“Greenland’s Melting Ice Threatens Dog Sledding—and a Way of Life”

Growing up in a small village in northern Greenland, Jorgen Kristensen’s closest companions were his stepfather’s sled dogs. Most of his classmates were dark-haired Inuit, and Kristensen stood out. At just 9 years old, he went out on the ice to fish alone with the dogs—a moment that sparked a lifelong passion and led him to become a five-time Greenlandic dog sled champion.

“I was just a small child. But many years later, I started thinking about why I love dogs so much,” Kristensen, 62, tells the AP. “The dogs were a great support. They lifted me up when I was sad.”

For more than a thousand years, dogs have pulled sleds across the Arctic for Inuit seal hunters and fishermen. But this winter in Ilulissat, roughly 190 miles north of the Arctic Circle, that tradition has been disrupted. Instead of gliding over ice and snow, Kristensen’s sled bounces across earth and rock. Rising temperatures in Ilulissat are melting permafrost, causing buildings to sink and pipes to crack. These changes also have global consequences: the nearby Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, one of the fastest-moving on the planet, is retreating and shedding ice at unprecedented rates, contributing to rising sea levels worldwide, per NASA.

“In winter, hunters should be able to take their dogs far out on the sea ice,” Kristensen explains. The ice sheets act like “big bridges,” linking Greenlanders to hunting grounds and connecting Inuit communities across Canada, the US, and Russia. “When the sea ice used to come, we felt completely open along the entire coast and could decide where to go,” he says. Driving a dog sled on ice felt like traveling “completely without boundaries—like on the world’s longest and widest highway.” But this January, there was no ice at all. Not having it is “a very great loss,” Kristensen adds. He now even has to collect snow for the dogs to drink during their journeys.

Greenlanders have always adapted—they are exploring dog sleds with wheels—but the impact of ice loss is profound, Kristensen says. Today, he runs a tourism company, taking visitors on dog sled rides and glacier tours while explaining how Greenland’s melting ice is as critical to the planet as the Amazon rainforest. “If we lose dog sledding, we lose large parts of our culture,” Kristensen says, his voice heavy with concern. “That scares me.”

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