Climate Change Brings Uncertainty to Inuit's Way of Life in Greenland

In some ways, Greenland has become almost synonymous with climate change. Talks of the island often conjure mental images of calving glaciers and stranded, starving polar bears, while Greenland's melt and temperature change act as a warning bell for the broader global implications of Earth's warming.

But for the Indigenous Inuit living at the edge of the arctic, the climate crisis threatens more than the environment—it endangers a way of life.

Even youth and those who have lived in Greenland only a decade have noticed the changes. The sea ice that typically rings the island's coastlines in the winter is now thinner and less stable, forming later in the year—if at all. The weather has grown more erratic, and the air feels warmer than it did only a few years ago.

Inuit traditions, so closely woven with nature, are now much harder to maintain. Mental health experts worry the consequences of climate change will exacerbate adverse mental health on the island, where suicide rates have frequently been some of the highest in the world.

This reporting project explores a side of the climate crisis often unseen. With a human-centered focus, it highlights the ways in which Inuit livelihoods, culture and mental health are affected by the rapidly changing environment, and how they're supporting one another in the face of uncertainty.