All posts tagged: Greenland

Most Greenlanders are Lutheran, 300 years after a missionary brought the faith to the remote island

Most Greenlanders are Lutheran, 300 years after a missionary brought the faith to the remote island

Published by skeptic

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Most Greenlanders are proudly Inuit, having survived and thrived in one of most remote and climatically inhospitable places on Earth. And they’re Lutheran. About 90% of the 57,000 Greenlanders identify as Inuit and the vast majority of them belong to the Lutheran Church today, more than 300 years after a Danish missionary brought that branch of Christianity to the world’s largest island. For many, their devotion to ritual and tradition is as much a part of what it means to be a Greenlander as is their fierce deference to the homeland. The one so many want U.S. President Donald Trump to understand is not for sale despite his threats to seize it. Greenland is huge — about three times the size of Texas; most of it covered in ice. Still, its 17 parishes are located across many settlements in the icy land and people endure the frigid Arctic climate to fill up church pews on Sundays. Some even tune in to radio-transmitted services on their phones on a break from fishing …

Trump wants Greenland – but here’s what the people of Greenland want

Trump wants Greenland – but here’s what the people of Greenland want

Published by Sam

In 2018, a colleague and I, together with a team of Greenlandic research assistants, conducted one of the most comprehensive surveys to date on public opinion in Greenland. We travelled to 13 randomly selected towns and settlements across the island nation, conducting in-person interviews with a representative sample of adult residents. The survey explored a wide range of topics. We asked for views on climate change, economic matters – and the prospect of independence from Denmark. Until recently, this was the latest poll on what the people of Greenland thought about this issue. Greenland, a former Danish colony, is currently an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. This political arrangement grants Greenland extensive self-rule, including control over most domestic affairs, as well as its own prime minister and parliament. However, Denmark retains authority over foreign policy, defence and monetary policy. While our survey results were covered in Greenlandic and Danish media upon their release, they received scant international attention. This changed abruptly on January 15, when newly re-elected US president Donald Trump reposted an …

Counteroffer: What if Greenland bought the U.S.?

Counteroffer: What if Greenland bought the U.S.?

Published by skeptic

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. The Danes are in “crisis mode” after a “horrendous” call in mid-January between President Donald Trump and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in which Trump in no uncertain terms reiterated his desire to acquire Greenland. What are the Danes to do — ponder and vacillate like Hamlet? Or remember that offense is the best defense? In the latter case, they would do well to recall an amusing proposal made by Greenland’s prime minister in 2019, when Trump first set his sights on the world’s largest island. Kim Kielsen, who was prime minister of Greenland from 2014 to 2021, formulated a tantalizing counteroffer to Trump’s claim. According to Kielsen, it should be Greenland that acquires the U.S. — not the other way around. And the prime minister had a good historical argument behind his satirical claim. “It was Leif the Lucky who discovered America,” Kielsen told the Danish newspaper Politiken in …

Trump’s Threat to Take Over Greenland Bewilders the Island’s Population

Trump’s Threat to Take Over Greenland Bewilders the Island’s Population

Published by Sam

Christian Ulloriaq Jeppesen remembers how this all started. In 2019, during Donald J. Trump’s first term as president, Mr. Trump floated the idea of the United States buying the island of Greenland. At the time, most people in Greenland (and Denmark, the European country that controls it) thought his suggestion was a joke. “Everyone said, ‘Ha-ha, you can’t just buy a country, he doesn’t mean it,’” Mr. Jeppesen, a native Greenlander and a radio producer, said by telephone. “Obviously that was the wrong way to take it. Look at where we are today.” Now Mr. Trump has doubled down on his insistence that the United States needs to annex Greenland for security reasons. And that has Greenlanders asking the same questions as everyone else, but with a lot more uneasiness. Is Mr. Trump just being bombastic again, floating a fanciful annexation plan that he may know is a stretch? Or is he serious? Based on his comments in the past few weeks, Mr. Trump appears completely serious. Never mind that Denmark’s leadership has said the …

Trump won’t rule out using U.S. military to control Panama Canal, Greenland

Trump won’t rule out using U.S. military to control Panama Canal, Greenland

Published by Sam

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump makes remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. Jan. 7, 2025. Carlos Barria | Reuters President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday declined to rule out using the U.S. military to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, expanding on a spate of recent remarks he has made about acquiring more territory for the United States during his second term. “We need them for economic security,” Trump said of both the Central American trade route and the autonomous territory of Denmark, during a lengthy press conference at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. A reporter asked Trump if he could assure the public that he would not use military or economic coercion in pursuit of either land. “No, I can’t assure you of either of those two,” the president-elect replied. “The Panama Canal was built for our military. I’m not going to commit to that, no … It might be that you’ll have to do something,” he said. Trump also expressed concern and frustration about China’s activity in both the Panama Canal and Greenland, sending …

Make Greenland Great Again: PM Seeks Independence From Denmark

Make Greenland Great Again: PM Seeks Independence From Denmark

Published by skeptic

“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, while also announcing Ken Howery for US ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark.  Trump’s reopening of discussions about purchasing rare earth minerals-rich Greenland came just before Christmas and were followed by the usual kerfuffle from the liberal media. But, as the Wall Street Journal reports, during his New Year speech, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede emphasized his desire to pursue independence from Denmark, its former colonial ruler, marking a significant change in the rhetoric surrounding the Arctic island’s future. As a reminder, Greenland – the world’s biggest island which is home to about 57,000 people – was a Danish colony until it become a self-governing territory of Denmark in 1979. Since 2009, Greenland has held the right to declare independence through a referendum. Egede’s speech also expressed a desire to strengthen Greenland’s cooperation with other countries. “It is about time that we ourselves take a step and …

A landslide in a Greenland fjord echoed around Earth for 9 days

A landslide in a Greenland fjord echoed around Earth for 9 days

Published by skeptic

Arctic: A region that falls within the Arctic Circle. The edge of that circle is defined as the northernmost point at which the sun is visible on the northern winter solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun can be seen on the northern summer solstice. The high Arctic is that most northerly third of this region. It’s a region dominated by snow cover much of the year. cement: To glue two materials together with a binder that hardens into a rigid solid, or the viscous glue used to affix the two materials. (in construction) A finely ground material used to bind sand or bits of ground rock together in concrete. Cement typically starts out as a powder. But once wet, it becomes a mudlike sludge that hardens as it dries. climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period. colleague: Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member. computer program: A set of instructions that a computer uses to perform some analysis or computation. …

Prominent anti-whaling activist detained in Greenland at Japan’s request | Climate News

Prominent anti-whaling activist detained in Greenland at Japan’s request | Climate News

Published by Sam

Environmentalist Paul Watson has been detained until August 15, authorities and his foundation said. Veteran environmental activist and anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson has been apprehended by Greenland police following an international arrest warrant issued by Japan. Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian-American citizen, is the former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society whose direct-action tactics, including high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels, have drawn support from A-list celebrities and been featured in the reality television series called Whale Wars. Japan, which says eating whale meat is part of its culture, resumed commercial whaling in 2019 and has since modernised its fleet and expanded its catch list, drawing condemnation from conservationists who fear for the fate of the large ocean mammals. “The Japanese authorities have issued an international arrest warrant for Paul Watson, which is the reason why the Greenland Police were ready to arrest him on arrival in Nuuk,” Greenland’s law enforcement agency said in a statement on Monday. After his arrest, Watson appeared before a district court to look into a request to detain him pending …

The chilling policy to cut Greenland’s high birth rate – podcast | News

The chilling policy to cut Greenland’s high birth rate – podcast | News

Published by skeptic

Bula Larsen was 14 when one day she and her friends were told to go to the hospital. Bula lived in Greenland and was Inuit like most of the population of the island, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark. At the hospital she and her friends lined up, and one-by-one were told to enter a room. Bula recalls how she was asked to sit on a bed with ‘cold metal stirrups’ where, to her shock, she was fitted with an IUD, a contraceptive coil she had never asked for or agreed to have. Today, more than 100 women are suing the Danish government for a policy of forced contraception. Helen Pidd hears how thousands of Inuit women and girls – some aged just 13 – were fitted with coils. Many say this was done without their or their parents’ consent, and caused lasting damage. Celine Klint is a Danish journalist whose work on the coil scandal, along with her colleague Anne Pilegaard Petersen, revealed there had been a Danish policy to reduce Greenland’s birthrate …

Scandinavia was once a part of Greenland, study finds

Scandinavia was once a part of Greenland, study finds

Published by skeptic

In a Finnish outcrop nestled between some of Northern Europe’s oldest mountains, researchers have found traces of a previously hidden part of Earth’s crust that points more than three billion years back in time and north towards Greenland. (CREDIT: Andreas Petersson) In the heart of Finland, amidst some of the oldest mountains in Northern Europe, researchers have made a significant discovery about Earth’s crust, unraveling a tale that dates back over three billion years and points towards Greenland. This revelation emerged from the examination of a mineral called zircon. Chemical analyses conducted by experts from the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management have led to the conclusion that the foundation underlying Denmark and Scandinavia might have originated from Greenland approximately 3.75 billion years ago. Scandinavia originates in Greenland Professor Tod Waight, a geologist involved in the research, states, “Our data suggest that the oldest part of Earth’s crust beneath Scandinavia originates in Greenland and is about 250 million years older than we previously thought.” Our data suggest that the oldest part of Earth’s crust …