0:00:28.880,0:00:34.425 (Sound of iceberg crumbling[br]and running into the ocean) 0:00:49.545,0:00:53.770 What you just witnessed was an iceberg[br]about the size of Manhattan 0:00:53.780,0:00:58.440 breaking off a cliff in Greenland[br]to drift out and melt into the ocean. 0:00:59.600,0:01:02.890 The Arctic region is melting[br]as it's heated twice as fast 0:01:02.890,0:01:04.510 as the rest of the planet, 0:01:04.510,0:01:08.210 and science every day brings us news,[br]alarming news, from the North. 0:01:08.210,0:01:11.810 Science tend to always bring us[br]bad news from the North. 0:01:12.050,0:01:14.100 Just yesterday it was announced 0:01:14.100,0:01:17.750 that this April is the warmest[br]we've ever experienced. 0:01:17.750,0:01:19.930 In certain parts of Greenland, 0:01:19.930,0:01:23.209 it was not one degree warmer,[br]not two degrees warmer, 0:01:23.209,0:01:27.150 it was nine and a half degrees warmer[br]than normal April's would be. 0:01:27.990,0:01:34.630 So I think the Arctic has become a symbol[br]of global change and pending disaster. 0:01:35.850,0:01:39.590 I was myself born in Greenland[br]a very long time ago. 0:01:40.390,0:01:45.410 I came from Greenland to Denmark[br]and the U.S. to become a scientist, 0:01:45.410,0:01:49.550 to study geology with the one purpose[br]of being able to come back 0:01:49.550,0:01:55.180 and do my fieldwork every summer[br]in the vast Arctic nature. 0:01:56.290,0:01:58.750 I think it's kind of misleading 0:01:58.750,0:02:03.970 that the Arctic has gotten this emblem[br]of being a symbol of disaster 0:02:03.970,0:02:08.249 because the reason why we,[br]as scientists, go into the Arctic 0:02:08.249,0:02:12.020 is because the Arctic is the most[br]wonderful region on the planet. 0:02:12.750,0:02:15.640 It is the most beautiful place[br]and every scientist I know, 0:02:15.640,0:02:19.160 they go to the Arctic[br]with that one particular reason: 0:02:19.170,0:02:21.030 to be in this beautiful place. 0:02:21.030,0:02:24.560 In contrast to what we see, those of us[br]who live in the Arctic, of course, 0:02:24.560,0:02:28.880 industries see another property[br]of the Arctic: they see opportunity. 0:02:28.880,0:02:32.110 The heating of the Arctic[br]is supposed to give access 0:02:32.110,0:02:36.959 to new mineral resources;[br]oil, gas, gold, fish, whatever, 0:02:36.959,0:02:39.959 and the business plan seems to be, 0:02:40.589,0:02:44.489 "Let us go and exploit and scavenge[br]the last drop of everything 0:02:44.489,0:02:47.310 that is left in that last place on Earth 0:02:47.310,0:02:50.190 that has not yet[br]been destroyed by humankind." 0:02:50.680,0:02:53.960 I think the question[br]that I would like to pose today is: 0:02:54.520,0:02:56.919 Is that really the best idea[br]we can come up with 0:02:56.919,0:02:59.669 and do exactly the same[br]that has destroyed everywhere else 0:02:59.680,0:03:02.500 in the last place[br]that has not been destroyed yet? 0:03:03.690,0:03:08.490 My suggestion is that we cannot risk[br]to do those vast expanses 0:03:08.490,0:03:11.110 of undestroyed nature[br]that the Arctic still possesses, 0:03:11.110,0:03:16.450 and we have to use our research capacity[br]to try and come up with something 0:03:16.450,0:03:21.480 that is more smart, and more sustainablem[br]and more long-term benefit for mankind. 0:03:21.700,0:03:25.080 I suggest that instead of doing[br]what we had done everywhere else, 0:03:25.080,0:03:26.880 we should do something new, 0:03:26.880,0:03:30.940 and we should find out[br]what are the true values of the Arctic. 0:03:32.750,0:03:35.420 I have a specific suggestion, 0:03:35.830,0:03:42.200 a method that I think could be a way[br]of using the melting of the Arctic region 0:03:42.550,0:03:46.470 to actually fight problems[br]otherwhere on the planet. 0:03:46.470,0:03:51.910 One of the major problems we have[br]beside the climate change, of course, 0:03:51.910,0:03:54.710 is inequality and food security. 0:03:54.710,0:04:00.240 If we look at the wealth on Earth, we know[br]it's unevenly distributed on the planet, 0:04:00.240,0:04:02.350 some regions are rich, some are poor. 0:04:02.350,0:04:06.040 The rich regions, which are not[br]what's shown on this map, 0:04:06.040,0:04:09.040 but could as well have been,[br]this map shows soil quality. 0:04:09.040,0:04:12.440 It shows where the crops that,[br]as coming from the fields, 0:04:12.440,0:04:14.110 are richest on the planet. 0:04:14.110,0:04:18.080 You see that richness couples completely[br]with where the soil was good. 0:04:18.080,0:04:23.840 The reason for this is not[br]that the soil has always been like that, 0:04:23.840,0:04:28.300 it is because the soil was replenished[br]with minerals during the last ice age. 0:04:28.300,0:04:31.100 Ice came down from the north,[br]scoured the rocks, 0:04:31.100,0:04:34.900 turned it into a fine powder[br]and dumped it in front of the glaciers 0:04:34.900,0:04:38.040 and fertilized the grounds across[br]North America, Europe, and Asia, 0:04:38.040,0:04:41.170 and that's where everything[br]that feeds humankind today grows. 0:04:41.410,0:04:44.150 On the other hand,[br]if you look into the tropics, 0:04:44.150,0:04:48.130 you have red barren soils[br]with very poor fertility, 0:04:48.140,0:04:51.580 and that is the reason[br]why people in the tropics are poor, 0:04:51.580,0:04:53.940 why we have malnutrition[br]and undernutrition, 0:04:53.940,0:04:58.190 because these soils are basically[br]impossible to grow crops on. 0:04:58.190,0:05:00.060 My suggestion is very simple. 0:05:00.060,0:05:06.290 In Greenland, where we have the last bit[br]of the ice cap in the Northern Hemisphere, 0:05:06.510,0:05:09.070 and it's melting right now,[br]it's been melting forever, 0:05:09.070,0:05:10.680 but now it's melting faster, 0:05:10.680,0:05:15.220 it's flushing out billions of tons[br]of very finely ground rock flour 0:05:15.220,0:05:18.760 that contains all the mineral nutrients[br]that are missing in the tropics. 0:05:18.770,0:05:23.610 The idea is that we take that mud,[br]this material from Greenland, 0:05:23.610,0:05:27.280 transferred to the tropical regions[br]and spread it on the ground, 0:05:27.280,0:05:31.160 where it will re-fertilize the soil[br]and provide for new wealth 0:05:31.160,0:05:33.110 and new development in these countries. 0:05:33.110,0:05:35.360 At the same time the Arctic region 0:05:35.370,0:05:39.380 is also, of course, needing[br]development and new trades 0:05:39.380,0:05:42.700 but rather than doing the same again[br]as we have done everywhere else, 0:05:42.700,0:05:45.230 we could do something[br]to develop the Arctic 0:05:45.230,0:05:48.870 that at the same time does something good[br]in the rest of the world. 0:05:49.370,0:05:51.890 My suggestion is again[br]that we take the mud 0:05:51.890,0:05:56.150 coming out of the glaciers in Greenland[br]and take it to the tropics, 0:05:56.150,0:05:59.780 because the mud that you find in Greenland[br]is unlike any other mud you find. 0:05:59.780,0:06:03.950 The mud you have in the Amazon,[br]the Mississippi, or any other major river, 0:06:03.950,0:06:08.720 is what's leftover after all the nutrients[br]have been sucked out of the ground, 0:06:08.720,0:06:11.060 and the leftovers[br]are flushed down the river. 0:06:11.060,0:06:16.210 Whereas in Greenland, it has,[br]intact all the minerals 0:06:16.210,0:06:17.960 that plants need to grow in. 0:06:18.940,0:06:23.680 In Greenland this is dumped by the rivers[br]in the fjords, the valleys, and the lakes, 0:06:23.680,0:06:26.960 and it's very easy to take it[br]without making a large industry 0:06:26.960,0:06:29.350 without having[br]any chemical treatment, anything. 0:06:29.600,0:06:34.200 You basically just take up this stuff[br]and take it to where it's needed. 0:06:35.670,0:06:37.690 That, of course, begs a new question: 0:06:37.690,0:06:41.740 Is that really a good idea to take[br]millions of tons of something 0:06:41.740,0:06:45.660 from someplace on Earth[br]and take it to some other part of Earth? 0:06:45.660,0:06:48.100 Isn't that another climate threat? 0:06:48.100,0:06:51.340 Is that not something that's going[br]to make our problem even greater? 0:06:51.340,0:06:54.740 My suggestion is that it's not,[br]because the good news is 0:06:54.740,0:06:57.980 that the mechanism by which[br]the nutrients are released 0:06:57.980,0:07:01.720 from this material to the plants[br]is a process we call "weathering": 0:07:01.720,0:07:04.490 weathering is when something, minerals, 0:07:04.490,0:07:07.360 react the carbon dioxide[br]from the atmosphere. 0:07:07.750,0:07:10.290 We take this, spread it[br]on the tropical soils. 0:07:10.290,0:07:13.700 What happens is that it will start[br]reacting the CO2 from the atmosphere 0:07:13.700,0:07:15.450 and draw it out of the atmosphere. 0:07:15.450,0:07:19.240 We can calculate that[br]by transporting this material 0:07:19.240,0:07:21.400 from the Arctic to the tropics, 0:07:21.400,0:07:25.430 we actually emit less CO2 in the process 0:07:25.430,0:07:30.539 than we consume by the reaction[br]of this material with the atmosphere. 0:07:30.539,0:07:36.829 My suggestion is that Greenlandic[br]glacier mud can be a solution 0:07:36.829,0:07:41.550 to problems like hunger[br]and poverty in the tropics, 0:07:41.560,0:07:43.590 also it will lower the incentive 0:07:43.590,0:07:47.770 to cut rainforest to make[br]new land for agriculture. 0:07:49.410,0:07:50.989 Therefore I will suggest 0:07:50.989,0:07:55.580 that the Arctic could be[br]a source of good news finally. 0:07:56.450,0:07:59.940 I will say that Greenland[br]is not called "Greenland" for nothing, 0:07:59.940,0:08:03.040 it's actually the place[br]that could make parts of the Earth 0:08:03.040,0:08:06.240 that is now barren green[br]as we see Greenland is here. 0:08:06.240,0:08:08.550 So it's time for good news from the North. 0:08:08.550,0:08:11.250 (Applause)