Greenland: Social and environmental ramblings, part 1

Returning to town early was nice - we were able to enjoy showers, soft beds, and tasty food. Surprisingly, the restaraunts in Ilulissat can rival just about anything else in the world, and are probably the best north of the arctic circle. One of the restaurants regularly has the "Greenland buffet", which consists of basically every edible creature in Greenland, many of which are probably endangered or on their way to being endangered. I didn't order the Greenland buffet (too much meat for me), but Martin did and he offered me some samples: polar bear soup, seal, fin whale, and musk ox. I found them to be edible but not great. And now I feel a little guilty that I ate animals whose populations are threatened.

The restaurant owner told us that, according to international rules, the Greenlanders are allowed to kill a set number of seal, whales, and polar bears each year, but they usually don't follow international rules. If the hunters see an animal, they kill it. I don't blame them, to a certain extent. They had a way of life (living on whatever they could kill) that was sustainable for thousands of years, but then other cultures began hunting those animals towards extinction, and now it is the Greenlanders who suffer. If they can't eat whale, then what do they eat? Shipping food from Europe or North America isn't sustainable or affordable. On the other hand, the world has become a smaller, more densely populated place and everybody needs to think more globally, including the Greenlanders. I think all arctic peoples are struggling with the adjustment to a more global, modern world. Traditionally, they hunted whatever they could because they never knew when they would see their next meal. This was okay; populations were smaller since people didn't live as long. But in the modern, highly-populated world this behavior could have catastrophic effects on the biosphere and ultimately on the Greenlanders way of life. Of course, they don't see it that way - in their minds they're just being told what to do by outsiders. The real difficulty, I think, is in trying to maintain traditional ways of living while integrating the comforts of modern life. And although scientists, sociologists, etc., can help them find the balance between the traditional and modern worlds, we are not in the position to say what is best for them. They need to figure that out themselves.