00:00Taking to the water in temperatures as low as minus 7 degrees Celsius, or colder, is
00:07routine for Greenlanders like Lars Heilman.
00:10The 31-year-old fisherman and hunter is heading out into the fjord of Nuuk.
00:17The island is experiencing significant attention since US President Donald Trump said he wants
00:22to buy it.
00:23We can stand by ourselves.
00:26We don't have to be helped by other countries.
00:29Indigenous Inuit people like Lars have been living in Greenland for over 4,000 years.
00:34They know how to survive in this vast and frozen country, with its huge fishing grounds
00:40and resources under the ice.
00:43We have to look forward.
00:45If we don't look down so we can go forward.
00:49But right now many people in Greenland look like this.
00:54We look only for us.
00:55Lars thinks it's important now to look beyond their own fjords.
01:01More than 4,300 people of Greenland's over 56,000 population work in the fishing industry.
01:08This trawler offloading several tons of shrimp.
01:12In the small fisherman's hut, where lines and bait are prepared for another day at sea,
01:17the American interest is met with a different perspective.
01:21For many, the real political conversation isn't about foreign buyers.
01:25It's about independence from Denmark.
01:30I hope Trump will be useful for our country.
01:35He must not deal with things in the way the Danish do, who just take from us but don't
01:39give anything to us.
01:44Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
01:47It's the biggest island in the world, situated between North America and Europe.
01:52But two-thirds of Greenland's population want independence, according to most estimates.
01:58The Danes forcibly took over this island in the 1700s, and only ended colonial rule in
02:04the 1950s.
02:07Nearly 90% of the country is of Inuit origin, but almost all the doctors and teachers are
02:13Danish, and many of the positions of high administrative power are held by Danes.
02:20The Danish government gives Greenland just under a billion dollars per year in grants.
02:25But it also guarantees Greenland's security as part of NATO.
02:30And the people of Greenland hold Danish passports, so can travel, live and work freely in the
02:35European Union.
02:38Greenlandic Prime Minister Mutta Egede and his party, they want independence.
02:45Greenland is not for sale.
02:47Greenland's future must be decided by the people of Greenland.
02:52We don't want to be Danish.
02:54We don't want to be American.
02:58Part of the international interest in Greenland stems from the untapped resources under the
03:03land, sea and snow.
03:05Large deposits of lithium and uranium are known to be here, and mining companies are
03:10itching to be granted licenses to extract.
03:15Svend Hardenberg represents Greenland Minerals, a company battling with the government to
03:19receive a delayed mining license, which would allow them to extract uranium in southern
03:25Greenland.
03:26It's very valuable in the sense that just taxation and royalties are substantial in
03:34the billions that will go directly to the Greenland government.
03:40Other Greenlanders are totally against the mining, though.
03:43Take Pitanguag Tisusen, who has successfully campaigned to block a number of mining projects
03:49from going ahead.
03:51It's unique nature we have.
03:53And once we destroy it, we can't get it back again, and we will get not money enough.
04:03Back out in the fjord, despite being in favour of mining Greenland for its critical minerals,
04:08Lars says he's witnessing the effects of global warming.
04:13Climate change is, right now, we can feel that in the water very quickly.
04:20Right now, water temperature is rising up right now.
04:26So we can feel the fish where they are.
04:29We have to try to find them.
04:32While rich in resources, poverty, homelessness and drug and alcohol problems are prevalent
04:37in Greenland.
04:39Every day, 50 or more people come to this Salvation Army hut to eat, drink and socialise.
04:45But they can't sleep here.
04:48People like Rebecca Josefsson have been dealt the hardest hand in Greenland.
04:54She told us she sleeps in the shopping centre.
05:00Not everyone can afford to live here.
05:03Sometimes we are hungry, but we live our life.
05:08It's just the conditions for us here.
05:12Greenland is a country both at the mercy of nature and deeply connected to it.
05:18And as Lars heads back in what is now the midday sun, he hopes they will profit from
05:23the geopolitical attention on Greenland right now.
05:28It's very good for the Greenland people.
05:30It's very bad for the other people.
05:33Many people come here to Greenland to see how it's beautiful.
05:38Much like Lars securing his boat to the dock, Greenlanders face the task of navigating their
05:43future and anchoring their place in the world on their own terms.
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