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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Donald Trump isn’t Greenland’s only problem these days, warming temperatures are also a cause for growing concern. As well, a question in today’s edition: Who should own Greenland anyway?
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Agriculture: How Canada’s grain gets to market is a lesson for exporters
- Electric vehicles: Ottawa’s EV charging expansion requires consistent messaging, proponents say
- Parenting: This summer, consider the phone-free, resilience-boosting benefits of wilderness camps for kids
- Environment: Inside Canada’s most dangerous avalanche corridor and the effort to keep it safe
- Food and drink: After wildfires destroyed his home and vineyard, an Australian winemaker looks to rebuild
A deeper dive
A tourist touches a marooned iceberg in the harbour of the capital, Nuuk, Greenland, on February 3.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
A strange winter
For this week’s deeper dive, a closer look at the island that has risen to new popularity this year.
The Globe’s and Mail’s Europe Correspondent Paul Waldie has spent some time in Greenland alongside photographer Siegfried Modola.
During a trip earlier this month, they saw that instead of bundling up from head to toe to ward off frigid temperatures typical of this time of year, people in Nuuk were enjoying brilliant sunshine and shedding their hats and gloves.
According to preliminary figures from the Danish Meteorological Institute, Nuuk just experienced its warmest January on record.
The northern lights shimmer across the night sky over the capital Nuuk, Greenland, on February 8.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
“Climate change is already clearly visible on Greenland,” Jacob Hoyer, the head of Denmark’s National Centre for Climate Research, told Reuters. “From the records we can see that it is warming four times faster than the mean temperature hike in the world.”
And although all the new attention has brought a wave of tourism to the island, it has also brought new challenges. It is a place of raw beauty and hard logistics.
On the ground, Paul spoke to locals and heard that the warmer weather has already had an impact in Nuuk and across the island.
The unusual weather has forced some fishers to change how they catch cod, halibut and red fish. The bare ground has also meant some tour operators had to start cancelling snowmobile excursions. Outside the capital, the warm weather forced officials to postpone the annual Musk Ox hunt.
Pedestrians walk on an unusually warm day for the time of year in the capital, Nuuk, Greenland, on February 4.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Aside from the concerns of warming temperatures, the U.S. President’s threats about purchasing Greenland as a strategic asset continue to loom over residents. Denmark asserts its legal sovereignty over the island.
But nearly 90 per cent of Greenland’s 57,000 population are Inuit. And for the Inuit people, who have lived there for centuries, no one truly owns the Arctic land.
An aerial view shows the fjords near the capital, Nuuk, Greenland, on February 8.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
The concept that ownership is shared collectively is central to the Inuit identity, they say. It has survived 300 years of colonization and is written into law: People can own houses, but not the land beneath them.
Rakel Kristiansen, from a family of shamanic practitioners, said Inuit people saw themselves as temporary guardians of the land. “In our understanding, owning land is the wrong question,” she said. “The question should be who is responsible for the land. The land existed before us, and it will exist after us.”
What else you missed
- Why this Nova Scotia lobster fisher keeps going back to sea even as adversity mounts
- How science has influenced the life, world view and work of Margaret Atwood
- Succession of this family bee-products business has been four decades in the making
Opinion and analysis
Canada’s reliance on the U.S. for our food is a recipe for disaster
It’s easy to mistake our supermarkets’ well-stocked shelves for food security. But those bunches of broccoli and pints of strawberries hide the tenuous reality of our food system.
— Sarah Elton and Aden Fisher, University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Business and investing
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan reboots climate goals with $70-billion target
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is aiming to double its portfolio of assets that are “aligned” with a net-zero transition by 2030, but dropping an emissions target that it set five years ago. The $270-billion pension plan announced a new goal to reach $70-billion of investments in climate-friendly assets over the next four years, up from $35-billion.
The new framework would count investments in privately owned companies that contribute directly to climate solutions, as well as large emitters that have credible plans to decarbonize. Companies that have expanded exploration, extraction or refining of fossil fuels since 2023 will be excluded.
- B.C. forecasts upswing for natural gas and tough times in forestry as deficit soars
Cartoon of the week
A weekly cartoon column called 'News to me.'Illustration by Gabrielle Drolet
Winter Olympics are cool, but host cities have to be cold.
Guides and Explainers
- We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn about what a carbon tax is, what happened at COP29 and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
- We have ways to make your travelling more sustainable and if you like to read, here are books to help the environmentalist in you grow, as well as a downloadable e-book of Micro Skills – Little Steps to Big Change.
Catch up on Globe Climate
- America vs. climate change
- A new strategy on EVs
- The toxic price of copper
- Historic renovation at Kew Gardens