The Real Reason Greenland Determines our Fate: Melting Ice and Drowning Coasts

The recent media blitz about Greenland – and Donald Trump’s interest in purchasing it – has dwarfed a much more important story about the world’s largest island, Greenland, and the impact of its melting ice on people throughout the world.  

Polar ice sheets are shrinking rapidly, fueled by rising global temperatures both in the atmosphere and ocean. The Greenland ice sheet has the potential to raise global sea levels by an astonishing 23 feet were it to melt away completely. Slowing the rate of ice loss is therefore of utmost concern not only for coastal communities, but to avoid almost unfathomable shocks to global economies, infrastructure, military bases and the livelihoods of billions of people. Some experts now propose that sea level rise should be a policy metric in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.  

To learn more about Greenland’s ice sheets and the opportunities to slow down sea level rise, please join a discussion featuring distinguished experts Dr. Sarah Das, Polar and Climate Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Rafe Pomerance, Senior Policy Fellow at the Woodwell Climate Research Center and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Development. Margaret Williams, Senior Fellow of the Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative will moderate. Together, they will examine the implications of Greenland’s melting ice sheet for the United States and beyond, while proposing actionable solutions to address this urgent crisis.