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Kalaallit Nunaat, the land of the people, is what Greenlanders call their land. We know it mainly from the icebergs, polar bears and immense ice cap. Now that the sea ice is melting, part of their culture is also disappearing.
Greenland – The Inuit, the indigenous population of Greenland, live off the sea and the ice, from which they derive their language, traditions and folklore. But the repercussions of climate change are hitting them really hard. Every year, Greenland’s ice cap melts faster than predicted and the sea ice is disappearing alarmingly quickly. “The only polar bear I’ve ever seen was at a zoo during a holiday in Denmark,” remarks 10-year-old Malik Olsvig.
Only 50,000 Inuit live in Greenland. And while they are not the cause of the climate crisis, they are certainly among the hardest-hit of its victims. “We are not the big polluters; the Chinese, Europeans and Americans are,” continues Malik. “Soon I won’t be able to go ice fishing, dog sledding, or hunting for food. My plea to the polluters is to please stop climate change so that I can continue to live according to the traditions of the Inuit people.”
Images: Nicole Franken – Text: Yvonne Dudock
