climate change and global warming
We've all heard about global warming, and how its had bad effects on the environment, but in the tundra this may not be the case. In Greenland,, some inuit hunters have been reporting the caribou as growing increasingly fatter due to more grazing possibilities on the land. The arctic is experiencing the effects of climate change twice as rapidly as the rest of the world, with a rise in average temperature of about 2 degrees centigrade since pre-industrial times. Greenland relies on Denmark for a $600 million dollar annual grant. Especially in Southern Greenland, the effects of this are already being seen, with just over 100 tons of potatoes being commercially produced 2012, that's more than double the harvest of 2008.
Hundreds of miles south, some farmers have been able to produce hay and an increased interest in sheep farms is becoming higher. Kim Ernst, the Danish chef of Roklubben Restaurant stated "I first came here in 1999 and no-one would have dreamed of doing this. But now the summer days seem warmer, and longer. It was -20 out, the sun was shining and the air was still, it almost seemed like spring." Local super markets in Nuuk have begun selling local vegetables in the summer time. "There are now huge areas in southern Greenland where you can grow things," said Josephine Nymand, a scientist at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources in Nuuk. "Potatoes have most benefited. Also, cabbage has been very successful."
There are only a handful of sheep farms and perhaps less than one hundred sheep in greenland, this may seem like very few, but with the climate getting hotter and the growing season getting longer, government projections believe that Greenland could be providing half of its own food, increasing food security by half, based off local farm produce only. But a few farms and a couple of sheep doesn't seem like enough to feed a country, the food produced my be small in amount, but Greenland is small in numbers, at about 57 000 people. Although global warming is cousinly seen as a bad thing, in the tundra, or the arctic tundra at least, global warming is giving food production a hand.
The locals love to tell the story of how Erik the Red arrived and named the land 'Greenland' to entice other vikings to move to the cold, but plenteous, country. The ice melts, it freezes, it melts, it freezes. Scientist have proof of this theory collected from studies which have been conducted on the ice. What if the climate is just circling?
On the other hand of this seemingly positive change, the threats of new species invading and adapting run high. Invasive species which kill the native plants and choke out the animals are at a possiblitiy in these new conditions.
Hundreds of miles south, some farmers have been able to produce hay and an increased interest in sheep farms is becoming higher. Kim Ernst, the Danish chef of Roklubben Restaurant stated "I first came here in 1999 and no-one would have dreamed of doing this. But now the summer days seem warmer, and longer. It was -20 out, the sun was shining and the air was still, it almost seemed like spring." Local super markets in Nuuk have begun selling local vegetables in the summer time. "There are now huge areas in southern Greenland where you can grow things," said Josephine Nymand, a scientist at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources in Nuuk. "Potatoes have most benefited. Also, cabbage has been very successful."
There are only a handful of sheep farms and perhaps less than one hundred sheep in greenland, this may seem like very few, but with the climate getting hotter and the growing season getting longer, government projections believe that Greenland could be providing half of its own food, increasing food security by half, based off local farm produce only. But a few farms and a couple of sheep doesn't seem like enough to feed a country, the food produced my be small in amount, but Greenland is small in numbers, at about 57 000 people. Although global warming is cousinly seen as a bad thing, in the tundra, or the arctic tundra at least, global warming is giving food production a hand.
The locals love to tell the story of how Erik the Red arrived and named the land 'Greenland' to entice other vikings to move to the cold, but plenteous, country. The ice melts, it freezes, it melts, it freezes. Scientist have proof of this theory collected from studies which have been conducted on the ice. What if the climate is just circling?
On the other hand of this seemingly positive change, the threats of new species invading and adapting run high. Invasive species which kill the native plants and choke out the animals are at a possiblitiy in these new conditions.
Population and need
This graph shows the predicted population growth of Greenland and Iceland between 2010 and 2055.
Data Source |
The world's population is growing, and so is that of the tundra. Focusing again on Greenland, population rise is becoming more rapid, and is the need for food security. The current population sits at around 56 800 and current population trends show that by 2055 population will have reached around 58 700 people. That's about an 0.2% increase over 50 years. This is a very small growth, for other areas the rate is much higher. Current food supplies have no way of being able to support this, the need for food will be increasing constantly and the tundra just wont be able to keep up, not the current tundra anyway, but this new era of temperature and of farming possibilities in the arctic will help to support such growth.
Humans aren't the only species who's population in the tundra has been changing. In the last decade alone, the Canadian caribou and reindeer population has dropped 81%. The extinction and endangerment of animals in the tundra is increasing rapidly. Plant and animal species are being wiped out entirely. The wood bison, polar bears and the arctic fox have are just a few of the animals listed on the arctic tundra's current endangered species list.
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