Greenland,the largest island in the world,has a small population of 56,000. Many greenlanders live close to the coastline because a large part of the country is covered with ice and glaciers. More than a quater of all the people live in the capital,Nuuk. Since the1960s, the country has had economic difficulties and social problem. Its traditional industry and its biggest is fishing, but the country still imports much more than exports. Now,however,life is about to change dramatically for many greenlanders and all because of the weather.
Most scientists agree that the world's climate is getting warmer,and you can already see the difference in greenland. Small icebergs the size of city buses float near the coast. They have broken off from much larger areas of ice farther out in the ocean because of warming temperatures,and the huge sheet of ice which covers Greenland is shrinking by about 18 cubic miles a year. If all of Greenland's ice melted, sea levels across the world would rise 25 feet.
One industry that is benefiting from the melting ice is the oil industry. Nowadays,the sea around the west coast of Greenland has no ice for six months of the year. This means oil companies can explore this area and drill for oil in the next few years. Greenlanders have mixed feelings about this modern development. The country's prime minister,Kuupik Kleist,explains the dilemma: "the arctic people are the ones most exposed ti climate change, but we need a strong economy and we have to use the opportunities that oil could bring is... We don't have any other natural resources for the time being that hold as much potential as oil
Farming will also change. The growing season is longer,with spring arriving earlier and summer ending later.On the one hand,if the country produced more of its own food,it wouldn't need to import so much. On the other hand, some farmers worry the drier summers might create new problems. Last year it was so dry,farmers produced half the normal amount of food. I spent my last night in the town of Qaqortoq with farming families at their annual celebration before the summer begins, After dinner ,everyone started singing a traditional song about the importance of summer in a place where,in the past,the winters were long. As nature and the weather change in Greenland, I wondered if they would still be singing this sonf in a hundred years time. They might not.