A Changing Greenland: Inertia Documented

The melting of the Greenland ice sheet shattered the seasonal record in August 2012 resulting in ice sheet thinning, and expedited plans for exploration of newly accessible minerals and oil drilling. It’s not just that there are larger climate effects–polar bears might go extinct, or native communities might have to adapt, which have already started.  This could spell a change for the face of Greenland.

I’d love to photograph this, including capturing the newly formed lakes created on glaciers due to the melting; the scared landscape due to retracting ice or the new natural resource exploration; icebergs and ice flows; images of the towns current and newly built structures; vast, empty landscapes but with small references to change or human intervention in the background; historical monuments and markers, such as Norse ruins and departure point of Leif Eriksson.  Beyond documentation, these photographs could crystallize this feeling of inertia taking place in the primordial landscape of Greenland in a lyrical and beautiful way.

This windswept, chilling place was really the start of epic European exploration as the New World departure point of Leif Eriksson, the first European to step on North American soil and although seemingly forgotten is gaining more international attention.  Greenland needs to be seen before it changes.