Dramatic Landscapes

Today, we arrived in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland after a 2 hour flight from Reykjavik. First impressions…

1. Global Warming.

2. Isn’t there supposed to be ice?!

3. GLOBAL WARMING.

4. Graffiti is everywhere.

5. Humans are destroying nature.

So far, the landscape I’ve seen is different than I ever imagined. With the occasional patches of ice, there’s no ice sheet that I can see. During the last ice age, the Arctic was covered with thick ice sheets. Today, only the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island survive. As global warming continues to be problematic and as the sea ice cover diminishes, areas are becoming more accessible. Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russia and the United States (known as the Arctic Five) are staking their claims to the waters. The Cold War kept the Arctic frozen as a mutual no-man’s sea, but now this is a race to gain increased geopolitical power of the centrally located ocean, especially since it’s a potential shortcut for shipping between the Far East and Europe. Iceland is now looking towards drilling for oil. As resources become exposed, we’re taking advantage.

On the more positive note, here are some landscapes I took from the plane landing into Kangerlussuaq. The cloudy, dramatic skies call for a black and white edit!

That's all for now... Stay tuned for more Greenland/Iceland/Canadian High Arctic adventures. Also, be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified of new posts, as there is sometimes unreliable internet! Follow my instagram @elissatitle for more photography posts.