DDonald Trump There’s a thing for Greenland. First, he wanted to buy Arctic Island. Then, his son Come for a photo op. Now, that denial Refusal to use the US military to occupy it.
Decades ago, the value of Greenland was really high. It was his Strategic location Between superpowers and his quirks Mineral resources. Not anymore Today, the value of Greenland is the ice that covers 80 percent of the island. According to one, keeping Greenland’s ice frozen generates at least a trillion dollars in wealth 2020 studyand will help prevent trillions of dollars Estimated damages By 2100. If we allow this ice to melt, global sea levels will rise 24 feet higher than today. Most of the low-lying farms, factories, homes, and megacities of cities including New Orleans, Miami, Jakarta, and Mumbai will be washed away beneath the waves unless we spend even more. Building barricades To keep the sea out.
What matters now is cooling Earth’s climate to maintain the Greenland ice sheet and, with it, our collective coastal future. Still, the president continues to view the island nation through an archetype Glasses of power: Possession of other people’s land to create wealth and keep perceived enemies at bay.
Trump’s preoccupation with Greenland is not a new idea. For more than a thousand years, colonial ambitions have shaped the island’s history. Norse, Danes, Nazis, and Americans came to Greenland in pursuit of territory and natural resources, and for military domination of the Arctic.
Consider Eric Redwho emigrated from Norway as a child, and was later expelled from his home in Iceland for murder. In 985 AD, he sailed deep into the South Greenland fjord. On a patch of flat coast, Eric established Bertahlí, which would become the 500th Norse farm on the island. Within a few hundred years, the Norse had disappeared. We now know that climate change almost drove sea levels up 10 feet high In southern Greenland, their settlements are being flooded and contributing to their demise.
Almost a thousand years later and a 10-minute boat ride across the fjord from Bertahlí, US military bulldozers built a Miles long airstrip At the start of World War II. Stopping there for fuel on their one-way trip to the European theater, the American bombers passed through the Norse ruins.
The president continues to see the island nation through an archaic lens of power: the seizure of other people’s land to create wealth and keep perceived enemies at bay.
Americans were not alone. On the desolate east Greenland coast, Nazi Meteorologist Radio-coded weather reports to Germany, vital information for accurate battlefield forecasting as most weather in Europe comes from the west. This was the first indication that Greenland was strategically valuable in war and as a piece of Earth’s climate system.
As the Cold War heated up, the US occupation of Greenland expanded. On a vast American airfield Thulejust 2,800 miles from Moscow, had nuclear weapons and 10,000 men. Camp Century, of the army Nuclear powered Base, synchronous within the ice sheet. It was the beginning of a grand project that would see intermediate-range tactical nuclear missiles launched back and forth Ice sheet tunnels. This nuclear shell game would cover an area about the size of the state of Alabama. But within just a few years, that fever dream was over Snow tunnels collapsed And Long-range ballistic missiles Reduced cost of preventing Greenland.
By the late 1960s, American troops were heading home because the Arctic was no longer there to occupy Strategically meaningful. In abandoning the bases, the military left a variety of hazardous materials in their wake: at Camp Century, 10,000 tons of waste including persistent and toxic organic chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls, lead, asbestos, and millions of gallons of frozen sewage. And in Thule, a harbor is polluted Plutonium When a nuclear weapon, carried by a crashed B-52 bomber, is detonated on The effect.
In recent years, Dennis has been to clean up That shit, by twenty Abandoned base. But no one is cleaning up the global environment meaningfully. Since the burning of fossil fuels began in full swing around 1850, humans have added enough greenhouse gases to make the world warmer than average. 2 degrees Fahrenheit; The Arctic is warm Many times faster.
Like an ice cube on a summer day, Greenland’s ice sheet is to meltand that water, which flows into the ocean, is constantly raising the global surface level. Rising seas are now threatening our national security.
Consider this Naval Station Norfolkthe world’s largest military port and home to five of 12 US aircraft carriers, is now sinking beneath the waves. Worldwide, there are more than half a billion people Within 25 feet According to a 2019 study, sea level If Greenland’s ice continues to melt, rising seas will inundate their homes and farms like the Norse. Next will be the biggest Human migration In history
If decades of moral appeals to combat climate change had effectively engaged people and politicians, Greenland’s ice would not have melted. But those pleas, often stay inside Apocalyptic tonesthe flat has fallen. We need a different approach.
My suggestion is to advocate for climate stability as a whole Strategic And economic Mandatory — an idea that politicians across the ideological spectrum can support — is our best hope for keeping the Greenland ice sheet frozen and thus the oceans from rising further. The US military’s Cold War occupation of Greenland, mandatory and respected by most Americans, provides just one example of such an approach.
Military and Intelligence planner They are very aware of it Strategic This is the threat that climate change presents as global droughts, floods, and heatwaves destabilize food supplies and governments. They know that climate change is one Intimidation And a catalyst for conflict. growing up The frequency of rare, extreme, and potentially destabilizing climate environments now makes global geopolitics even more uncertain.
The experience of the US military shows that taking Action Reducing climate impacts can be both an economic and a strategic win. At bases around the world, engineers have expanded the use of renewable energy while building Local microgrids With battery storage for reliable, 24/7 power. There is already a shift away from fossil fuels Saving taxpayers millions of dollars While in energy expenditure to reduce Supply chain and operational vulnerability.
In a way, Donald Trump is right. We need Greenland – not land, but ice. Keeping that ice frozen means cooling our rapidly warming world, in particular, the Arctic. Decluttering the global economy is an important first step. Next, we need to develop and test Technologiesboth mechanical and natural, that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Only then will the earth cool enough Keep the Greenland ice on the ground And out to sea
The temperature of our planet, not the ambitions of politicians, will determine whether the ice on Greenland stays or melts and enters the global ocean.
The last time Earth was as warm as it was is likely to be in 2024 Over 100,000 years First – a time when sea level rises At least 20 feetchanging the world’s coastlines. Some of this water came from melting ice in Greenland. Even more melting and increased surface area 400,000 years ago. The temperature of our planet, not the ambitions of politicians, will determine whether the ice on Greenland stays or melts and enters the global ocean.
Remember Trump’s Florida home state, Mar-Lago. Four feet of sea level rise Flood the lower lawn. Six feet and the Atlantic Ocean can enter the lobby. Only Mar-a-Lago’s upper story and towers above the melting Greenland ice sheet and waves. our Collective Actions It will determine the future of land ice and thus global extent over the next decades.
President Trump, the most strategic choice now is not to buy or occupy Greenland but to act globally to save his ice sheet, because what happens in Greenland does not stay in Greenland. Lives.
Paul Bierman is a geoscientist and professor of natural resources at the University of Vermont with 40 years of experience studying glaciers and ice sheets. His latest book, “When the snow is gone” explains the military, climate and scientific History of Greenland
This article was originally published by Darkness. Read on Original article.
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