Sea ice once acted as a frozen highway, connecting Inuit communities across Greenland, Canada, the United States, and Russia. This past January in Ilulissat, roughly 186 miles north of the Arctic Circle, there was none<\/a>. Kristensen’s sled bounced over bare earth and rock instead, the first time he could remember no snow or ice in the bay in the warmest January on record<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the 1980s, winter temperatures there regularly hit minus-13 degrees Fahrenheit. Some days now reach 50 degrees<\/a> Fahrenheit. The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster<\/a> than the rest of the world \u2014 due to human activity<\/a> \u2014 and Greenland’s sled dog population has halved over the past 20 years to around 15,000 and is still falling<\/a>.<\/p>\n But this isn’t just a local phenomenon. The nearby Sermeq Kujalleq glacier has retreated 25 miles over Kristensen’s lifetime. It is one of the fastest and most active glaciers in the world, according to UNESCO<\/a>, and it is contributing to rising sea levels from Europe to the Pacific Islands<\/a>, according to NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kristensen’s response is to teach. On every tour, he explains that Greenland’s glaciers are as ecologically vital as the Amazon rainforest<\/a>. He believes reaching the next generation<\/a> matters as much as anything.<\/p>\n “If we don’t start with the children, we can’t really do anything to help nature,” Kristensen told the Associated Press. “We can only destroy it.”<\/p>\n His work reflects a broader movement<\/a> across Greenland, where community members and researchers are creating programs to reconnect youth with Inuit traditions before that knowledge disappears<\/a>.<\/p>\n “If we lose the dog sledding, we have large parts of our culture that we’re losing,” he said. “That scares me.”<\/p>\n TCD Picks \u00bb Upway Spotlight<\/p>\n \ud83d\udca1Upway makes it easy to find discounts of up to 60% on premium e-bike brands<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices \u2014 and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD’s exclusive Rewards Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t![\"Cool](\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/wp-content\/themes\/tcd\/assets\/images\/divider-icon-earth.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n