The wind is blowing strong, rain is falling heavily and…
Icebergs aren’t infinite: A little thought on climate change
It is a hot summer day in Germany. Finally after a long, cold and miserable winter that didn’t seem to end. Not only Germany was facing the fact of strange weather conditions this year. Winter didn’t seem to end, we had snow sin June, horrible floodings and then a week later the temperature was rising up to almost 40 degrees. Another time winds were ice cold.
It is really scary, even if weather has always been changing over times, this time it is different. This climate is made by us and we aren’t entirely sure how it is going to be like in the future. It has become a threat of todays generation and it is hard to deny that global warming is actually real.
Watching the ice cubes melt in my glass, reminded me of the fact that also icecaps are probalbly melting right now as well.
Having thought that, I looked up the pictures I took on a trip to Greenland. I was lucky enough, to be chosen to go on an environment camp with activists from Greenpeace and journalists. It was trip organized by a German youth magazine called BRAVO. They started a competition and the price was a 7 day trip to Greenland. They asked people to make a project on climate change and I made a video about it and wrote something. I was lucky enough to be one out of 10 to get invited to Munich for an interview and finally got a call that I am one of the four who are invited to go to Greenland.
It has a been a great adventure and made me think a lot about the problems we are facing. I got the chance to speak to locals, camp next to a glacier, speak to the major, see a science station and speak to the scientists and also ask the Greenpeace activist all my questions.
Obviously I heard about climate change in the news before, but to be honest I didn’t see what impact it had with my own before that. I had not idea, what impact climate change had on people in certain places of the earth. It is especially visible in Greenland and it is extremly sad that those people who are strugging now, struggle because of problems that people, especially in Western countries create. People in Greenland can’t be blamed for the problems in their country, because it isn’t their fault. Those people are living in deep respect of nature and fishing was their way of supplying themselves with food. One problem for example is that even if the sea temperature rises one degree, some fishes either are foreced to swim further north because they are used to live in colder water or they become exctinct. Lots of fishermen were facing this problem that fishing has become a lot harder.
One thing which was a really astonishing experience for me, was going on a boat trip past icebergs. Some of them were massive, sometimes the size of a five storey house and some icebergs were rather small, maybe the broke off a bigger one. I will never forget the sight of a piece of ice breaking off an iceberg. When it breaks and falls in the water it makes this strange noise, which I can describe. But it goes under skin and it is a scene that is hard to forget.
Those icebergs symbolized strengh and power to me and they seemed undestructable, somehow infinte. They are really beautiful to look at, but at the same time you know how dangerous there are. They remind me a bit of an insect-eating plant, they look beautiful and smell good. But if fly comes to close, it is fatal.
‘I had the biggest respect when we went past them and I have to say it is worth there to expericence it. But now with global warming becoming a bigger problem, I wonder for how long people are actually able to go and see them. Looking at the pictures now, I wonder how much is left of them?
It is a scary thought that there might be not much left. I hope that people realize how important sustainibilty actually is and how much we actually rely nature.
It might not affect us as much as the people in Greenland now, but how is going to be like in five or ten years? We can’t tell…
And isn’t it our responsibilty as well, to protect people in other places of the world from such issues by being more respectful with nature? I’d say so…
“In my view, climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of terrorism.” —Sir David King, former science advisor to Tony Blair, Science, Jan. 9, 2004