Why Greenland Matters for a Warming World

The fate of the worlds largest island has outsize importance for billions of people on the planet, because as the climate warms, Greenland is losing ice. That has consequences. What happens in Greenland doesnt stay in Greenland. Turns out, the fate of the worlds largest island has outsize importance for billions of people on the planet. Thats because of the one thing that Greenland is quickly losing: ice. Most of Greenlands landmass, which takes up about two million square kilometers in all, or nearly 840,000 square miles, is covered in ice. That ice is melting rapidly because the polar regions of the world are warming rapidly, with wide-ranging consequences for the stability of the Earths climate. Blame the burning of coal, oil and gas. Their emissions have driven up global temperatures, most strikingly in the Arctic, which is as the rest of the planet. As the Arctic warms, potential new trading routes open up, as well as access to mineral riches, including those that are vital for clean energy technologies useful for slowing climate change. In short, climate change makes the Arctic more accessible and more of a strategic target for world powers, a fact not lost on President Trump. His fixation on Greenland is an admission that climate change is real, said John Conger, a former Pentagon official in the Obama administration who is now an adviser to the Center for Climate and Security, a research institute. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and your Times account, or for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? . Want all of The Times? .