2013.07.23 - Employers Association of Greenland and the Institute of Natural Resources

Last Tuesday, we spoke with Ellen Arnskjold at the Employers Association of Greenland (Sulisitsisut) and Ole Geertz-Hansen with the Institute of Natural Resources (Pinngoretitaleriffik).  The Employers Association, has been representing business interest in Greenland since 1966.  Presently, around 500 companies and 6,0000 employees are listed among it's members.  Recently, the Employer's Association has been in collaboration with the Danish Industry Foundation, Confederation of Danish Industry, and the Technical University of Denmark to strengthen and support both Danish and Greenlandic companies in partnership to bid for mining projects in Greenland.

The Institute of Natural Resources is responsible for providing a scientific basis for the assessment of sustainable use of resources in and around Greenland.  The aim of these reports is to secure the environmental and ecological stability of Greenland, the reports also advise the Greenlandic government on policy strategy.  The Institute of Natural Resources is divided into three areas of specialization: Fish and Shellfish, Birds and Mammals, and the Climate Research Center.  All three divisions work to foresee changes in ecological equilibria and the affect of human activity/development on the environment.

2013.07.22 / Inuit Circumpolar Council and Katuaq

On Monday - July 22nd - we began our week of interviews by speaking in the morning with Aqqaluk Lynge and in the afternoon with Julia Pars.  Aqqaluk is a native Greenlander and is the current Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), the ICC is a multi-national non-governmental organization established in 1977.  The ICC represents over 160,000 Inuit people in Greenland, Canada, the United States, and Russia and was granted consultive status to the United Nations in 1983.

Julia is also a native Greenlander and is the acting director of Katuaq, a facility that servers as the Cultural Center of Greenland.  Katuaq was opened in 1997 and hosts conferences, concerts, exhibits, and serves as a cinema - it also acts as an informal community center.  Following the 2012 Venice Biennale, the exhibit Possible Greenland was brought to Katuaq to share with the local community - and in February of this year Katuaq hosted a conference titled Future Greenland.

In the weeks following our travel (as we're transcribing all of the interviews) we'll also post more in-depth profiles of everyone - stay tuned.

2013.07.21 - Nuuk / Store Malene (Ukkusissaq)

On our first full day in Nuuk and with no one to interview on a Sunday, we decided to hike up the 772m Store Malene.  We went with our new friends Jonas and Tany, as well as their friends Charles and Ursula.  The weather was fantastic and the view was "amazing".  We prepared a small dinner and had it at the top of the mountain.  All in all it was a 5 hour round trip - time well spent.

2013.07.20 - Reykjavik / Nuuk

After months of research and planning, our trip is finally underway.  Flying out of Boston, we had an 8 hour layover in Reykjavik before boarding our flight to Nuuk.  We hadn't made any firm plans for this layover, so we decided to rent a car and drive around viewing the landscape and go to the Blue Lagoon thermal spa.  On our way we discovered the divide between the North American and European continents (growing at a rate of 2cm per year).  We enjoyed the spa for a while and then made our way back to the airport for our flight to Greenland.