Golfing in Greenland and other crazy courses

by Martha Edwards on

Could you imagine going to Greenland to Golf. Wait, scratch that. Can you imagine going to Greenland for any reason? Ok, that was mean of me, but what can I say — being a Canadian and subject to 10 months of winter, I tend to favour warm-weather destinations. But I digress.

Forbes Traveler recently listed their picks for the top 10 craziest golf courses, and, not surprisingly, Greenland’s World Ice Golf Tournament took the top spot. What else made the list?

  • North Star Golf Club, Alaska, where permafrost dominates the landscape.
  • Coober Pedy Opal Field Golf Club, Australia, where the desert course is basically one large sand trap.
  • Hans Merensky Golf Course, South Africa, where Elephants and zebras are frequently seen on the course. Don’t forget to yell ‘fore!’
  • And of course, Nullarbor Links, which spans 800 miles in the Australian outback.

Want to find out the other picks? Click here.

Greenland’s newest tourist attraction: Water!

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s not so often that a radio station showcases a photo gallery. But times are changing and NPR is stepping up its already stellar website with some cool video and slide shows.

I point this out because of a recent story that NPR did on the melting of Greenland.

“So what,” you might say, “ice melts. But when ice melts in Greenland, the rest of the world needs to be concerned. According to the story, ocean levels will rise 20 feet if Greenland completely defrosts.

The good news, however, is that Greenland’s melting ice makes for some wonderful scenery and great tourist opportunities as warming temperatures create rivers and lakes where there were none before. And, it’s all eerily beautiful. That’s why NPR reverted to the visual medium to share some amazing shots of this newly born, crystal clear water that has been trapped for centuries in an enormous ice sheet.

Armageddon never looked so good!

“Catastrophe tourism” on the rise in Greenland

by Iva Skoch on

Greenland says it doesn’t like to be seen as the global warming poster child, according to an article in Sunday’s NY Times entitled “As Ice Recedes, Interest Surges.” They have witnessed a spike in “catastrophe tourism,” or “Come see if before it’s too late” kind of tourism, lately. Apparently it is human nature to enjoy watching things–Greenland, in this case–die.

If morbid curiosity is what does it for you, you can now take a direct flight from Baltimore to Greenland on Air Greenland for about $1300. You can sit on the Ilulissat ice fjord, watching the glacier melt in 3D. Or you can visit the 25-foot ice wall Kangerlussuag, which–if it melts–is supposed to be responsible for raising the world’s ocean level by 24 feet.

Of course, by increasing the air traffic in Greenland, you might actually be helping global warming…

Climate-change Tourism: Warming Planet Unveils New Tourist Destinations

by Neil Woodburn on

“Climate-change tourism” is something we’re going to be hearing a lot more about in the near future. In fact, it’s already here in some parts of the world.

What is climate-change tourism exactly?

That’s when a traditionally frozen arctic wasteland like Greenland suddenly starts to warm up, shed its ice, and become hospitable. As a result, tourists who used to shun such frigid environs are now beginning to explore far more northerly than ever before.

In fact, according to a recent article in The Herald, Spitzbergen (Norway) has now “become the Tenerife of the north” as more and more wealthy tourists flock there to enjoy calving glaciers and warming environs. As a result, tourism has doubled in the last ten years.

Tragically, scientists estimate that the “melting glaciers and icecaps” along the Svalbard archipelago where Spitzbergan is located are “responsible for 0.3mm of the 2.2mm annual rise in sea levels.”

Hello Svalbard, goodbye Micronesia!

Dr. Warmlove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Climate Change

by Erik Olsen on

The panic and mayhem that seems to surround global warming sometimes gets so shrill you’d think the world was going to end. And maybe it will. For some people.

But for others, global warming could be a boon. Once icy climes could turn positively cozy, and just imagine what that will do for real estate values. So you see, there is a bright side.

And perhaps no one sees that bright side more than the folks living in Greenland. Yes, you know, Greenland. It’s the place that’s all white. Though perhaps not for long. And the people there are not very green either, in fact, according to this piece in the Washington Post, they seem to be cheering on the arrival of climate change. “It’s good for me,” said Ernst Lund, one of 51 farmers raising sheep on the world’s largest island. “I can keep the sheep out two weeks longer to feed in hills in the autumn. And I can grow more hay. The sheep get fatter,” he said. Now that’s optimism. And its not just the sheep that are enjoying the rising temps. The cod are too. Cod have been in serious decline all over the globe, but particularly in once thriving fisheries like the Northeast US. And, says the story, seals are now easier to reach to kill for grub. The list goes on in this fascinating, sometimes uplifting (in an irony-laden Don DeLillo way) piece.