The melting ice could reveal untapped deposits of critical minerals<\/a>. Many Greenlanders believe that\u2019s why US President Donald Trump turned their island into a geopolitical hotspot with his demands to own it and previous suggestions that the US could take it by force<\/a>.<\/p>\n Greenlandic sled dogs stand in Ilulissat, Greenland, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. – AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka <\/p>\n ‘We have large parts of our culture that we\u2019re losing’<\/p>\n In the 1980s, winter temperatures in Ilulissat regularly hovered around -25 Celsius in winter, Kristensen says.<\/p>\n But nowadays, he says, there are many days when the temperature is above freezing \u2013 sometimes it can be as warm as 10 Celsius.<\/p>\n Kristensen says he now has to collect snow for the dogs to drink during a journey because there isn\u2019t any along the route.<\/p>\n Although Greenlanders have always adapted \u2013 and could make dog sleds with wheels in future \u2013 the loss of the ice is affecting them deeply, says Kristensen, who now runs his own company showing tourists his Arctic homeland.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we lose the dog sledding, we have large parts of our culture that we\u2019re losing. That scares me,\u201d he says, pressing his lips together and becoming tearful.<\/p>\n A sled dog stands as the northern lights shine over Ilulissat, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. – AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka <\/p>\n The sea ice is disappearing<\/p>\n In winter, hunters should be able to take their dogs far out on the sea ice, Kristensen says. The ice sheets act like \u201cbig bridges<\/a>\u201d, connecting Greenlanders to hunting grounds but also to other Inuit communities across the Arctic in Canada, the United States and Russia.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the sea ice used to come, we felt completely open along the entire coast and we could decide where to go,\u201d Kristensen says.<\/p>\n This January, there was no ice at all.<\/p>\n Driving a dog sled on ice is like being \u201ccompletely without boundaries \u2013 like on the world\u2019s longest and widest highway,\u201d he says. Not having that is \u201ca very great loss\u201d.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Several years ago, Greenland\u2019s government had to provide financial support to many families in the far north of the island after the sea ice did not freeze hard enough for hunting, says Sara Olsvig, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents Inuit people from across Arctic nations.<\/p>\n The warming weather also makes life more dangerous for fishermen who have swapped their dog sleds for boats, because there is more rain instead of snow, says Morgan Angaju Josefsen R\u00f8jkj\u00e6r, Kristensen\u2019s business partner.<\/p>\n When snow falls and is compressed, air is trapped between the flakes, giving the ice its brilliant white colour. But when rain freezes, the ice that forms contains little air and looks more like glass.<\/p>\n A fisherman can see the white ice and try to avoid it, but the ice formed from rain takes on the colour of the sea \u2013 and that\u2019s dangerous because \u201cit can sink you or throw you off your boat,\u201d says R\u00f8jkj\u00e6r.<\/p>\n Climate change, Olsvig says, \u201cis affecting us deeply\u201d, and is amplified in the Arctic, which is \u201cwarming three to four times faster<\/a> than the global average\u201d.<\/p>\n J\u00f8rgen Kristensen rides with his sled dogs in Ilulissat, Greenland, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. – AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka <\/p>\n The glaciers are melting<\/p>\n Over the course of his lifetime, the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier has retreated by about 40 kilometres says Karl Sandgreen, 46, the head of Ilulissat\u2019s Icefjord Center which is dedicated to documenting the glacier and its icebergs.<\/p>\n Looking out of the window at hills which would normally be covered with snow, Sandgreen describes mountain rock revealed by melting ice and a previously ice-covered valley inside the fjord where \u201cthere\u2019s nothing now\u201d.<\/p>\n Pollution is also speeding up the ice melt<\/a>, Sandgreen says, describing how Sermeq Kujalleq is melting from the top down, unlike glaciers in Antarctica which largely melt from the bottom up as sea temperatures rise.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n This is exacerbated by two things: black carbon<\/a>, or soot spewed from ship engines, and debris from volcanic eruptions. They blanket the snow and ice with dark material and reduce reflection of sunlight, instead absorbing more heat and speeding up melting. Black carbon has increased in recent decades with more ship traffic in the Arctic, and nearby Iceland has periodic volcanic eruptions.<\/p>\n Many Greenlanders told news agency AP they believe the melting ice is the reason Trump \u2013 a leader who has called climate change \u201cthe greatest con job ever<\/a>\u201d \u2013 wants to own the island.<\/p>\n \u201cHis agenda is to get the minerals, \u201d Sandgreen says.<\/p>\n Since Trump returned to office, fewer climate scientists from the US have visited Ilulissat, Sandgreen says. The US president needs to \u201clisten to the scientists<\/a>\u201d, who are documenting the impact of global warming, he says.<\/p>\n J\u00f8rgen Kristensen gets on a boat by an iceberg at Disko Bay near Ilulissat, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. – AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka <\/p>\n Teaching children about climate change<\/p>\n Kristensen says he tries to explain the consequences of global warming to the tourists who he takes out on dog sled rides or on visits to the icebergs. He says he tells them how Greenland\u2019s glaciers are as important as the Amazon rainforest<\/a> in Brazil.<\/p>\n International summits, such as the United Nations climate talks<\/a> in November in the Amazon gateway city of Belem, play a role, but it\u2019s just as important to \u201cteach children all over the world\u201d about the importance of ice and oceans, alongside subjects like maths, Kristensen says.<\/p>\n![\"Greenlandic](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6574cee4909500f534e3ac777c6b304e.jpeg\"\/)
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