Greenland: Social and environmental ramblings, part 2

While in Ilulissat, Martin and I met with the people that run the local museum. They are also the people who denied our original permit application. (I mentioned this some time ago.) The conversation we had with them was, for me at least, informative, eye-opening, and very interesting.

Sermeq Kujalleq is within a very new World Heritage Site that still lacks a clear management plan. The main issue with the World Heritage Site is that it has been used by natives for many many years for hunting and fishing. Now these people are being denied access to parts of the park for biological, archaelogical, or philosophical reasons. This is ultimately why our permit application was denied - they certainly couldn't tell the locals that they are no longer allowed to travel there but then allow scientists from other countries to go and do whatever they please. Fair enough.

The more interesting part of the conversation was that they are very interested in science outreach. They said that many scientists pass through Ilulissat each year to study the ice sheet, the biology, depression, alcoholism, etc., but none of the locals really know what the scientists are doing or what they are finding. I think that's a shame.

The people at the museum (a Dane and a Dane/Greenlander half-breed) were hoping that we could begin an open discussion with the community about our work and our findings. This discussion could also be beneficial to us, the scientists, in that we're not able to be in Ilulissat all the time. We don't really know how the glacier or ice fjord look now compared to 20 years ago. The locals do, of course. Anyway, the museum folks had plenty of ideas. They thought that Martin (and others?) should give some talks in town and maybe write a letter/article to the newspaper. We also met with a native woman who produces a popular television show in Greenland - I guess the show is informative and educating, sort of a cross between the news and a talk show. She said she'd like to do a show on our work and discuss its implications. She'd also have discussions with local hunters and fishermen (who are affected by the glacier since it can influence ocean currents and the number of icebergs in the fjord).

Finally, during the course of our conversation I told the museum folk that I was thinking of spending an entire summer in Ilulissat (this is a new dream) and that during that time I would be willing to do some outreach. They were very keen on the idea, and suggested that they could probably get me free housing if I helped them set up an interpretive display (basically, how does a glacier work). There are still many details that would need to be sorted out before this happens, but it sounds like an experience (both personal and educational) that I couldn't easily refuse.