PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 16, 2022
In June, fellow students and I traveled to southern Greenland as part of the Maine-Greenland Collaboration – an interdisciplinary research team from the University of Southern Maine. On the advancing edge of climate change, Greenland is getting even greener as ice melts away, and has been flooded with researchers in recent years. We heard stories about warming and melting ice, but we also heard stories about drought, about strong wind storms, about extreme weather and how sheep farmers are at the mercy of these changing conditions. We heard about fjords that never freeze over in the winter anymore, but we also heard about the benefits of a longer growing season and the potential for Greenlanders to grow more of their own food. The trip to Greenland was a life-changing experience for us as student research assistants. ~ Betsy Chalmers, master’s student, School of Social Work, University of Southern Maine