180
bovines. They are not petting zoos. And as far as other biomass-related industries,
the only known forest in all of Greenland, the Qinngua (“paradise”) Valley just
northwest of Prince Christian Sound (60.2739 N 44.5307 W) comprises 600 hectares adjoining the Kangikitsoq Fjord; a 12.4-mile-long valley along the banks of the
Tasersuaq Lake wherein some 300 plant species thrive in the milder climate, including mountain ash, gray-leaf willows, and downy birches, some nearly 30 feet high;
a protected area since 1930
16
(Fig. 19.2).
Less protected are the apex predators themselves—from human hunters to Orcas,
in both of whom toxic concentrations of PCBs and other contaminants have long
been studied
17
.
A huge area of the ice sheet potentially affected with large arrays of transmigrated pollutants includes the largest national park in the world, that of Northeast
Greenland
18
. With fewer than 50 full-time human inhabitants, the park, created in
1974, 102 years after the world’s first such park, Yellowstone, was expanded to its
current 375,000 square miles in 1988. It is “77 times” the size of Yellowstone
19
. Far
to the west of the park is the US military base at Thule, where a ballistic missile
early warning system was installed. In 1968, a B-52 carrying four nuclear warheads
crashed near the base. It remains a question of controversy whether the emergency
clean-up crews were ever able to find a portion of one of the weapons, and its uranium and plutonium contents.
16 https://www.wondermondo.com/qinngua-valley/. Accessed April 7, 2019.
17 See, for example, “Contaminants in Marine Mammals in Greenland – with linkages to trophic
levels, effects, diseases and distribution,” Doctor’s dissertation by Rune Dietz, 2008, https://
www2.dmu.dk/Pub/Doctor_RDI.PDF; See also, “The Inuit’s Struggle with Dioxins and Other
Organic Pollutants,” by Bruce E. Johansen, American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Summer,
2002), pp. 479–490, Published by: University of Nebraska Press, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4128495, JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/i384369. Accessed April 7, 2019; See also,
“Greenland Ice Sheet Likely Contains High Levels Of Anthropogenic Pollutants,” by James Ayre,
August 6, 2017, Clean Technica, https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/06/greenland-ice-sheetlikely-contains-high-levels-anthropogenic-pollutants-research-suggests/. Accessed April 7, 2019;
“Pollution in Greenland,” Numbeo, https://www.numbeo.com/pollution/country_result.
jsp?country=Greenland; “Lead pollution recorded in Greenland ice indicates European emissions
tracked plagues, wars, and imperial expansion during antiquity,” Joseph R. McConnell, Andrew
I. Wilson, Andreas Stohl, Monica M. Arienzo, Nathan J. Chellman, Sabine Eckhardt, Elisabeth
M. Thompson, A. Mark Pollard, and Jørgen Peder Steffensen; PNAS May 29, 2018 115 (22) 5726–
5731; published ahead of print May 14, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721818115,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, PNAS, https://
www.pnas.org/content/115/22/5726; “Poisons From Afar Threaten Arctic Mothers, Traditions,” by
DeNeen L. Brown, April 11, 2004, The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/
archive/politics/2004/04/11/poisons-from-afar-threaten-arctic-mothers-traditions/89af6e09-c4114b6f-bc97-4839963e9208/?utm_term=.245c11aba081, Accessed April 7, 2019.
18 See https://visitgreenland.com/the-national-park/. Accessed April 7, 2019.
19 See https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2014-05-12/largest-national-park-in-world, Accessed
April 7, 2019.
19 A Village in Prince Christian Sound
bovines. They are not petting zoos. And as far as other biomass-related industries,
the only known forest in all of Greenland, the Qinngua (“paradise”) Valley just
northwest of Prince Christian Sound (60.2739 N 44.5307 W) comprises 600 hectares adjoining the Kangikitsoq Fjord; a 12.4-mile-long valley along the banks of the
Tasersuaq Lake wherein some 300 plant species thrive in the milder climate, including mountain ash, gray-leaf willows, and downy birches, some nearly 30 feet high;
a protected area since 1930
16
(Fig. 19.2).
Less protected are the apex predators themselves—from human hunters to Orcas,
in both of whom toxic concentrations of PCBs and other contaminants have long
been studied
17
.
A huge area of the ice sheet potentially affected with large arrays of transmigrated pollutants includes the largest national park in the world, that of Northeast
Greenland
18
. With fewer than 50 full-time human inhabitants, the park, created in
1974, 102 years after the world’s first such park, Yellowstone, was expanded to its
current 375,000 square miles in 1988. It is “77 times” the size of Yellowstone
19
. Far
to the west of the park is the US military base at Thule, where a ballistic missile
early warning system was installed. In 1968, a B-52 carrying four nuclear warheads
crashed near the base. It remains a question of controversy whether the emergency
clean-up crews were ever able to find a portion of one of the weapons, and its uranium and plutonium contents.
16 https://www.wondermondo.com/qinngua-valley/. Accessed April 7, 2019.
17 See, for example, “Contaminants in Marine Mammals in Greenland – with linkages to trophic
levels, effects, diseases and distribution,” Doctor’s dissertation by Rune Dietz, 2008, https://
www2.dmu.dk/Pub/Doctor_RDI.PDF; See also, “The Inuit’s Struggle with Dioxins and Other
Organic Pollutants,” by Bruce E. Johansen, American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Summer,
2002), pp. 479–490, Published by: University of Nebraska Press, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4128495, JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/i384369. Accessed April 7, 2019; See also,
“Greenland Ice Sheet Likely Contains High Levels Of Anthropogenic Pollutants,” by James Ayre,
August 6, 2017, Clean Technica, https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/06/greenland-ice-sheetlikely-contains-high-levels-anthropogenic-pollutants-research-suggests/. Accessed April 7, 2019;
“Pollution in Greenland,” Numbeo, https://www.numbeo.com/pollution/country_result.
jsp?country=Greenland; “Lead pollution recorded in Greenland ice indicates European emissions
tracked plagues, wars, and imperial expansion during antiquity,” Joseph R. McConnell, Andrew
I. Wilson, Andreas Stohl, Monica M. Arienzo, Nathan J. Chellman, Sabine Eckhardt, Elisabeth
M. Thompson, A. Mark Pollard, and Jørgen Peder Steffensen; PNAS May 29, 2018 115 (22) 5726–
5731; published ahead of print May 14, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721818115,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, PNAS, https://
www.pnas.org/content/115/22/5726; “Poisons From Afar Threaten Arctic Mothers, Traditions,” by
DeNeen L. Brown, April 11, 2004, The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/
archive/politics/2004/04/11/poisons-from-afar-threaten-arctic-mothers-traditions/89af6e09-c4114b6f-bc97-4839963e9208/?utm_term=.245c11aba081, Accessed April 7, 2019.
18 See https://visitgreenland.com/the-national-park/. Accessed April 7, 2019.
19 See https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2014-05-12/largest-national-park-in-world, Accessed
April 7, 2019.
19 A Village in Prince Christian Sound