish parents and serves
as director of the “world’s northernmost open-air
museum,” in the town of Upernavik. “Only about
10 percent of us are of Danish heritage,” he grins,
“so we pay close attention to the interests of the
majority.” He contends differences in languages and
thought systems are the major ethnic variances.
“The Inuit language doesn’t go to the abstract or
very far into the future,” he explains, “and so most
Inuit live in the here and now. It is difficult for them
to express making plans for the future. This, I
believe makes it harder for them to consider – and
plan for -- the eventual consequences of global
warming.”
Albrechtsen says that Greenland’s Home Rule
WHERE ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS February/March 2008 NZ ADVENTURE 15
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