‘It’s ironic’: how climate crisis is driving Trump push on Greenland and Panama
‘It’s ironic’: how climate crisis is driving Trump push on Greenland and Panama
What the president-elect calls a ‘giant hoax’ is changing the strategic calculus in the Arctic and for the Panama canal
Trump’s rhetoric has been denounced by other world leaders but the rationale for this expansionism is being influenced, experts say, by something affecting both Greenland and Panama – rising global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Even though the incoming US president has called climate change a “giant hoax”, his son Donald Jr acknowledged the value of mining rare minerals in Greenland that are being uncovered as the ice rapidly retreats from the vast Arctic island. Greenland’s enormous ice sheet is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour due to the climate crisis, raising sea levels and potentially collapsing vital ocean currents.
As sea ice dwindles in the Arctic Ocean, meanwhile, new shipping routes through the far northern latitudes are becoming more viable. Robert O’Brien, Trump’s former national security adviser, said that Greenland, which has had a US military base since 1941, is key to counter the threat of China and Russia but it is also “very important to the Arctic, which is going to be the critical battleground of the future because as the climate gets warmer, the Arctic is going to be a pathway that maybe cuts down on the usage of the Panama canal”.
Wait what?
is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour
That's a fact I'd like to forget.
It's putting so much fresh water into the ocean that it's destabilizing the Gulf Stream, which will plunge northwestern Europe into an ice age in a few years.
Good(ish) news everyone! Our current models suggest it probably won't happen this century (although it might) so it's probably another generation's problem (although it might not be and it's still definitely our actions, or lack thereof, that would be fucking them over).
Sorry, that's about as comforting as climate science gets these days.
Yeah, I knew about that and the imminent Gulf stream troubles, but I never saw the actuall numbers. Like, I knew it was bad, but seeing how unimaginably large the numbers are is terrifying.
If it makes you feel any better it's simultaneously gaining ~25Mt of ice an hour (on average) due (mainly) to snowfall so it's "only" losing ~5Mt per hour net.
Yep, nope, still wanna forget.
Ascribing rational motives, based on climate science, to a climate-science-denying powermad lying sack of shit is unhelpul. He's doing it as a distraction, and as a way to further weaken alliances, which benefits Russia.
I think it's also equally important to Trump (really Putin) to get rid of the NATO presence in Greenland (so Russia can claim it and Trump would give it up for "peace") and renewed Russian access (and probably preferential treatment) to the Panama Canal.