Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Greenland Map Triggers Huge Debate


A recently published book contains some controversial information about Greenland. Let's work together to examine the issue:

First, some basic facts about Greenland:

  1. Greenland is an autonomous country within which larger kingdom?
  2. Even though Greenland is part of North America, it is often associated with Europe. Why?
  3. Why is it called Greenland? Who gave it this name?
On to the controversial details:
  1. What recently-published book was dubbed the "Greatest Book on Earth" by its publishers?
  2. What detail(s) about Greenland are significantly different from the last time the book was published?
  3. Why has this caused a debate. Be specific!
  4. Which side of the debate has the best argument in your opinion?
Posted by Brian Bearss at 10:36 AM

9 comments:

  1. Ms.Sunshine95September 28, 2011 at 4:16 PM

    Basics:
    1. Danish Kingdom
    2. Because Denmark granted home rule to Greenland

    3.Eric the Red- to make it appealing/attractive to settlers.

    Details:
    1. IPCC
    2. The ice-cap shrinkage
    3. exaggeration of the melting rate
    4. The Scientists

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brian BearssSeptember 28, 2011 at 4:41 PM

    A good start, but let's elaborate a little... ... What is "IPCC?" What do you mean by "the scientists?" Weren't there scientists involved on both sides?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ms.Sunshine95September 29, 2011 at 3:34 PM

    IPCC is International Conference on Parallel Processing. by scientests, i mean the ones against the book

    ReplyDelete
  4. physicsguySeptember 30, 2011 at 8:39 AM

    I think this might have something to do with ice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. murph-o-nator618September 30, 2011 at 9:35 PM

    fun fact:
    Greenland is, and has been inhabited, though not continuously, by Inuit peoples from Canada for 4500-5000 years.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Brian BearssOctober 3, 2011 at 7:49 AM

    The book is "The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World." When talking about the book, the publishers stated that their maps show that the ice cover on Greenland has decreased by 15% since 1999. However, nearly all scientists interviewed say that the actual ice loss is much smaller than 15%. This issue is compounded by the many ways that ice could be measured, e.g., total mass of ice, depth of ice, area of ground covered by ice, various time of the melt-freeze cycle, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brian BearssOctober 3, 2011 at 7:49 AM

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/20/times-atlas-incorrect-greenland

    ReplyDelete
  8. Brian BearssOctober 3, 2011 at 8:39 AM

    Thanks to those who commented this week!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kyle SchieweckOctober 5, 2011 at 10:22 AM

    1. Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark
    2. Though Greenland is physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe.
    3. I found that Greenland Acquired its name by the fact that when Greenland was discovered, the Earth was a bit warmer and southern Greenland actually had green meadows and could sustain villages of Norse settlers and their cattle, sheep, goats, horses. The name was actually an accurate description of the land at the time.

    ReplyDelete

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