#greenland ice melt

[midwestaesthetics]

Greenland

[i-am-worm]

Inktober 52 2023 - Week 17 - ‘Melt’

HEY. IT’S MER-MAY. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS? That’s right, it’s warmer now. Too warm.

This elderly Greenland shark Mermaid (and very possibly the goddess of the sea- Sedna) is wondering why her home is melting. Maybe you got the answer.

[adomainname]

Glacier Calving: The Powerful Force Behind Massive Waves and Climate Change Insights

Glaciers, those monumental rivers of ice flowing from high mountain peaks and polar regions, are not only stunningly beautiful but also hold incredible, often unpredictable power. Among the most captivating and intense events involving glaciers is glacier calving—a natural process where enormous ice chunks break away from a glacier’s edge and crash into surrounding water. This dramatic phenomenon not only creates an unforgettable visual display but also generates massive waves. In this article, we’ll explore glacier calving, what causes it, the powerful waves it creates, and the broader implications for ecosystems, human activity, and climate science.

What is Glacier Calving?

Definition: What is Glacier Calving?

Glacier calving is the process where large pieces of ice detach from a glacier's edge and fall into the adjacent water. These ice chunks vary in size, from small pieces to massive blocks as large as multi-story buildings. Calving is a powerful and visually spectacular event that can produce waves felt miles away.

Where Does Glacier Calving Occur?

Calving occurs most frequently at the terminus (the end) of glaciers that extend into bodies of water like lakes, oceans, or fjords. It’s most common in polar regions, such as Greenland and Antarctica, where glaciers meet the sea. These environments allow ice chunks to break off and fall into the water, forming waves that can be incredibly powerful and far-reaching.

How Does Glacier Calving Happen?

Calving happens due to the natural movement of glaciers. As a glacier moves forward, driven by gravity, the ice at its edge becomes thinner and fractures. Over time, these fractures deepen, eventually causing large chunks of ice to break away. The forward motion pushes these ice chunks towards bodies of water, where they drop, creating an impactful and sudden splash.

The Science Behind Glacier Calving and Wave Formation

Ice Dynamics and Fracture Mechanics

The constant advance of glaciers creates stress along their edges, leading to cracks and fractures in the ice. When the ice reaches a critical fracture point, large sections break off. This detachment causes sudden displacement as the ice hits the water, creating waves that can be extremely powerful.

How Does Glacier Calving Generate Waves?

When an ice chunk detaches and crashes into the water, it displaces the water around it, creating a splash and powerful shockwaves. The size and intensity of the resulting wave depend on the size of the ice chunk. Larger ice pieces create more significant waves, capable of traveling far distances.

Wave Propagation in Glacier Fjords and Bays

Once a calving event occurs, the waves created by the impact move outward from the point of collision. In confined areas, like fjords or bays, these waves can be particularly intense. They bounce off rock walls, sometimes becoming even larger and more forceful, and can travel for kilometers, posing a danger to anything in their path.

The Impact of Calving Waves on Ecosystems and Human Activity

Environmental Impact: How Calving Waves Affect Marine Ecosystems

Calving waves can have a significant effect on local ecosystems. The waves stir up the seabed, displacing marine organisms and disturbing habitats. Over time, repeated calving events can also erode coastal areas, affecting both flora and fauna in the surrounding environment.

Human Implications: Why Calving Waves Are Dangerous

For people living in or near glacier regions, calving waves can pose severe risks. Fishing vessels, research ships, and tourist boats are especially vulnerable, as calving waves have capsized boats and caused substantial damage in the past. Coastal communities near glaciers or fjords may also feel the impact of these waves, making it important for ships and local authorities to remain vigilant.

Climate Change and Glacier Calving: A Connection with Global Implications

Climate change is accelerating glacier calving worldwide. Rising temperatures cause glaciers to melt and thin, making them more prone to calving events. This not only increases the frequency of calving but also contributes to global sea level rise as more ice melts and enters the ocean. Areas like Greenland and Antarctica, where calving is occurring at unprecedented rates, are contributing significantly to rising seas—a growing concern for coastal cities and communities worldwide.

Notable Glacier Calving Events and Their Massive Waves

To understand the sheer power of glacier calving, let’s look at some notable glaciers known for their spectacular calving events.

Jakobshavn Glacier, Greenland: One of the fastest-moving glaciers globally, Jakobshavn has witnessed some of the largest calving events on record. Chunks of ice as large as skyscrapers break off, creating waves that can be felt miles away.

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska: This Alaskan glacier is known for periodic large calving events that generate waves affecting cruise ships and other vessels in nearby fjords. This glacier’s movements attract scientists and tourists alike, both drawn by its power and potential risks.

Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica: As a significant contributor to ice loss in Antarctica, Pine Island Glacier’s calving events are substantial enough to be detected by seismometers thousands of miles away, showcasing the global scale of calving’s impact.

Fascination and Caution: Observing Glacier Calving Events

The Appeal of Glacier Tourism

For many tourists, witnessing a glacier calving event is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The intense sound—often compared to a thunderous "crack" or "roar"—followed by a massive splash and radiating waves, creates a powerful, memorable scene. Locations such as Alaska, Greenland, and certain parts of Antarctica are popular destinations for this reason.

Safety Precautions for Viewing Glacier Calving Events

Despite their allure, calving events are highly unpredictable, and the waves they generate can be dangerous. Tourism operators and guides near glaciers must take strict precautions, maintaining safe distances from glaciers to ensure the safety of visitors. Special care is necessary for boats, as the waves can capsize small vessels that venture too close.

The Future of Glacier Calving and Its Impact on Sea Level Rise

As climate change continues to increase global temperatures, glaciers worldwide are expected to retreat and calve more frequently. This trend not only raises the likelihood of dangerous waves but also leads to long-term impacts, such as accelerated sea-level rise. Glacier calving events remind us of the urgent need to address climate change and mitigate its effects on our planet’s natural systems.

Conclusion: Glacier Calving as a Reminder of Nature’s Power

In summary, glacier calving is a breathtaking natural event and a powerful force with significant environmental, social, and scientific implications. From the thunderous crash of falling ice to the waves that ripple across fjords and bays, glacier calving captivates us while serving as a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of Earth’s natural systems. As climate change continues to reshape our world, glacier calving highlights the need to understand and preserve these fragile ice giants that are vital to our planet’s health and future.

By understanding glacier calving, its causes, and its consequences, we not only gain insight into one of nature’s most spectacular displays but also increase our awareness of the urgent climate issues facing our planet today.

Go To The Power of Glacier Calving

[tornadoquest]

Tornado Quest Top Science Links For September 7 - 14, 2024 #science #weather #climate #climatechange #environment #hurricane #health

Greetings everybody! Thanks so much for visiting. The Gulf of Mexico came alive this week with Hurricane Francine. We’re at peak season for hurricane potential and the Atlantic has a few areas of concern that bear watching. While preparedness supplies are plentiful and the Atlantic is somewhat quiet (for the moment), now is the time to get prepared for a tropical storm or hurricane. I’ve plenty…

[spacenutspod]

Join us for SpaceTime Series 27 Episode 88, where we delve into the latest cosmic events and advancements in space exploration. - **Climate Change and Earth's Rotation**: Discover how human activity is altering the planet's rotation. New studies reveal that melting ice masses in Greenland and Antarctica are causing water to flow into the world's oceans, shifting mass towards the equator and affecting Earth's rotational speed. This fascinating phenomenon is explored in depth, including its implications for future space navigation. - - **The Three-Body Problem**: We unravel the complexities of the three-body problem in celestial mechanics, a challenging conundrum that has puzzled scientists for centuries. Learn about its historical significance, recent advancements, and how it impacts our understanding of the cosmos. The discussion also touches on the popular Netflix series inspired by this mathematical challenge. - - **SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Failure**: SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket experiences a rare mid-flight failure, leading to a grounding order from the Federal Aviation Administration. We examine the details of the incident, its impact on future missions, and the ongoing investigation by SpaceX and federal authorities. - Follow our cosmic conversations on X @stuartgary, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Join us as we unravel the mysteries of the universe, one episode at a time. - Sponsor Offer: This episode is proudly supported by NordVPN. Secure your digital journey across the cosmos with a VPN service you can trust. Find your stellar security solution at https://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. - Listen to SpaceTime on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. Support SpaceTime: - Become a supporter of SpaceTime: https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ - www.bitesz.com

[drachliebe]

last night i learned the official (?) reason why lilli just kinda nopes out of the narrative after she's freed . in a children's book relating to the cartoon's episode , lilli is referred to as an ice fairy , and the reason she cannot go along with tblga is because she turns into the fog . they straight up snegurochka'd my girl ;_;

listen , i GET that tblga and lilli's relationship is supposed to represent first love-- the one that's not meant to be , but one that you cherish forever in your heart yadda yadda-- but , nah . denied . give this poor dragon baby a break .

so while i'm keeping lilli " human " in her main verse , ( because it works greatly for that kind of narrative ) cartoon!v lilli is gonna be referred to as a fairy from now on . ^^ it fits too ! seeing as that world is tied to the fantasy and dreams of children , and what little girl wouldn't want to be a fairy ?

[dopescissorscashwagon]

Melting Ice_Greenland📷️ Joe Cornish (Fotospeed Ambassador)⁠🖨️ Fotospeed Platinum Cotton 305To see more of Joe's work visit:fotospeed.com/ambassadors/am…@jcornishgallery #fotospeed

[victusinveritas]

Did you know the “ice age” never completely finished?

By that I mean… you know the ice sheet that grinded Canada down to bedrock? The one that sat a mile high over Boston? The one that dug out the Great Lake basins? The one that pushed deep into North America, forming massive proglacial lakes and changing the courses of river systems?

That ice sheet still exists.

Sort of.

In Inuit territory, on the great island known as Qikiqtaaluk, you can lick the last, ancient icepop left from that continent-sized ice sheet that once smothered North America like a blanket.

Known as the Barnes Ice Cap, it’s the last fragment left of the mighty Laurentide Ice Sheet. And it’s melting FAST.

It will likely outlive me- but not by much. It’s like a 20,000-year-old ice cream cone, and we’ve dropped it on the hot pavement. In our rapidly warming world, it will likely be completely gone within a century or two.

Its contribution to global sea level rise won’t be particularly significant- it’s a rounding error compared to the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.

But to me, it’s like some kind of impossibly ancient alabaster tortoise;

a witness of unknown epochs of history;

critically endangered;

the last living of its kind;

doomed to perch up high on its mountain, drooling, panting, feverish, baked by the sun in a carbon blanket;

until it finally expires, leaving only bare rock and gravel for a grave:

no trace left of an ice age that covered a continent.

Found here on Facebook.

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Sea Ice Swirls

Fragments of sea ice tumble and swirl in this satellite image of Greenland's east coast. In spring, Arctic sea ice journeys down the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard. Along the way, large ice floes break -- and melt -- into smaller pieces.  (Image credit: W. Liang; via NASA Earth Observatory) Read the full article

[batboyblog]

The United States is experiencing scorching new levels of heat fueled by climate change this summer, with dozens of people dying in the West, millions sweating under heat advisories and nearly three-quarters of Americans saying the government must prioritize global warming.

But as the Republican Party opens its national convention in Milwaukee with a prime-time focus on energy on Monday night, the party has no plan to address climate change.

While many Republicans no longer deny the overwhelming scientific consensus that the planet is warming, party leaders do not see it as a problem that needs to be addressed.

“I don’t know that there is a Republican approach to climate change as an organizing issue,” said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative research group focused on energy. “I don’t think President Trump sees reducing greenhouse gases, using the government to do so, as an imperative.”

When former President Donald J. Trump mentions climate change at all, it is mockingly.

“Can you imagine, this guy says global warming is the greatest threat to our country?” Mr. Trump said, referring to President Biden as he addressed a rally in Chesapeake, Va., last month, the hottest June in recorded history across the globe. “Global warming is fine. In fact, I heard it was going to be very warm today. It’s fine.”

He went on to dismiss the scientific evidence that melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland are causing seas to rise, threatening coastal communities around the world. He said it would result in “more waterfront property, if you’re lucky enough to own.” And he lapsed into familiar rants against windmills and electric vehicles.

At the televised debate with Mr. Biden in June, Mr. Trump was asked if he would take any action as president to slow the climate crisis. “I want absolutely immaculate clean water and I want absolutely clean air, and we had it,” Mr. Trump responded, without answering the question.

Mr. Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, later declined to clarify the former president’s position or discuss any actions he would take regarding climate change, saying only that he wants “energy dominance.”

The United States last year pumped more crude oil than any country in history and is now the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas.

A clear majority of Americans, 65 percent, wants the country to focus on increasing solar, wind and other renewable energy and not fossil fuels, according to a May survey by the Pew Research Center. But just 38 percent of Republicans surveyed said renewable energy should be prioritized, while 61 percent said the country should focus on developing more oil, gas and coal.

“Their No. 1 agenda is to continue producing fossil fuels,” said Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric sciences and the director of the Texas Center for Climate Studies at Texas A&M University. “Once you understand their main goal is to entrench fossil fuels regardless of anything else, everything makes sense.”

The party platform, issued last week, makes no mention of climate change. Instead, it encourages more production of oil, gas and coal, the burning of which is dangerously driving up global temperatures. “We will DRILL, BABY, DRILL,” it says, referring to oil as “liquid gold.”

By contrast, Mr. Biden has taken the most aggressive action of any president to cut emissions from coal, oil and gas and encourage a transition to wind, solar and other carbon-free energy. He has directed every federal agency from the Agriculture Department to the Pentagon to consider how climate change is affecting their core missions.

If Mr. Biden has taken an all-of-government approach to fighting climate change, Mr. Trump and his allies would adopt the opposite: scrubbing “climate” from all federal functions and promoting fossil fuels.

Mr. Trump and his allies want to end federal subsidies for electric vehicles, battery development and the wind and solar industries, preferring instead to open up the Alaskan wilderness to oil drilling, encourage more offshore drilling and expand gas export terminals.

Project 2025, a lengthy manual filled with specific proposals for a next Republican administration, calls for erasing any mention of climate change across the government. While Mr. Trump has recently sought to distance himself from Project 2025, he has praised its architects at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization, and much of the plan was written by people who were top advisers during his first term and could serve in prominent roles if he wins in November.

When pressed to discuss climate change, some Republicans say the country should produce more natural gas and sell it to other countries as a cleaner replacement for coal.

While natural gas produces less carbon dioxide than coal when burned, it remains one of the sources of the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. Scientists say that countries must stop burning coal, oil and gas to keep global warming to relatively safe levels. Last year, at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the United States and nearly 200 countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels.

But if elected, Mr. Trump has indicated he would pull back from the global fight against climate change, as he did when he announced in 2017 that the United States would be the first and only country to withdraw from the Paris Agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. (The United States subsequently rejoined under Mr. Biden.)

And it’s possible he would go even further. Mr. Trump’s former aides said that if he wins in November, he would remove the country altogether from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the international body that works on climate policy and created the 2015 Paris deal.

When it comes to international relations, Project 2025 calls for an end to spending federal funds to help the world’s poorest countries transition to wind, solar and other renewable energy.

The blueprint also calls for erasing climate change as a national security concern, despite research showing rising sea levels, extreme weather and other consequences of global temperature rise are destabilizing areas of the world, affecting migration and threatening American military installations.

Federal research into climate change would slow or disappear under Project 2025, which recommends dismantling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which conducts some of the world’s leading climate research and is also responsible for weather forecasting and tracking the path of hurricanes and other storms.

NOAA, according to the authors of Project 2025, is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.” At the agency’s research operation, which include a network of research laboratories, an undersea research center, and several joint research institutes with universities, “the preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded,” the blueprint said.

Project 2025 also calls for the president to issue an executive order to “reshape” the program that convenes 13 federal agencies every four years to produce the National Climate Assessment, the country’s most authoritative analysis of climate knowledge. The report is required by Congress and details the impacts and risks of climate change to a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, health care and transportation. It is used by the public, researchers and officials around the country to inform decisions about strategies and spending.

Project 2025 also calls for the elimination of offices at the Department of Energy dedicated to developing wind, solar and other renewable energy.

Waleed Abdalati, a former NASA chief scientist who is now at the University of Colorado Boulder, said downgrading climate science would be a disservice to the nation. “That’s a loss of four years in pursuit of creative solutions,” he said.

As president, Mr. Trump tried to replace top officials with political appointees who denied the existence of climate change and put pressure on federal scientists to water down their conclusions. Scientists refused to change their findings and attempts by the Trump administration to bury climate research were also not successful.

“Thank God they didn’t know how to run a government,” Thomas Armstrong, who led the National Climate Assessment program under the Obama administration, said at the end of Mr. Trump’s presidency, adding, “It could have been a lot worse.”

Next time, they would know how to run the government, Mr. Trump’s former officials said. “The difference between the last time and this time is, Donald Trump was president for four years,” Mr. Pyle said. “He will be more prepared.”

[mindblowingscience]

The story of Greenland keeps getting greener—and scarier. A new study provides the first direct evidence that the center—not just the edges—of Greenland's ice sheet melted away in the recent geological past and the now-ice-covered island was then home to a green, tundra landscape. A team of scientists re-examined a few inches of sediment from the bottom of a two-mile-deep ice core extracted at the very center of Greenland in 1993—and held for 30 years in a Colorado storage facility. They were amazed to discover soil that contained willow wood, insect parts, fungi, and a poppy seed in pristine condition.

Continue Reading.

[you-need-not-apply]

Please read

I've been protesting since i was two. I have memorised the chants, the speeches, the songs, the same arguments over and over and *over* again. I have signed over 500 petitions, i have attended over 150 marches, I have presented over 10 speeches personally. I don't remember when I learned about climate change because i always knew, so why didn't others?

I remember asking my Mother when i was around eight where she first learnt about it. When she was in year 8, back in 89-90. She said to me "I remember my teacher explaining it to us and thinking 'why isn't anyone doing anything'" She told me it's not that we don't have the answers, its we don't have the materials.

Now I know that is code for "the government is refusing to fund this" or "The government doesn't believe this is an issue" ect ect. Again and again, a new issue that needs to be solved or address or fixed before "we can focus on climate change"

Let me tell you ***You can not fight every battle*** But I try to. This latest "stunt" [Aliens aren't real] by the USA is yet another distraction from the biggest issue, The Atlantic ocean is facing a collapse.

Due to amount of cold water coming from the melted Greenland Ice sheets, It will cause the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to collapse and shut down.

The last time this happened was around 15,000-14,500 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. It lead to a collapse of weather cycles, temperatures plunge and spike, ecosystems to collaspe.

If it collapses, La Niña could become the norm for Australia.

You can do something. I know because I've done something. So do it.

https://www.zmescience.com/science/major-atlantic-ocean-current-could-collapse-due-to-climate-change/

https://www.gzeromedia.com/gzero-north/warming-seas-have-scientists-on-alert

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/20/world/greenland-ice-sheet-melt-sea-level-rise-climate/index.html

https://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2023/07/what-is-happening-in-the-atlantic-ocean-to-the-amoc/

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151638/wasting-away-again-in-greenland

[thoughtlessarse]

It begins each day at nightfall. As the light disappears, billions of zooplankton, crustaceans and other marine organisms rise to the ocean surface to feed on microscopic algae, returning to the depths at sunrise. The waste from this frenzy – Earth’s largest migration of creatures – sinks to the ocean floor, removing millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year. This activity is one of thousands of natural processes that regulate the Earth’s climate. Together, the planet’s oceans, forests, soils and other natural carbon sinks absorb about half of all human emissions. But as the Earth heats up, scientists are increasingly concerned that those crucial processes are breaking down. In 2023, the hottest year ever recorded, preliminary findings by an international team of researchers show the amount of carbon absorbed by land has temporarily collapsed. The final result was that forest, plants and soil – as a net category – absorbed almost no carbon. There are warning signs at sea, too. Greenland’s glaciers and Arctic ice sheets are melting faster than expected, which is disrupting the Gulf Stream ocean current and slows the rate at which oceans absorb carbon. For the algae-eating zooplankton, melting sea ice is exposing them to more sunlight – a shift scientists say could keep them in the depths for longer, disrupting the vertical migration that stores carbon on the ocean floor. “We’re seeing cracks in the resilience of the Earth’s systems. We’re seeing massive cracks on land – terrestrial ecosystems are losing their carbon store and carbon uptake capacity, but the oceans are also showing signs of instability,” Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told an event at New York Climate Week in September. “Nature has so far balanced our abuse. This is coming to an end,” he said.

continue reading

[tornadoquest]

Tornado Quest Top Science Links For November 12 - 17, 2022 #science #weather #climate #environment #cop27 #drought #winter #wintersafety #twitter

Tornado Quest Top Science Links For November 12 – 17, 2022 #science #weather #climate #environment #cop27 #drought #winter #wintersafety #twitter

Greetings everyone! I hope this week’s post finds all of you well. For the eastern Pacific and Atlantic, the hurricane season is wrapping up. Simultaneously, there have been some substantial early winter weather events across parts of North America. Therefore, I’ll start posting winter weather safety information this week with helpful tips on preparing an emergency kit that will be useful in any…

[rabiesofficial]

In 2023, the hottest year ever recorded, preliminary findings by an international team of researchers show the amount of carbon absorbed by land has temporarily collapsed. The final result was that forest, plants and soil – as a net category – absorbed almost no carbon. There are warning signs at sea, too. Greenland’s glaciers and Arctic ice sheets are melting faster than expected, which is disrupting the Gulf Stream ocean current and slows the rate at which oceans absorb carbon. For the algae-eating zooplankton, melting sea ice is exposing them to more sunlight – a shift scientists say could keep them in the depths for longer, disrupting the vertical migration that stores carbon on the ocean floor. “We’re seeing cracks in the resilience of the Earth’s systems. We’re seeing massive cracks on land – terrestrial ecosystems are losing their carbon store and carbon uptake capacity, but the oceans are also showing signs of instability,” Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told an event at New York Climate Week in September. “Nature has so far balanced our abuse. This is coming to an end,” he said.

....

“None of these models have factored in losses like extreme factors which have been observed, such as the wildfires in Canada last year that amounted to six months of US fossil emissions. Two years before, we wrote a paper that found that Siberia also lost the same amount of carbon,” says Ciais. “Another process which is absent from the climate models is the basic fact that trees die from drought. This is observed and none of the models have drought-induced mortality in their representation of the land sink,” he says. “The fact that the models are lacking these factors probably makes them too optimistic.”

...

“We shouldn’t rely on natural forests to do the job. We really, really have to tackle the big issue: fossil fuel emissions across all sectors,” says Prof Pierre Friedlingstein of Exeter University, who oversees the annual Global Carbon Budget calculations. “We can’t just assume that we have forests and the forest will remove some CO2, because it’s not going to work in the long term.”

When I first heard about this I saw that scientists didn't know if this would be temporary or not, this article states it "could" be temporary so... well...

[arrozaurus]

In many cases, climate change is further increasing the economic pressure on Indigenous communities to make quick-and-dirty deals with extractive industries. That’s because disruptive weather changes, particularly in northern regions, are making it much harder to hunt and fish (for example when the ice is almost never solid, communities in the far north become virtually trapped, unable to harvest food for months on end). All this makes it extremely hard to say no to offers of job training and resource sharing when companies like Shell come to town. Members of these communities know that the drilling will only make it harder to engage in subsistence activities—there are real concerns about the effects of oil development on the migration of whales, walruses, and caribou—and that’s without the inevitable spills. But precisely because the ecology is already so disrupted by climate change, there often seems no other option.

The paucity of good choices is perhaps best on display in Greenland, where receding glaciers and melting ice are revealing a vast potential for new mines and offshore oil exploration. The former Danish colony gained home rule in 1979, but the Inuit nation still relies on an annual infusion of more than $600 million (amounting to a full third of the economy) from Denmark. A 2008 self-governance referendum gave Greenland still more control over its own affairs, but also put it firmly on the path of drilling and mining its way to full independence. “We’re very aware that we’ll cause more climate change by drilling for oil,” a top Greenlandic official, then heading the Office of Self-Governance, said in 2008. “But should we not? Should we not when it can buy us our independence?” Currently, Greenland’s largest industry is fishing, which of course would be devastated by a major spill. And it doesn’t bode well that one of the companies selected to begin developing Greenland’s estimated fifty billion barrels of offshore oil and gas is none other than BP.

Indeed the melancholy dynamic strongly recalls BP’s “vessels of opportunity” program launched in the midst of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. For months, virtually the entire Louisiana fishing fleet was docked, unable to make a living for fear that the seafood was unsafe. That’s when BP offered to convert any fishing vessel into a cleanup boat, providing it with booms to (rather uselessly) mop up some oil. It was tremendously difficult for local shrimpers and oystermen to take work from the company that had just robbed them of their livelihood—but what choice did they have? No one else was offering to help pay the bills. This is the way the oil and gas industry holds on to power: by tossing temporary life rafts to the people it is drowning.

—Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything (2014)