179
meat (what some have called the new era of “Peak beef” as in peak oil
10
), even attitudinal changes are coming to Greenland, as witnessed by a vegan-friendly café in
Nuuk, Greenland’s capital founded in 1728. But as of the early 1990s, approximately 100,000 seals (70% of them ringed seals) were killed each year in Greenland;
as well as every possible rorqual and finback whale within the International Whaling
Commission quotas, under the guise of “nutritional value”
11
. Approximately 400
musk oxen were slaughtered annually as of the early 1990s, as well
12
. And to this
day, welcoming websites offer trophy hunting in Greenland
13
.
Corroborating the attitudinal context for hunting amongst Greenlanders are
Moravian immigrant observations throughout Cape Farewell dating to the early
1800s. Detailed notes pertaining to local famines, particularly within the Eastern
Settlements; the fact that one hunter’s industry might typically support five family
members if the weather was not entirely overwhelming; and also unholy competition for marine mammals from seasonal Norwegian hunters who would shoot “hundreds of thousands of hooded seals and harp seals” using only “the blubber and
skins” and leaving behind the meat. For local Inuit, “The result of this was more and
longer periods with reduced catches, and as a whole the population must have seen
the whole basis of their existence disappear”
14
.
An estimated 1% of Greenland’s ice-free perimeter is arable and with fastescalating climate-change effects on the land, projections for increasing near-term
production of potatoes, broccoli, carrots, strawberries, and even apples look promising. Potato cultivation in Greenland, however, is also fraught with serious fungal
contaminants, in part as a result of dramatic temperature changes (increases)
15
.
Documented animal husbandry has always accompanied non-indigenous lifestyles
and diet in Greenland since the first Norse waves of immigration. In the twenty-first
century, that has meant the slaughter of tens-of-thousands of sheep, goat, and
10 See Tim Lewis’s essay, “Have we hit ‘peak beef’?”, Environment, The Guardian, March 16,
2019, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/16/peak-beef-ethical-food-climatechange, Accessed April 7, 2019.
11 op. cit., Nature Conservation in Greenland, by essay by Hans Jakob Helms, p.16.
12 ibid., “The Musk Ox in Angujaartorfiup Nunaa,” essay by Carsten Riis Olesen, p. 116.
13 See, for example, https://visitgreenland.com/about-greenland/hunting-culture/, Accessed April
7, 2019. See also, the first major survey on Greenlander attitudes regarding climate change, hunting traditions and the future, “Life on thin ice – Mental health at the heart of the climate crisis,” by
Dan McDougall, Mon 12 Aug 2019, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/society/nginteractive/2019/aug/12/life-on-thin-ice-mental-health-at-the-heart-of-the-climate-crisis,
Accessed January 12, 2020.
14 See Cultural Encounters at Cape Farewell – The East Greenlandic Immigrants and the German
Moravian Mission in the 19
th Century, by Einar Lund Jensen, Kristine Raahuge and Hans Christian
Gullov, Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, 2011, p. 123.
15 See Gerald Traufetter. “Arctic Harvest – Global Warming a Boon for Greenland’s Farmers”. Der Spiegel;
See also “Diseases in potatoes and grass fields,” by Eigil de Neergaard et al 2009 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth
Environ. Sci. 6 372013, Eigil_de_Neergaard_2009_IOP_Conf._Ser.__Earth_Environ._Sci._6_372013(2).
19.2 A Teleology of Killing
meat (what some have called the new era of “Peak beef” as in peak oil
10
), even attitudinal changes are coming to Greenland, as witnessed by a vegan-friendly café in
Nuuk, Greenland’s capital founded in 1728. But as of the early 1990s, approximately 100,000 seals (70% of them ringed seals) were killed each year in Greenland;
as well as every possible rorqual and finback whale within the International Whaling
Commission quotas, under the guise of “nutritional value”
11
. Approximately 400
musk oxen were slaughtered annually as of the early 1990s, as well
12
. And to this
day, welcoming websites offer trophy hunting in Greenland
13
.
Corroborating the attitudinal context for hunting amongst Greenlanders are
Moravian immigrant observations throughout Cape Farewell dating to the early
1800s. Detailed notes pertaining to local famines, particularly within the Eastern
Settlements; the fact that one hunter’s industry might typically support five family
members if the weather was not entirely overwhelming; and also unholy competition for marine mammals from seasonal Norwegian hunters who would shoot “hundreds of thousands of hooded seals and harp seals” using only “the blubber and
skins” and leaving behind the meat. For local Inuit, “The result of this was more and
longer periods with reduced catches, and as a whole the population must have seen
the whole basis of their existence disappear”
14
.
An estimated 1% of Greenland’s ice-free perimeter is arable and with fastescalating climate-change effects on the land, projections for increasing near-term
production of potatoes, broccoli, carrots, strawberries, and even apples look promising. Potato cultivation in Greenland, however, is also fraught with serious fungal
contaminants, in part as a result of dramatic temperature changes (increases)
15
.
Documented animal husbandry has always accompanied non-indigenous lifestyles
and diet in Greenland since the first Norse waves of immigration. In the twenty-first
century, that has meant the slaughter of tens-of-thousands of sheep, goat, and
10 See Tim Lewis’s essay, “Have we hit ‘peak beef’?”, Environment, The Guardian, March 16,
2019, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/16/peak-beef-ethical-food-climatechange, Accessed April 7, 2019.
11 op. cit., Nature Conservation in Greenland, by essay by Hans Jakob Helms, p.16.
12 ibid., “The Musk Ox in Angujaartorfiup Nunaa,” essay by Carsten Riis Olesen, p. 116.
13 See, for example, https://visitgreenland.com/about-greenland/hunting-culture/, Accessed April
7, 2019. See also, the first major survey on Greenlander attitudes regarding climate change, hunting traditions and the future, “Life on thin ice – Mental health at the heart of the climate crisis,” by
Dan McDougall, Mon 12 Aug 2019, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/society/nginteractive/2019/aug/12/life-on-thin-ice-mental-health-at-the-heart-of-the-climate-crisis,
Accessed January 12, 2020.
14 See Cultural Encounters at Cape Farewell – The East Greenlandic Immigrants and the German
Moravian Mission in the 19
th Century, by Einar Lund Jensen, Kristine Raahuge and Hans Christian
Gullov, Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, 2011, p. 123.
15 See Gerald Traufetter. “Arctic Harvest – Global Warming a Boon for Greenland’s Farmers”. Der Spiegel;
See also “Diseases in potatoes and grass fields,” by Eigil de Neergaard et al 2009 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth
Environ. Sci. 6 372013, Eigil_de_Neergaard_2009_IOP_Conf._Ser.__Earth_Environ._Sci._6_372013(2).
19.2 A Teleology of Killing