Travel to Greenland

This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland

Format: Paperback
Author: Gretel Ehrlich
ReleaseDate: 07 January, 2003
Publisher: Vintage
Rating:

Heaven On Earth?
Her writing is really very nice and brought this remote place to life for me. In "This Cold Heaven", Gretel Ehrlich extolls the life of the subsistence hunters of Greenland. Jared Diamond's "Collapse" gave us the picture of the european Greenlanders and now Ehrlich gives us the picture from the 'other side of the hill. '

The beauty of the environment and the struggle for sanity in the long dark made very interesting reading, having spent 20 winters in Minnesota where it is dark a mere 16 hours a day.

I'm not sure she takes her observations to their logical conclusion, however. The life she admires is that of the subsistence hunter. What makes it admirable for her is the totality of it, the self-sufficiency, the purity. But that life evolved out of necessity, which has been overtaken by modern life. Most Greenlanders live off the supply ships; only a handful hunt for a living. These few are restrictive in their practices, using rifles but eschewing outboard motors and snow mobiles, for example.

In other words they are playing an elaborate game of 'survival. ' They could make it easier for themselves but they don't because it makes it more of a challenge. The fact is, there is no obvious reason for people to go around in dogsleds hunting walrus. They could be educating themselves for the future instead of clinging to an outmoded past.

I think she understands this. I say that because of the incident of the polar bear, where she urged that it not be killed. She accompanied the hunters by dogsled to polar bear country for the specific purpose of getting a bear. Then when it came time to pull the trigger she wanted the men to let it go.

In that moment she understood that synthetics are just as good as bear skin for keeping warm. Food can be gotten from the shelves thanks to the supply ships. Transportation to any place in the world is available. There is no longer any need to shoot polar bears in order to survive, and she knew it.

There is honor and purity in modernity, too. We meet Fred, who has been forecasting the weather at Thule for 27 years. I'm a forecaster, too. I can relate to Fred, and I understand why he has stayed there all this time. While his duties benefit the well-being of everyone on that base, he has undertaken a wider quest, that of comprehending nature and humanity in his specific setting. It is similar to that of the hunter, in that it is also an internal quest which reveals oneself.

Only Fred really knows why is there. Only Jens and Mikele really know why they go out on the ice to hunt. Fred could retire to Punta Gorda. Jens could go to Copenhagen and relax. Gretel slides past this whole matter. But then, her eyes were bothering her.

WONDERFUL BOOK

great book to read in the heat of summer. I really enjoyed this book, Gretel takes you with her in her travels and experiences to one of the most starkley beautiful places in the world.
wonderful tales, wonderful author.
I could feel the ice, well reading this book.

great insightful book. . . . .
one you will want to have on your shelves for ever.

Good, but a missed oppurtunity
She obviously deeply respects the people who she spent time with in Greenland. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. However, as she barely hints at, there are problems under the surface with alcoholism dysfunctional families and sexual abuse. By glossing over the darker side of things and portraying the Innuit as "noble savages" she provides us with a one dimensional portrait of thier way of life.

Related products:
click image or link for details on these Greenland travel books.

	Greenland & The Arctic (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)
	The Future of Ice: A Journey into Cold
	Arctic Adventure: My Life in the Frozen North