WEAVING THE CONNECTIONS

Text Box: Greenland—The Canary in the Coal Mine?
Eleanor Rae

In August I had the privilege of visiting the largest island on Earth: Greenland. As we enjoyed the Greenland summer, with children jumping into the ocean, I was quite glad that I had brought along my long winter underwear.

Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, although it has been self-governing since 1987, with Denmark retaining jurisdiction only in foreign affairs, security and financial policy. But when viewed geographically, the island’s ties are not with Europe, but to North America where it forms part of the Canadian Shield.

The country’s location enables it to enjoy the warming effects of the North Atlantic Drift, a continuation of the Gulf Stream, although this warming does not prevent all but the coastal areas from being covered by ice that reaches a depth of 14,000 ft. in some places. So who are the brave humans, numbered at 57,600, who inhabit this land? By percentage, 88% of the population is composed of Inuits or mixed Danish and Inuit; the remaining 12% are of European descent, mainly Danish. The present day Inuits were preceded by the Palaeo-Eskimo people who arrived by land from Canada by
c. 2,500 BC. It was not until c. 985—and by sea—that a Norseman, Eric the Red, reached the island by sailing from present day Iceland. He is credited with giving Greenland its name with the idea of enticing his people to relocate there. What they would have found would most likely not have been very different from the way the island is today—a land without arable areas and with no forests. This remains a place that is not very hospitable to humans but one that today is enjoyed by polar bears, musk oxen, wolves, lemmings, Artic hares and reindeer. It is also rich in minerals such as gold, niobium, tantalite, uranium, iron and diamonds. Today, because the ice cap is melting so quickly—at an estimated rate increase of 21-22% from 1996-2004—many of the minerals that were once inaccessible are now becoming reachable. Thus, for example, plans are underway by Alcoa to construct an aluminum smelter; Angus & Ross plans to reopen the Black Angel lead-and-zinc mine and Hudson Resources is using its find of a 2.4 carat diamond to promote its future mining activities. A sign of the times hangs in Greenland’s main airport, in Kangerlussuaq: a poster that advertises logistical connections for oil, gas and mineral projects, including local labor, contract negotiation and expediting.

The question that the people of Greenland, who have relative control of their “natural resources,” must settle is: how much of their future will depend on deadly mineral extraction and how much will depend on activities such as eco-tourism in this land of ice, snow, floating ice bergs and unbelievably beautiful fjords.

In August I had the privilege of visiting the largest island on Earth: Greenland. As we enjoyed the Greenland summer, with children jumping into the ocean, I was quite glad that I had brought along my long winter underwear.

Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, although it has been self-governing since 1987, with Denmark retaining jurisdiction only in foreign affairs, security and financial policy. But when viewed geographically, the island’s ties are not with Europe, but to North America where it forms part of the Canadian Shield.

The country’s location enables it to enjoy the warming effects of the North Atlantic Drift, a continuation of the Gulf Stream, although this warming does not prevent all but the coastal areas from being covered by ice that reaches a depth of 14,000 ft. in some places. So who are the brave humans, numbered at 57,600, who inhabit this land? By percentage, 88% of the population is composed of Inuits or mixed Danish and Inuit; the remaining 12% are of European descent, mainly Danish. The present day Inuits were preceded by the Palaeo-Eskimo people who arrived by land from Canada by c. 2,500 BC. It was not until c. 985—and by sea—that a Norseman, Eric the Red, reached the island by sailing from present day Iceland. He is credited with giving Greenland its name with the idea of enticing his people to relocate there. What they would have found would most likely not have been very different from the way the island is today—a land without arable areas and with no forests. This remains a place that is not very hospitable to humans but one that today is enjoyed by polar bears, musk oxen, wolves, lemmings, Artic hares and reindeer. It is also rich in minerals such as gold, niobium, tantalite, uranium, iron and diamonds. Today, because the ice cap is melting so quickly—at an estimated rate increase of 21-22% from 1996-2004—many of the minerals that were once inaccessible are now becoming reachable. Thus, for example, plans are underway by Alcoa to construct an aluminum smelter; Angus & Ross plans to reopen the Black Angel lead-and-zinc mine and Hudson Resources is using its find of a 2.4 carat diamond to promote its future mining activities. A sign of the times hangs in Greenland’s main airport, in Kangerlussuaq: a poster that advertises logistical connections for oil, gas and mineral projects, including local labor, contract negotiation and expediting.

The question that the people of Greenland, who have relative control of their “natural resources,” must settle is: how much of their future will depend on deadly mineral extraction and how much will depend on activities such as eco-tourism in this land of ice, snow, floating ice bergs and unbelievably beautiful fjords.

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Bioregionalism as a Middle Way

Excerpted from a longer piece by Gene Marshall

Bioregionalism is not an ideology. It is neither right nor left nor center. It is neither anarchist nor establishmentarian. Bioregionalism is a basic attitude toward reality—toward the sheer mystery in a teaspoon of dirt. Bioregionalism is a breakthrough of wisdom, a realization that all the present and future scientific knowledge of the human race will never understand what is going on in one cubic centimeter of living soil.

Bioregionalism is a deep belly laugh toward any and all human pretensions to understand and control this boundlessly complex living planet. The very idea that this planet can be a human spaceship, that we can guide it, manage it, drive it, reproduce it, or even basically improve upon it is ludicrous.

Bioregionalism is a human attitude toward the more-than-human natural world of which we humans are one living part. Bioregionalism is a reconciliation with the sheer mystery streaming through wild nature. We humans neither understand our own humanity nor the larger whole of which our humanity is a fragment.

Bioregionalism is an attitude of humility toward ourselves and our planetary home. Bioregionalism is a commitment to be intimate with our own natural lives and with the natural whole of which we are one small part. Bioregionalism is a clarification about the actuality that we are Earthlings rather than disembodied rational minds trapped in a temporary Earth-suit. We are part, a significant part, of an amazing natural whole. We are that part of the Earth which is aware of the Earth’s unfathomable mysteriousness and incredible possibilities.

Bioregionalism is also the awareness that our actual local homes are not our zip-code districts or states or provinces or nations or any other arbitrary human-made district. Our local homes are part of the planet, a region of the planet determined by the planet itself, not by narrow human purpose. Human life, being part of the planet, enters into determining the boundaries of our home regions; but we also have to ask the dirt and the trees, the plants and animals and microbes, the sky and the ground what our home region actually is. It is true that a “local home bioregion” means a home for humans. A bioregion for ants would be much smaller. A local bioregion for humans needs to be large enough for the necessities of human life to be provided by that region.

In a bioregionally ordered planet there would surely be a sharing of material products and cultural wisdom among the bioregions of the planet; nevertheless, each region would be happier if it raised its own food, made its own clothing, and built its own housing with local building materials. Our current inter-global economic dependence for non-luxury items almost never serves local people or local environments; it almost always serves best and perhaps only the global profit-makers.

The bioregional attitude also transforms our modern tendency to be excessively mobile. It inclines us to settle down in some specific place, learn that place, connect to the mystery of that place, and assume responsibility for the quality of human life and the quality of the more-than-human life in that place. This basic bioregional attitude entails dedicating ourselves—making a covenant or a marriage—to specific places. We may get divorces and marry other places, but we take these transitions seriously. We don’t just move and move and move in order to be upwardly mobile in the fabrics of some transnational corporation.

Gene W. Marshall has been an active proponent and organizer of both continental and local bioregionalism since 1984. With his wife Joyce, he also fosters a vital Christian resurgence through a non-profit organization called Realistic Living. Its website is http://www.realisticliving.org/index.htm.

The Center for Women, the Earth, the Divine is dedicated to exploring the parallels that exist between the imaging and treatment of women and of the Earth, and how our images of the Divine are related to these parallels.

We began by exploring these relationships within the context of our own tradition— the Christian. While we continue our exploration in this tradition, we have also engaged people of other traditions such as the Buddhist, Goddess, Hindu, Indigenous, Jewish and Muslim. Our work is made available through talks, workshops, writings and retreats. The immediate purpose of the Center is educational, while the ultimate goal is the healing of the Creation.

The founder of C:WED is Eleanor Rae, Ph.D., author of Women, the Earth, the Divine, President Emerita of the Network Alliance of Congregations Caring for Earth, Founder of the Earth Values Caucus at the United Nations and Founder/President of the Hutchinson River Restoration Project (HRRP).

A growing number of people are recognizing that in order to secure the clean air, water and food that we need to healthfully survive, we have to become guardians of the places where we live. People sense the loss in not knowing our neighbors and natural surroundings, and are discovering that the best way to take care of ourselves, and to get to know our neighbors, is to protect and restore our regions.

Bioregionalism recognizes, nurtures, sustains and celebrates our local connections with: Land,

Plants and Animals, Springs, Rivers, Lakes, Groundwater & Oceans, Air, Families, Friends, Neighbors, Community, Native Traditions and Indigenous Systems of Production &Trade.

It is taking the time to learn the possibilities of place. It is a mindfulness of local environment, history, and community aspirations that leads to a sustainable future. It relies on safe and renewable sources of food and energy. It ensures employment by supplying a rich diversity of services within the community, by recycling our resources, and by exchanging prudent surpluses with other regions. Bioregionalism is working to satisfy basic needs locally, such as education, health care and self governance.

The bioregional perspective recreates a widely-shared sense of regional identify founded upon a renewed critical awareness of and respect for the integrity of our ecological communities.

The above statement was produced at the first North American Bioregional Congress (NABC) in 1984 and reaffirmed at all subsequent congresses. The 10th Continental Bioregional Congress was held on

Oct. 3-11, 2009, in the Cumberland Green Bioregion (Summertown, TN). For further information: http://biocongress.org/.

As I go into the Earth, she pierces my heart. As I penetrate further, she unveils me. When I have reached her center, I am weeping openly. I have known her all my life, yet she reveals stories to me, and these stories are revelations and I am transformed. Each time I go to her I am born like this. Her renewal washes over me endlessly, her wounds caress me; I become aware of all that has come between us, of the noise between us, the blindness, of something sleeping between us. Now my body reaches out to her. They speak effortlessly, and I learn at no instant does she fail me in her presence. She is as delicate as I am; I know her sentience, I feel her pain and my own pain comes into me, and my own pain grows large and I grasp this pain with my hands, and I open my mouth to this pain, I taste, I know, and I know why she goes on, under great weight, with this great thirst, in drought, in starvation, with intelligence in every act does she survive disaster. This earth is my sister; I love her daily grace, her silent daring, and how loved I am how we admire this strength in each other, all that we have lost, all that we have suffered, all that we know: we are stunned by this beauty, and I do not forget: what she is to me, what I am to her.