snipped-for-privacy@manx.misty.com (Don Klipstein) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@manx.misty.com:
>> snipped-for-privacy@manx.misty.com (Don Klipstein) wrote in
>>news: snipped-for-privacy@manx.misty.com:
[snip]
>>
>>> Who is to be afraid to know that Greenland's WSW coast from about
>>> 28-30%
>>> of the way from Qaanaaq/Thule down to the southern tip is non-icebound
>>> well-inland? And there are a few notable towns there on the southern
>>> half of Greenland's west coast, with dual names including names that
>>> surely appear "Nordic" to me!
>>
>>THe Vikings had settlements there for a few hundred years. When the
>>climate cooled and the fjords became ice-bound, they couldn't get out
>>and supply ships couldn't get in (this was coupled with political
>>problem in the homeland, whcih also reduced supply shipments). The
>>settlements eventually collapsed. But before the fjords became
>>icebound, thre were grassy areas and low shrubbery, which were used for
>>the grazing of sheep and some cattle, and IIRC they also grew and
>>harvested hay to feed the livestock through the Winter.
>>
>>THere is a good treatment of the topic in _Collapse_ by Jared Diamond.
>
> There are now photos of grassy and even flowery land where Viking
> ruins
> are:
>
>
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> The coastal waters along the west coast of Greenland have been far
> from
> icebound the past 2 months according to the Canadian Ice Service, and
> are currently not.
>
>
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> - Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)
>
True enough. Cycles do occur but there is also such a thing as exacerbating an existing situation. IOW, the question is not whetehr global warming is *all* anthropogenic, the question is, To what extent do human activities turn a natural cycle that could be handled (by both the plant and humans) into something that cannot.
So, yes, Vikings did have settlements in Greenland for a few hundred years, until the planetary cycle made teh seas and fjords too icy to permit travel and imports by ship; and yes, Greenland's ice is currently retreating. But as above, IMO, although poeple do argue taht the planet has had thousands of warming-cooling cycles, the important question is to what extent are humans turning anatural cycle into a potential disaster.