Standing near Greenland's Jakobshavn glacier, the reputed source of the iceberg that sank the Titanic over a century ago, US Secretary of State John Kerry saw evidence of another looming catastrophe. Giant icebergs broken off from the glacier seemed to groan as they drifted behind him, signaling eventual rising oceans that scientists warn will submerge islands and populated coastal region.
Briefed by researchers aboard a Royal Danish Navy patrol ship, Kerry appeared stunned by how fast the ice sheets are melting. He was struck by the more dire warnings he was hearing about the same process underway in Antarctica. "This has been a significant eye-opener for me and I have spent 25 years or engaged in this issue," Kerry said on the deck of the HDMS Thetis with Denmark's Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen during the two-day visit that ended late on Friday.
Kerry made his first visit to this part of the Arctic to witness the effects of climate changes and press the need to implement the Paris climate accord. He has called climate change "the world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction". The United States chairs the Arctic Council, a forum created in 1996 to tackle issues arising from increased Arctic activity.
The landmark Paris agreement included commitments by most nations to reduce carbon emissions contributing to climate change but lacked any enforcement mechanism, leaving open who will pay costs that will rise into the trillions of dollars. "What we did in Paris ... is critical now to be implemented, but it is not enough," he said. "We have to all move faster in order to embrace new energy policies that are sustainable, that are clean, all of which are there for the using if governments and private sector make the right choices."
By visiting Greenland and Svalbard in Norway's extreme north this week, Kerry focused on some of the most visible impacts of climate change. "There is no mistaking that we are contributing to climate change, we human beings have choices that can undo the damage," said Kerry. "There is profound change throughout the Arctic." Jakobshavn is one of the world's biggest glaciers and the most active in the Arctic, where ice sheets are melting at a rate faster than ever before. David Holland, a New York University scientist studying changes on Jakobshavn, explained that the glacier could retreat by about 62 miles (100 kilometers) over the next 100 years if the thawing of its ice sheet continues at its current pace.