Greenland: What next? Reflections from a research station in South Greenland - Prof Lise Autogena

Now, tonight's speaker, Lisa Ottoa, is a Danish artist who established a small research station in Greenland, where she has a deeply where she has deeply embedded herself in the life, history, and social economy of the country. She's currently a professor of crossdisciplinary art at Sheffield Hullam University and she received the National Lifelong Honory Award from the Danish Art Foundation recently. Today I'm delighted to be able to welcome her to speak to us about her work on issues of colonialism, climate change, mineral mining, cultural history, working with local communities, and the threats from powerful forces in the USA. All informed through her years of collaborative artistic projects in Greenland. Lisa Hello everyone. Everyone, can you hear me? Before I start, I'd just like to say that um please remember that I am an artist. I'm not a bi biologist. I'm not a an expert on Greenland and um um I am not um a historian. I just wanted to say that and I wanted to say that what is really really important when talking about Greenland is to know that in Greenland there is a saying nothing about us without us. So to some extent it is problematic for me to stand stand here today and talk about Greenland without being a Greenlandic citizen. And it is important um that some questions are asked to Greenlandic people uh rather than to people who are visitors from outside like me who is from Denmark, a previously colonial nation. And it's just very important to listen to the things I'm saying from this perspective because I am a guest in Greenland. I have lost my heart to Greenland, but I'm not I'm not an Inuit. I'm not from this country. So, this is just very important to say. Um, but thank you so much for inviting me. I feel very honored and um it's a lot of people to talk to. Um, uh, and everybody seems so friendly here in Glasgow. I haven't really been here before. Um, so thanks for for welcoming me. Um, I as um as you said Tony a Danish artist and academic and I live and work between the UK, Denmark and Greenland, but I live in London. In 2020, I established NASA International Research Station in South Greenland. And I believe that this is the region which is the main focus for Trump's interest in Greenland. In my talk, I will focus on the work I've been doing in Greenland for the past 10 years also in the context of the recent events. But first, I think I also give you some context of my work as an artist. I work as a professor of cross-disciplinary arts at Sheff Helm University. And over the last many years, my work has involved collaborations across science, engineering, finance, as well as communities. I often work in in partnership with artist programmer Joshua Portway, and many of our projects have evolved and developed over many years. See if this works. Nope. It does work. Maybe it has disconnected. Superman. One such project uh was black show stock market planetarium that was first exhibited at Britain uh in 2000. This was a projected planetarium that was also a live visualization of the world's stock markets. It was running on a massive live data feed directly from the world's biggest stock exchanges. To get access to so much valuable data requires CIA clearance as we were essentially running a live stock exchange from the take gallery. This, believe it or not, is the stock market in galaxy form. Every star is a company. Every flash is a trade in that company's stocks. >> When you just see a small flash like that, that's probably 10 million pounds has changed hands. >> Tell me about these wiggly creatures that are crawling around the sky. Um those are artificial life forms that live in the sky with the stars and they feed from the light um generated by the trading. These creatures evolve over the course of the exhibition, getting better at finding those light sources and feeding off the brightest trades. >> So it's just before 2:30 UK time, which is just before 9:30 New York time. And is that when the stock exchange opens? Yep. The stock. You'll see when the New York Stock Exchange opens. You can't miss it. >> I have to say, just before the New York Stock Exchange opens, the creatures look as if they're getting really >> They really do. Yes. I think Yeah. Whoa. >> Oh, wow. Ding. Ladies and gentlemen, >> the name black shs referred to shs of fish that follow each other. But it also refers to what was called the black and schles formula. A mathematical formula invented for forecasting trading on the financial markets. At the time it was seen as a faultless solution to the risk of trading but it nearly brought down the financial markets as it failed to incorporate human behavior. We have also worked for many years on projects that have explored climate forecasting, most recently in collaboration with the European Center for Medium-range weather forecasts here in the UK, which is actually part of the European Commission. It delivers live weather data to governments worldwide. This is an ocean observatory we created in a floodthreatened region of Denmark a couple of years ago. It visualizes the life wave dynamics for constantly shifting locations in the oceans surrounding Denmark. In my work as an artist, I have often worked with communities. I established a research organization in the Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen where I lived when I was a teenager which has functioned as a critical learning site for many years reflecting on what can be learned from the social urban experimentia and Copenhagen and I was involved in founding what is called Hermitage Moorings uh the first cooperative harbor on the tempames in London which is home to a community of 50 people who live on ex historic ex cargo carrying vessels and sailing ships which is where I live today. In 2013 I developed this project at Suda Lighthouse near Newcastle where I worked with the maritime community between the mouth of the riverine and Sunderland. The project explored the loss of identity and history still lingering in the region since Margaret Thatcher ended the maritime industry here. These sentiments were explored through sound as Trinity House turned off the sound of the lighthouse folk horns across the UK's maritime landscape. A huge loss of an important immaterial cultural heritage. Furhorn recreum was a recrim for this sound. A musical composition performed by 50 ships on the North Sea, three brass bands on land and the suit of folk. The music was commissioned by the composer Orlando Goff. It took place in a dramatic maritime landscape where the most shipwrecks in the UK can be found. Each ship functioned as an instrument in the orchestra. here positioned in maritime orchestral positions at sea. We developed a technology uh that allowed the folk horns of ships miles out at sea to arrive in time with instruments on land, taking into account the physical distance and atmospheric conditions of the sound traveling. Together with the Lighthouse Folk Horn, this unlikely orchestra performed a piece of music across land and sea that brought the community together in a powerful historical celebration. All right. That's just um a little section of a 50-minute piece of music. I first came to Kalashit Nunat, Greenland in 2015 to take part in the yearly sheep farmers gathering in South Greenland as you do. I was involved in a research project called nuclear culture where researchers from arts and culture in the UK attempted to engage the nuclear industry in a wider public conversation. I had become very interested in a democratic process involved in establishing a proposed uranium mine in South Greenland and for many months I had been writing with a sheep farmer from the region who was very concerned about the mine. Greenland is a vast land area that stretches the length of the northern tip of Norway to Africa where there are only about 57,000 people living here in settlements dotted along the coastline coastline. Everything else is ice. There are no roads connecting the settlements. Traffic is by boat, helicopter or airplane. This lack of infrastructure makes it incredibly difficult and expensive to develop and sustain Greenland. Private ownership of land does not exist in Greenland as the land is considered a commons. There are only about 56,000 people living in the country. Well, to cor correct what I've said before around 89.5% of Greenland's inhabitants are Inuit. The average Greenlander has 75% Inwood ancestry and 25% European ancestry tracing about half of their paternal DNA to Danish male ancestors. The population identify as either Kalash lit from West Greenland to Numid from East Greenland or Inuot people from the Tula district in northern Greenland. around 11% of the population is Danish and these numbers may be a little bit outdated. While each region features its own district language and dialect, most people master kalash lut Greenlandic language as well as Danish, although younger generations have started to prefer English to Danish. As you probably know, Greenland is a self-governing country within the Danish realm. And although Denmark has adopted the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, Greenland's population continue to face serious challenges deriving from the colonization of by Denmark. The desire for independence in Greenland is a national priority and there is an ongoing process to define and plan for the future as an independent nation. However, the country is financially dependent on a Danish subsidy and the prospect of full independence independence is therefore complex. These pro prospects have also been interrupted by Trump's attempt to take over Greenland which has brought Denmark and Greenland into a close temporary embrace. It is a slightly awkward embrace as Greenland and Denmark is in the middle of an intense decolonization process. This is a very traumatic process for many Greenlanders to go through and the Danish population has only really started to understand itself as a colonizing nation. The past years have therefore been a very vulnerable and angerfilled period between Den Greenland and Denmark as traumas are coming to the surface and relived. It is and it is in the middle of this process that Trump has found his moment of interference fueling traumas and fears of a new wave of colonialism during the rapid urbanization in the 70s and 80s. Many many Inuit were forcibly moved from traditional community-based hunting lifestyles to modern isolated urban settings without adequate support systems. and many experienced a complete loss of identity. As a result, Greenland's suicide rate is among the world's highest and there are severe issues with alcohol abuse, depression, poverty, and dysfunction in many households, which stems from intergenerational trauma from being a colonized population. These are pages in a book that was published about five years ago by the Greenlandic Children's Organization, Mio, an organization which was established to address considerable child abuse and child neglect in Greenland. Each page of this book is a shocking testament to the intergenerational mental health impacts the population is dealing with that was caused by decisions made by Denmark many years ago. The legacy of colonization and forced displacements into cities has created this huge negative spiral of trauma passed down through generations. The book was made for children to teach them about their rights and what they should be able to expect from grown-ups. And these are the chapter headings. Dear children in all of Greenland, you have the right to grow up without alcohol, violence, and abuse. You have the right to grow up with love. You have the right to be the way you are. Also, if you are different from others, you have the right to speak the language you want to speak and that you find the e easiest to express yourself in. You have the right to have feelings and to express your feelings. You're precious just the way you are. This is a powerful artwork called Edno aesthetic straight jacket made by the Greenlandic artist Julia Ill Harden. Greenland has of course also become the place where scientists and geologists from all over the world flock to understand the enormous changes taking place with the changing climate and the receding ice. um that will also eventually provide access to new territories. This is an old geologist hut I visited at the foot of the mountain range called Kangliner near the town of Nasac in South Greenland. This has now become the site of the 10 breeze where earth mine which is a which is a focus for Trump's interest in Greenland. The controlling rights were recently acquired by the US. Tenbre is expect exceptionally rich in disposium and turbium that are essential for high performance magnets used in military jets, drones and EV motors. China currently dominates this market making tenre a high priority asset for US EU defense interests. The mine is also expected to produce significant amounts of saconium, hapneium and tantelum. I hope I'm saying this names right. which are critical for aerospace and electronics. Mining have been seen by many in Greenland as the only viable way towards financial independence from Denmark. However, big investments from foreign mining companies is also a serious threat to the fragile Arctic ecosystems and to the long-term planning of an environmentally sustainable future. The Greenlandic population is deeply connected and dependent on the natural environment and many are concerned that foreign mining could replace one form of colonization with another. This could be what we are witnessing now. The perception and anchoring of these global issues from a local perspective is therefore extremely important. On the other side of the town of Nasak is another even more controversial mountain range. This is the Quanfield mining area which is thought to contain the world's second largest deposits of rare earth oxides. It contains substantial sodium fluoride deposits and is thought to be one of the largest multi-element deposits of its kind in the world. but is also thought to be one of the world's largest deposits of uranium which has made it center of a dispute for many years. It is a mountain that has divided Greenland. This area of South Greenland is an area of particular mining interest and huge geographical areas have been allocated for potential exploration. This is highly controversial as this is also known as Greenland's food producing region scattered with sheep farms and green fields. It is a UNESCO cultural heritage region of stunning beauty with ruins that date back to when the Norse population settled here to farm. Greenlanders are now farming the same landscapes and these farms that are proudly passed on from generation to generation. In the 1950s, a Danish nuclear physicist Nil Spore who worked on the Manhattan project believed that uranium from the Cranefield Mountain should support a nuclear power program in Denmark. An experimental tunnel was dug into the mountain and large quantities of uranium or were transported to a research facility called RSU in Denmark where it's now polluting the groundwater. In 1981, the political climate in Denmark and Greenland had turned against uranium mining and the door to the mine was welded locked and closed and today it looks like the door to Mordor. However, in 2013, Greenland's Semood government parliament voted narrowly to repeal the ban on uranium. The Australian company Greenland Minerals and Energy, which is now called Energy Transition Minerals, has owned the rights to the Quennifil mines since 2007. And following the the repeal on uranium mining, they started the process of gaining mining permissions, making promises of jobs and infrastructure investment in the NASA community. At a time of severe unemployment, China also acquired whites in the mine. The Australian and Chinese-owned mining company planned to build an open pit mine, uranium mine, and also rail earth mine. This was extremely controversial as it would risk the spread of radioactive dust to the nearby town of Nasac and the surrounding farming region. But despite of huge concerns, the Greenlandic authorities approved the Australian mining company's environmental report. This is a view of the NASA's waste disposal dump which can be seen in front of this of the mountain range. The country is struggling to manage its waste and it has a considerable environmental impact. Environmental issues such as this makes it very hard to see how the waste from a massive foreign mining project can be effectively monitored in Greenland at this moment in time. When Joshua Portway and I arrived in NASA in 2015, we started to conduct interviews with local sheep farmers, residents in NASA, and politicians to understand the stakeholder engagement involved in the decision-making process of the Queenilm mine. We documented a unique cultural landscape of sheep farms that have been passed down through generations. the strong connection with nature and desire for self-sufficiency through farming, fishing, and hunting. Testimonials from the local residents exposed the growing conflict between progress, tradition, and Greenlandic culture and identity that surrounded the Cranefield mine. It was difficult for the community to articulate and platform their fears and concerns about the mining operation and therefore hard to be heard in the decision-making process. On one side were those who saw the mine as the only way out of independence and for the community to prosper again and for Greenland to gain independence. And on the other hand, there were those who saw the mining companies as a new colonial power and feared not only that they would destroy the traditional farming culture, but that they would also uh be cons but they were also concerned with the health risks of the mining and the lack of government transparency in the in the process of granting permissions to the mining company. Therefore, quick. This was Peter Henson, a school teacher and traditional drum dancer from Nasak who has now passed away. It became clear that the silencing of conflicts in Greenlandic society was also a ma major issue. Disagreements were avoided rather than confronted and resolved and the result was a buildup of sustained fear and depression in the community. These issues had a real impact on mental health and also on the inclusive and democratic decision making in Greenland. It feist you. These were the voices of Mayan Pavas who has very much become the spokesperson against the Quit Quafilm mine and the other voice was the previous minister of mining in Greenland. In the end, we produced a short film calleduit using documentary film making as an artistic and ethnographic tool. The film documented the failure of the government stakeholder consultation in developing an an inclusive and informed mining consultation process. And it highlighted the community's vulnerability in struggling to understand the potential risks of a major planned mining operation with no resources and little scientific literacy. In NASA, people felt that the film represented their voices and many people felt that it was the first time that their opinions were listened to and communicated. The film is now permanently installed in NASA Museum and it was exhibited in museums around the world in the years that followed. In 2018, a seminar was organized around a film at Ilisu Matusafik, the University of Greenland, which is an amazing building, much bigger than you can see here. The audience were heads of political parties, government politicians, scientists, geologists, stakeholders, and the quifilm mine, and a panel of experts that responded to the questions raised by the film. Many felt that it was the first time many of these controversial controversial issues had been discussed publicly and it was discussed why the issue of the mine had been silenced nationally for so many years. The film raised a lot of questions about the failure of stakeholder involvement and democracy in Greenland and it opened up for a different approach to the failed stakeholder process. The film was also invited to Window Rock in the Navajo Nation. the indigenous reservation in Arizona and New Mexico where a formal message from NASA residents was delivered. There are over 500 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo reservation along with approximately 1100 associated waste sites and severe pollution of the groundwater a situation which is deeply shocking. This is Leona Morgan, a prominent Navajo anti-uranium activist who subsequently voiced her concern about uranium mining in Greenland's national newspaper. >> Dealt with so many issues from the beginning of the Manhattan project to the testing of the Trinity bomb, the uranium mining that I mentioned. As indigenous peoples, we see this as another form of colonialism and a form of racism. It's a very similar story all across the world because the uranium mining happens um the majority of the time on indigenous lands and so I know people in Saskatchewan, Australia, Mongolia and DRC and other places um that have really been impacted by uranium mining. And it's a very similar story of poor worker conditions, um, lack of education of the, you know, the health risks, um, and low pay. And this is what nuclear colonialism is. It's it's all of those things and, and taking our lands, um, contaminating our water, desecrating our sacred sites, and damaging our genetic future. In the year that followed, the political landscape changed radically in Greenland. The resisting resistance to the mining of quifil gained traction locally, nationally as well as internationally where particularly the voices of the women sheep farmers were influential. In 2021, the issue of mining and environmental protection had become the biggest issue in the election, the national election, and led to the overturn of government. A vocal critic of the Quenifel mine, Muti Beail, became the new prime minister for Greenland. He had grown up in Nasak overlooking Quifel and several anti-mining activists from Nasac were part of this new government including Mayanabasen. In 2021, the new Greenlandic Parliament passed the so-called uranium act. The act creates a ban against the prospecting, exploration and exploitation of uranium. This became the death sentence for the quaneril mine. The mining company subsequently delivered a claim for compensation of 11.5 billion for lost revenue, an amount that Greenland will not be able to pay if the case is lost. And the court case is still ongoing today. But during the last weeks, in this few last weeks, the mining company seems to be weaponizing the tensions between the US and Denmark to bypass a stalemate on the ground in NASA by aligning themselves with the US administration's aggressive posture. They recently appointed Bailout Partners, a powerful US lobbying firm with deep ties to the Trump administration and are attempting to position Craneell as part of the solution to the US national security problem. For many years, the Kanesuit Quanifel Mountain has been a symbol for the complex decisions about the future that Greenland was facing. But now, the population may see the decision power removed. In 1999, what? Sorry, 2019. I always get confused with those years. Just after the election that changed everything, I bought this tiny house that looks out towards the quil mountain and I named it Nasak International Research Station. In short, NAS. It's a bit comical. doesn't really look like an international research station. I know NAS was established as a nonprofit community organization with a board of directors mainly from NASA and a long list of expert advisers from the science and culture community in Greenland as well as local knowledge holders. Establishing NASA International Resource Station was also a statement about the importance of NASA at a time when local residents felt overlooked and forgotten. following years of mining dispute. But this initiative was also an attempt to address a need for a de decolonized community-based approach to environmental research and resilience building in Greenland. The idea was to create a platform to facilitate environmental monitoring, especially community monitoring of a region where mining extraction may pose a real risk in the future. The aim was also that this could be a platform for gen generating environmental baseline data that could be used as evidence against any future pollution of the area. But beyond generating data, the idea was also that monitoring activities could generate agency, environmental knowledge, build scientific literacy, ability to give voice to concerns and provide access for the community to expert knowledge. It was also to generate knowledge repatriation. International research in Greenland has historically been ex extractive with researchers flying in and out and the knowledge generated in the region taken away and only shared in in international science publications by anchoring the science in NASA and creating a platform for sharing it. The idea was that the knowledge that was generated would be returned to the local community and to build an evolving knowledge archive that could hold immense educational and cultural value. NASA is located at the very heart of some of Greenland's biggest development questions. It's a region where climate change, self-sufficiency, and food security overlap with resource extraction and geopolitics. It is a landscape of history, geology, farming and tourism. And the community here is navigating important debates about audity, sovereignity, and what a sustainable future could look like. So, NASA really serves as a microcosm of the complex challenges facing Greenland's future. It is also home to Greenland's only food college in Wheelie. Apart from teaching traditional knowledge about Greenland, Green Greenland's natural food resources, whether farmed, hunted, collected, or fished, it also has a sheep farming school and an experimental island where plants are grown and are tested in the constantly changing Arctic island climate. This was a fermentation workshop um between local residents and Samantha Brown, a PhD candidate from Oregon. Her research explored increasing use of traditional Inuit foods, especially fermented seal blubber from South Greenland in European fine dining. The project explored the complexity of food sovereignity, colonialism, and the tensions between celebrating and appropriating indigenous food ways. NASA International Research Station immediately became an international research station and for the past five years it has redefined what a research station in Greenland can be. The research station has hosted a long list of research projects ranging from climate research, ecosystem studies to social science, community health and food security as well as artistic practices exploring identity, indigenous knowledge and environmental stewardship. These are projects that have engaged with local community priorities while also contributing contributing to wider global discussions. The main focus has been how visiting researchers can contribute to the local community. How the global and the local can coexist. How we can educate, give voice and generate knowledge exchange. Researchers pay for their stay at NAS and provide free education to the community. They hire local residents and the income generated by their stay at NAS only benefits the local community. Community leaders lead on the coordination of the projects and how they meaningfully can be embedded in the community in schools, youth centers, old people's homes, etc. The arts have played a vital role in bringing people together around important questions. We co-established the Nordic Alliance of Artist Residences on climate action together with artist residences in in the Nordic countries including Scotland which has allowed us to commission artists, designers and writers and produce a series of discussion podcasts. This one is with Greenlandic filmmaker Eno Jansen and community psychologist Peter Bellina from University of Greenland who explored what the idea of progress means in a Greenlandic context. And these are some of the artists research projects we have hosted. The Danish artist Eleanor Hin Migkelson, a descendant from a famous Greenlandic explorer and Nia Abson, a Greenlandic artist, worked with a school in Nasac and created a visual cultural exchange between school children in NASA and Lucon in the UK. Their work with the children was exhibited at the World Geographic Society in London along with their own research in NASA. These uh striking images by Nia Aberson represent the world view of the ancient Inuit, their beliefs, mythological figures and where these ideas are located in the landscapes. The Inouit like most indigenous peoples were animists. Everything is animated and humans can communicate directly with the forces of nature in a shamanistic three-part world. Young people in NASA in particular have benefited socially, culturally, and educationally from the many activities generated by the research station. Here, a US-based art science research team that studied climate change impacts on on aquatic ecosystems in the area created workshops where young and elders taught each other to study local aquatic organisms through microscopes. This was a French artist, Minui, working with local residents in NASA and a French team of anthropologists undertaking a comparable study of two coastal communities in Canada and Greenland. In this workshop, they used plants and water from all the different water sources in the region to visualize the landscape. Last year we hosted the nomadic hub of Arctic Art Education, a nomadic camp of 20 mainly Greenlandic and Sammy artists, researchers and educators that work with school teachers, students and old people on ways of integrating pedagoguy, culture and indigenous perspectives and a week of art workshops that involved most people in the town. For the past three years, NAS has been the headquarters of the Swiss Polar Institute's flagship science program, which is called Green Fjord, Greenlandic Fjord Ecosystems in a changing climate, social, cultural, and environmental interactions. It brought together six research groups focused on ocean, soil, biodiversity, croosphere, atmosphere, and human. The project involved more than 50 researchers and international re research organizations. NAS was involved in designing how the project could be could be implemented and shared using the research station in the middle of NASA as its headquarters. They didn't all live there. Research teams lived with residents in NASA. Local residents were employed as research assistants, translators and skippers. and school teachers worked together with the scientists to involve students in the research. This year, residents from NASA were invited to Switzerland to help evaluate the three years of research and explore how it could benefit the community. The research station was during the three years fitted out with atmospheric monitoring equipment, proper community-f facing laboratories, and most days of weather balloon provided a performative and visual presence above NASA as it rose and lowered on the hill next to the research station, involving the community in the many atmospheric monitoring workshops and giving a name to the balloon. Hundreds hundreds of names which read like a long poem. During this years a long list of community science workshops has taken place at NAS and in the schools across the region. This is a queer sphere workshop team during the NASA science week we organized last year with a 3D model of the local glacia which was a focus area in the school. In the last two years, we have invited teachers and young people from NASA to take part in research expeditions aboard two different research vessels where they have been guided and taught by the scientists. They have studied the carving front of a tidal glacia, fuel dynamics, nutrient concentrations, air compositions at the interface of the ocean terminating glacia, the effects of iceberg carving on meltwater plumes, and collected information on animals living in different environments. Some of these children have never previously been away from NASA. NASA International Research Station is a project that has explored in what ways such a tiny place in a very very remote location can become an important place for the rest of the world to learn from. As an artist researcher, I have been interested in the strategic power of visual scaling. The tininess of the research station has been inspiring to me as it stands in contrast with the international scale of its stated ambition. It is perhaps a visual cheekiness in insisting that a remote and insignificant place can also be mighty and global. I have started to develop twinning projects with institutions of much higher prominence to explore this further and in collaboration with cultural attaches from the Danish foreign office, environmental scientists and local residents in NASA, I have started to develop a tiny container laboratory, a small traveling meeting space that will connect the community of NASA with indigenous communities around the world where collaborations, learning and cultural exchange might be empowering. This is an artwork by an important Greenlandic artist uh who is not with us anymore called Pia A. This small box is a camera obscurer or pinhole camera that she built in Copenhagen in 1990 and transported to Nasak where she placed it on the side of her now demolished childhood home at Nugasu Point. While sitting inside the camera, she could see the same view that she would see from her windows as a child. And using the pinhole camera, she could merge her naked body with her childhood landscape. From this little box, she produced powerful works using the books as a tool for mental decolonization, reclaiming the right to narrate her own history. This is a finally an image that always looks to me like the beating heart of the Kuanosuid Quenifil mountain. It is the extremely fluorescent effect of the red tuktopit stone that can only be found in Quenifil. Tuktopis tuktopit means the blood of the reindeer. I believe that the region of Nasak and South Greenland is a huge part of the underlying impetus for the Trump and administration's attempt to take over Greenland. This is of course primarily driven by the region's concentration of rare earth elements and other critical minerals essential for defense technology and the green energy transition which has been monopolized by China. Individuals and entities close closely tied to the Trump administration have actually been positioning themselves to control South Greenland's resources over the last years. This week, the Trump associate Drew Horn announced plans to build a data center in Greenland that will be many times bigger than the world's biggest data center. He is partnering on a range of projects with the with Greenlandic businessman who represents the Cranefield mining company that is currently suing Greenland to gain access to the mine. This mining company is now distancing itself from its Chinese investors to position itself in the US for political investments. the US commerce secretary Howard Lutnik I think who's also mentioned in the in the recent news um previously led cancer Fitzgerald which is a major investor in critical metals corp this company owns the ten breeze project near Nazak one of the world's largest rare earth deposits other investors behind critical metals corp have significant overlap with those investors behind Trump Media. In mid 2025, the US Export Import Bank issued a letter of interest for for a $120 million loan to fund the Ten Breeze mine. Former high-ranking Trump Organization employees including Drew Horn, George Soral, and Keith Schiller, have business interest in Greenmet, a company focused on developing North American critical mineral supply chains that include Greenland Greenlandic assets. And the US government is reportedly in talks with the company Amarok in South Greenland regarding potential investments in gold, copper, geranium, and gallium mining. What I have also read uh which I don't know of course is true is that apparently a range of Silicon Valley tech investors had has begun promoting Greenland as a site for a so-called freedom city, a libertarian utopia with minimal corporate regulation. They have envisioned transforming transforming Greenland into a supposed startup paradise for Silicon Valley obsessions. Building the island into a hub for art artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, space launches, micronuclear reactors, and highspeed rail. Involved in this is apparently Ken Howry, a former venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal alongside Teal and Musk. He was recently appointed by Trump as America's newest ambassador to Denmark, specifically to lead Trump's takeover of Greenland. On this sad note, I will end this talk. >> Okay, time for questions. Can I start, Lisa, by asking, what on earth does fermented seal blubber taste like? >> I have no idea. Wonderful. Who wants to ask a question? Quiet. Yes, there gentlemen. Okay, you next. And there's a chat behind him. What is beyond's main export? >> The main oak main export is by a huge amount fish. Fish is the main income for Greenland. Fish export. >> Is it processed or is it just frozen? >> I think it's mainly exported to Denmark for processing. Yeah. that >> very much. You mentioned several international programs that give concessions by gave them those concessions. Was it the greeners or the dates? Um when um when a mining company is given um uh is granted uh the right to mine um they need to they have the problem that they need to gain the investment in order to make the mine happen. And um it is not really it's not really possible um for for anyone else to kind of stop investors that that are controversial. But of course if there is a controversial investor it can become an issue in the in the process of the mining being granted. Um so um companies that have a history of corruption for example would would be um I think there would be a process um that would be quite critical about the risk involved for Greenland in granting um permissions to that to that company. Denmark has had has owned Greenlander for many years and has not developed the economy there. If you compare Greenland to the north of Alaska, which was taken over by America 120 or so years ago, um there at the time of takeover of Alaska, it was equally as barren as Greenland at the north. The north of Alaska was the same as Greenland. So I mean Denmark has had many years to develop Greenland and treat the Greenlanders better. There's not even a decent hospital there, I'm told. So why why are the Greenlanders so concerned about having an improved standard of living possibly if Trump was to take over? Because the country no the country as it stands is a barren wasteland. The people are struggling. Nobody there wants to live there at the moment. People are not coming in. If the economy was developed it could be like Alaska. Um I think that most Greenlanders are aware of how indigenous populations have been treated in by the US. It's not that is not a success story. Um I I agree with you that um that um a lot more could have happened in Greenland and there's a lot that could be criticized about the ways in which Denmark has been involved in in Greenland. There's a long terrible history that is just starting to be addressed. But um as Danish citizens, Greenlanders get free health care and free schools and you don't get that in the US. Um and also I it is certainly my impression that most Greenlanders are completely in love for their own country and don't want to go anywhere else. Although getting getting older in in Greenland is difficult. there's um although you have the same rights to health care as in Denmark, many older people in in Greenland choose to move to Denmark to get old and that is because a lot of provision in Greenland needs to be improved. Um as I mentioned before, there is a lot of issues to do with the infrastructure of Greenland which makes everything incredibly expensive to develop. two on the right. One bit one. Hello. Yes. What proportion of people get fishing jobs in Greenland? I mean huge massive industry are who are the companies that control fishing in Denmark or sorry Greenland. Who controls the fishing in Greenland? because obviously it's a huge industry that the population don't seem to be getting any benefit from. >> Uh it is controlled from Greenland. Uh there is criticism of um and I don't know to what extent this criticism is true. I don't it's not my specialtity but there is criticism from Greenland about Denmark making profits on on the Greenlandic fishing industry that is not recognized in in terms of what is returned financially. Um so at the moment there is a lot of kind of questioning about Denmark's profits when it comes to to Greenland but the fishing industry is is controlled by Greenland. Most areas are controlled by Greenland apart from foreign policy and defense. But increasingly so, especially in the recent year with the with the whole process of um sort of attempts at a reconciliation to do with a lot of issues uh that have come through the colonial times that is being worked through in painful ways at the moment. Um um these these are things that are discussed a lot at the moment and um Greenland at the moment is very much involved in in foreign affairs and completely equal to Denmark at the moment in engaging with the talks with the Americans and in talks about their future. It's a it's is a very uh Denmark is um supporting Greenland in in in in that they need to make their own decisions about their future. This is not for Denmark to make a decision about. It's for Greenland. >> Good evening and thank you very much for a very interesting talk uh coming across quite uh depressingly. However, I recognize these issues as having happened uh frequently if not continuously all around the world. I was wondering what research is being done by Greenland to develop strategies to avoid the disastrous outcomes elsewhere. >> So, excuse me. Did you uh did you mean um research done in Greenland about places elsewhere or about their own elsewhere? Um the University of Greenland is is an is an incredibly interesting place. In fact, it's the most interesting university I have ever experienced. And that is of course because um everything that is studied here has a direct relevance to the building of a new nation and everybody who's there is um really needed and in because there are so few in the society. So, so everything that is studied there is really tends to be quite urgent and extremely important. And of course, um there is a lot of connections to other indigenous um populations particularly uh init um in Canada and the US. uh and those connections are really really close and there is uh through the United Nations indigenous forums really strong forums that have grown increasingly strong in getting their rights heard. So, um there is a very very uh connected and um informed uh research going on in in Greenland about other places and also about their own issues and and and um possible um possible ways forward. here. Thank you for such an interesting talk. It was really fascinating. Um, one of the things I wanted to ask is, as I understand it, one of Trump's reasons for wanting to take over Greenland is to offset the risk of invasion from Russia. Now is there any evidence that Russia is actually has actually got those intentions? >> It is not my understanding that such a risk has been identified as that anything has changed dramatically in the last years. Uh in fact this region has been priding itself in its in its peaceful coexistence um with the with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. this relationship kind of became um messed up in that the uh collaborate the collaborative platforms that existed between Inuit in um in in in Russia and um and Russia as a neighboring country um that ceased to exist. They had to be excluded from this collaborative forums. But up until the invasion of Ukraine, this was an incredibly successful perhaps the most successful kind of um intergovernment platform um in in the world in the ways that it uh that those collaborations and peaceful coexistence was taking place. There are um issues to do with nuclear submarines um from Russia moving around waters. Um there is nuclear issues but there's nothing that has changed uh as I understand it uh from what I read dramatically in in that would that would um provide evidence for such a claim. Not as I've understood it. Is possible that I have missed information? >> Would Canada not be a more obvious and certainly more trustworthy partner for Greenland? >> I suppose I suppose Canada Canada has just opened um um a consulate in uh Greenland in the last few days. Um and um Carney from Canada has uh has been incredibly vocal in his support for Greenland. Of course, Carney is and and Canada can Canada is in this kind of similar position as Greenland. Um so um there is a shared interest in in not being taken over by by Trump but there is very close relationships between um uh Canadian Inuit nations and um and Greenland. And when the consulate, you know, opened here a few days ago, there was a huge delegation of all the Inuit uh leaders in Canada that also came with um came over to the opening. Did you mention global warming? Because if all that ice melted, we'd be swimming, wouldn't we? >> Sorry, say that again. >> But global warming. >> Yeah. >> Did you mention that in your talk? Because there's a lot of ice to melt in Greenland. >> Yeah. Yeah. Global warming is very vis visible. And in fact, at the moment, it's warmer in in NASA than it is in Denmark. Uh thank you very much Lisa for the interesting talk. You mentioned near the beginning that uh in Greenland the local population has no real concept of land ownership. with the retreating ice, of course, more land must be coming available. And I just wondered how that works. And and Trump's idea of buying Greenland, a country where nobody feels they own the land. I I just wonder how this is culturally even going to be possible. >> It's a good question. Um I wondered that too. I'm sure Trump doesn't even know that. He doesn't really know anything about Greenland. He's not particularly interested, I don't think. Um when I um when I bought my house, which became the research station, um I went to the local council and I went to the map of the region and I drew a little square where I was going to be. And um I didn't necessarily have to do that only because I thought I might make a little terrace. But all I had to do was making a little square with a with a pencil. And that's how it works. But you you have a right to use the the land, but you don't own it. So in Greenland, you will notice that it it looks if you look at it from a a drone image um from above, you will see what looks like an ant nest of paths that weave in and out houses because people choose the path path they want also through next to other people's houses. So there's a whole different concept of moving across the land. Um to to get um the rights to a mine, you have a similar kind of right of use with your license. And I suppose the this is something that is very discussed in Greenland that um when you have a mining facility, you block out other people's use of that land and that is very controversial in Greenland. So with the Kuos Kenfield mountain um the right to go to that mountain is such a cultural um embedded way of living in that land and go up and find those extraordinary red ruby like stones for jewelry at the tuk pit. um in collecting those special plants that you can only get up in that area or so to the thought of an area like that being closed off for the population is very controversial. So mining is still although there has been old mines but the this kind of mines as as closed areas because there might be be um problematic health risks involved is is a new new thing and I'm not sure how people will react to that. Of course, a mining license gives you a certain amount of time access to that place. So, it's not that you own it forever. >> I asked about the the main export. You said fishing. Did they did could they have a place on Greenland that processes the fish as well and give more people employment or or there not enough of the population there to do that? >> I think there is some processing places to be honest I'm not feeling completely informed of it but I know that a lot of fish is is um exported to Denmark for further further processing. Um but I don't know to to what extent some I'm sure some extent of processing happens in in Greenland. There is a lot of um I mean things like that. Yes, it should be possible. I'm not quite sure why it hasn't happened. Yeah, >> I completely agree with you. >> Um it is very difficult to find labor. It is an issue in Greenland. Yeah. Got a question there. Um I believe the the Chinese and the Russians have a icebreaking fleet already established whereas America and Europe don't and the event of uh the sea the ice melting and there there's going to be uh ships using these passageways. Do the do the Greenlanders have any control over the use of in the future the those seaways >> new seaways open >> new seaways. Um, I think I think the kind of the claiming of territories, the claiming of of areas that passages that opens up will be a really um disputed issue. I don't I don't know if it's been resolved or or who will have the the right through it. I mean, I think it's um I don't think I haven't I don't remember it being discussed as something that Greenland would have the right to decide, especially because Greenland itself is not a a nation yet. >> Swing along a left Is Iceland not relevant because it has no indigenous inhabitants? I I mean, I wondered how Iceland fitted in with Greenland's image of itself. >> Iceland also was a colony of Denmark. Um and um Iceland and Greenland enjoy a really close relationship. Uh they have a lot of there's a lot of um business between Iceland and Greenland and it's a very close close relationship culturally. There's also the sheep farming. So many um sheep farmers in Greenland go to Iceland to to study green far uh sheep farming and to to work there. Um also in terms of fishing I believe so it is a really close relationship. >> Right. Have you got any questions? >> There's one right at the back. >> So my question is about climate change. I'm assuming that when the ice melts, there'll be more like land available for pastoral activities, but there'll be more like extreme weather events. What is the popular sentiment about climate change and the future in Greenland? >> It's complicated. Um some people are um finding it very exciting partly because um um if you're farming for example there might be new things you can grow. So there is new new plants that grow that grow there and uh but on the other hand for farming it's also really problematic because the farms are located in very isolated places and the only way they can um in the in the summertime they use little boats. They even transport their horses on tiny little motorboats. So you see a horse head sticking out of a really really small boat. It's just very funny. Anyway, but um in the winter they get completely boxed in. They can't have any um impact to the outside world because the ice is becoming um irrational. So so say you can't rely on the ice for driving on. So they can't just drive across the ice. So it becomes very problematic in the winter periods for for the farmers. Um, so there is aspects of tourism that becomes easier, but there's also aspects of tourism that becomes more complex because the weather becomes an issue. And to be honest, to fly to Greenland um is is difficult. You have to be prepared to get stranded somewhere for a week, for example. Um, you have to be a Zen Buddhist. you have to um you can't expect that everything goes as planned. So, so that makes it difficult in terms of tourism. So, it's complex. Hello. You you've almost just answered my question because what I was going to say was just about all your photos were taken in marvelous sunshine, but I'm I'm guessing it's not like that at all. and the winters are longer and darker than they are here in Glasgow. So, how much is the difference between winter and summer for the people who live there? >> Um, I haven't I'm embarrassed to say I've only been there very little in the winter and it hasn't been terribly cold when I've been there. Um but um the winter is supposed to be very bright because of the snow and u many people appreciate the winter. The summer um in the south can be very warm in in the 20s centigrades really warm. Um huge mosquitoes means they're slower though. Um the um when it's not always nice weather, but in the south it's surprisingly often nice weather. When it's cloudy, the clouds are so low that you don't want to take any pictures unless for for particular dramatic situations and clouds, but it's a kind of repressive uh bad weather. Um the light is the most extraordinary thing and in the summer but also in the winter light is otherworldly and um yeah you just find yourself taking pictures all the time. >> Thank you for talk for your talk. It was very interesting. Um, one question, uh, you didn't mention was a military presence in the in Greenland. Um, where are the bases? I'm assuming there are a number of bases in Greenland. Um, who are they controlled by and is there any relationship between the local people and th and those bases? Um there's until everything went um upside down some weeks ago. Is it? It feels like a long time ago now, but it was I don't know when Trump started again on all this. It's not actually a very long time ago. So until that time there was only the um American bases um uh which has I think several hundred American um soldiers but that is quite an isolated place um and um I think you have to get permission to go there. Uh the airports in Greenland have um traditionally been um military airports. So, Kangaloo Suak was American military airport and that has traditionally been the place that connected um soldiers to that American military base. Um but Kangaluak has kind of sort of is supposed to cease existing as an airport because a new airport has been built in um Nuke. Um, in the south the Americans built another airport called Naswak and that has been the entrance to South Greenland with international flights, but that is also supposed to cease existing as a new airport is built in a nearby big town. Unfortunately, the new airports are not very um reliable. Um I think um there was a reason why the Americans built the airports where they built them because they made it possible to land um in difficult weather and um the new airports are um might cause a huge infrastructure problems. So there's a lot of fear around that. Certainly for Nuk airport it has caused huge losses for um Greenland um with this airport there. Um so there isn't any other military bases but um there is a military Danish presence of uh navies the Danish navy that travels around the coast and then there's the famous um um dog slay patrol that Trump refers to which is actually a very incredible um group of people that that uh travel across the inland device to very remote locations and um it's not something to be um dismissed really. But at the moment there's um there's military presence everywhere I think in in Greenland from from European countries. Also the UK has just announced that the UK is going to join in uh to to um to be a watch military watch in Greenland. So there will be a lot of military now and I'm not sure where this new military bases will be will be. Um this is partly a comment relating to a question earlier in which Greenland was described as a desolate wasteland. People have said the same about much of Scotland. Uh and if we allow that extractive approach to the natural world to govern how we treat our land, we really will end up with an absolutely desolate wasteland once everything has been taken and the people are left behind to deal with it. Is this working? Um, I wanted to thank you for an amazing presentation, but I wanted to move away from the political discussion. And I wanted to ask you about your own work and particularly well lots of things but I that that um concert uh that was to sort of um mourn Trfalga house that was amazing. How on earth did you come up with the idea? >> You mean the folklor and recquum? >> Yes. Yeah. I thought it was remarkable. >> Yeah. that really made me want to become a musician. But um um it was because I just by coincidence realized that uh the folk horns were being closed off turned off by um Trinity House but they didn't actually people were not informed. So when I talked to people on the on the coast who remembered the sounds of the folklororn because each folk horn has its own sound. Not many people know that I think but that sound uh reverberates with that particular landscape and creates a completely unique um uh yeah sound that is totally embedded with that particular landscape. And of course when we grow up next to um a coast to that sound that becomes your memory from your childhood and it's a very deep uh thing and that really was um um there was so many overlaps with that region and the loss of the of its maritime history and that kind of sense of sense of loss I felt with a lot of people there. But I already um you probably gathered that I like chips and um I have spent many years um uh building a big ship and building a harbor in London and um and I've been I am very interested in um the kind of um maritime history in terms of people um living um underwater ways. So it kind of came from all that. >> All are very interesting. We have an island the west coast of Scotland called Elsa Craig where curling stones come from and on this east each side of that island there are huge Victorian volcorns which were steam powered which have not been used for a long while but they're still there. Okay, the last question as we have for the wrap up. Anybody got a final question? Do do you actually live in the NASDAQ International Research Station or is that like just a house that you own? And what do we have to do to apply to come visit and do some research there? >> That's a really good question. You're all welcome. Imagine the whole society traveling on England. You could you could you could hire a ship. Um um well um I don't live there but I live there when no one is there. Um uh I I um at the moment we don't uh we don't have a bath. So so people have to go to the sports center down the hill. So, at the moment, I'm trying to build a shower there. So, if any of you are really good at building showers, you're extra welcome. But um um to to apply basically um uh you just send an email uh with a project idea and um what we look at is um to what extent that idea will be um um relevant for the community and to what extent it engages with the it engages with the community. There is also um many sciences to go there. example, we've got a lot of uh um research into the Arctic char um uh and that is is a massive research project apparently goes on for 20 years. I've never heard about such a long funded research project but um there is a limit to how much you can talk with the community about the Arctic char for 20 years. Uh so so you know everything is um it depends on the projects to to what extent um it makes sense to engage with the community. Um yeah >> well um this been a wonderful talk. You can see how much interest we all have and it's a story that's really continuing day by day. And when you when we were talking earlier uh by email, you said um you you couldn't send the slides in advance because things were changing day by day. Now I know that one of your artist interests is glass and you that was what you won an award for. So we have made for you a very special paper weight. Here are the instruct. You get instructions what to do with the paper weight and this is from the society commemorating our 224 years existence. >> Wow. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much.