Greenland: The Cost Of Change
Iceberg reflecting golden light during a midnight cruise near Ilulissat, Greenland.
My photography adventure to Ilulissat in Greenland was remarkable. But change is coming to Greenland. Read on!
Greenland is a remarkable country. It’s a harsh, wild and beautiful environment where nature rules in its pristine state.
Travel and photography have proved to be the perfect partners in my life. I’ve been fortunate to have traveled and photographed wildly and my adventures have taken me to some amazing places.
I’ve met all manner of people and witnessed a diversity of crazy, bizarre and awe-inspiring sights.
Yet, despite all the places I’ve traveled to over the years, nothing prepared me for Greenland. There is no place quite like this wild and spectacular country which, frankly, has to be seen to be believed.
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Greenland Facts
Here’s some interesting facts about Greenland:
The entire country has only 150 km (i.e., 90 miles) of roads.
Only 60 km (i.e., 40 miles) of those roads are sealed.
Greenland has a total population of only around 56,000 people.
17,000 people live in Nuuk, the capital city.
Ironically the word Greenland means Land Of People.
Greenland is geographically part of North America and politically part of Europe.
Official languages are Greenlandic and Danish, although English is also quite widely spoken.
Shipping containers and tourists on the docks at Ilulissat, Greenland.
The Cost Of A More Prosperous Country
Despite all the romance associated with this far away land, change is coming to Greenland.
Initial changes came through major infrastructure improvements, implemented within the country’s towns over recent decades. I’ve no doubt these changes would have benefited Greenlanders.
Over the last few years announcements of a huge mining boom in Greenland have been made.
It’s likely that significant economic growth will reach the country, though how widely dispersed and how far down the chain benefits will flow is unknown.
I can only hope that something akin to the $1 trillion dollar Norway Government Pension Fund will be established and that changes will be managed sensibly and in a way that’s supportive of local people.
Many of the indigenous Inuit, whose lives are so intimately linked to the landscape, face great uncertainty over coming years.
All too often change comes at too high a price. We can only hope that the usual compromises to cultural identity and the environment are minimized.
Triangular shape within a collision of icebergs on the Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland.
Ilulissat and the Jakobshavn Glacier
I made the photos in this post during a midnight cruise on the world famous Ilulissat Icefjord near the tourist town of Ilulissat in Western Greenland.
It’s a most remarkable place where the Sermeq Kulalleq or Jakobshavn Glacier, the largest glacier in the northern hemisphere, flows into Disko Bay and towards the sea.
During the summer months the flow of ice from the Glacier proceeds at around 40 meters a day. What’s more around 1/10 of the ice that reaches the sea from the inland ice comes from this glacier.
In fact a massive 35 cubic kilometers of ice is calved off the Jakobshavn Glacier into the 200-300 meter deep Ilulissat Icefjord every year.
The figures are truly staggering, as is the sheer size of these great ice monoliths, some of which I had the opportunity to photograph during my time in the tourist town of Ilulissat.
Icebergs are beautiful and I’ve had the good fortune to photograph them in Antarctica and Greenland. But the icebergs on the Ilulissat Icefjord are, by far, the largest I’ve ever seen.
Epic in dimension, they simply boggle the mind.
While the icebergs are huge, it’s their color that I find so entrancing.
The surreal qualities of the arctic light, at the edges of the day, makes viewing and photographing the icebergs around Ilulissat a wondrous experience.
You’re Either There Or You’re Not
My midnight cruise on the Ilulissat Icefjord lasted around 2 hours during which time I managed to stay on deck for all but around 10 minutes.
It was windy and cold but being inside, undercover, felt a little too much like watching nature on a TV screen from the comfort of your own living room sofa.
When I did venture inside, to check on my traveling companion, I was amazed to see that nobody seemed to be taking more than a cursory glimpse out of the window.
I couldn’t believe it, nor could I wait any longer.
That kind of attitude is like a disease. I had to get back out on deck and start living again. And I’m so glad I did.
The experience of being there, in the moment, was thrilling. What’s more my photos will live on and remind my of my adventure for many years to come.
Gull and iceberg, in silhouette, near the town of Ilulissat in Greenland.
Greenland Travel - Is it For You?
I loved my time in Greenland and look forward to returning again to see more of this most spectacular country.
It’s a long way from Australia so, for anyone traveling from this neck of the woods, consider spending some time in either Iceland or the Faroe Islands on route.
You’ll be so glad you did.
All three countries offer spectacular opportunities for landscape photography, yet all are quite unique destinations offering different travel experiences.
That’s why it makes sense to include at least two of them in your itinerary. You’ll be so glad you did.
Either way an economic boom and a fast changing landscape means change is coming to Greenland. It’s already begun, the decision is when will you go.
