For most of us,
10 degrees Celsius is
stay at home, under the blankets
weather.
But for kids in this town,
it means summer has arrived.
My name is Athena
and I'm 13 years old.
I like it very much here.
Athena and her friends live in
Kangerlussuaq.
It's a tiny town right here on one
of the world's biggest islands.
A country called Greenland.
There's a lot of nature and stuff.
In the summer I go rowing
and kayaking or whatever.
Me and my friends,
we go out camping and stuff.
Greenland has
a pretty misleading name
because most of it is actually white
thanks to an enormous icecap
that covers 80%.
The icecap has been around
since the last ice age,
more than 11,500 years ago.
But, for the past decade,
it's been fighting a losing battle
against global warming.
Global warming is what we call
the gradual rise
in the Earth's temperature.
It's caused by higher levels
of carbon dioxide
and other gases
in Earth's atmosphere.
Since the 1950s, Greenland's average
temperature has risen by 1.5 degrees.
Now, that might not sound like much
but think about it this way...
As you probably know,
ice will stay frozen
as long as it is kept at
a temperature of zero degrees Celsius
or colder.
An increase of just one degree
will start turning it into water.
Well, that is what is happening
in Greenland.
In fact, scientists say every year
more than 300 billion tonnes
of its ice is melting into the ocean.
This is Adam.
He's a tour guide who visits
Greenland's icecaps more
than 300 times every year.
He has managed to capture some pretty
amazing things on camera,
like this...
..and this...
..and this.
It looks pretty cool
but it is actually a really bad sign.
TRANSLATION: It's a fact
that the icesheet is melting
and the landscape is changing.
Look around.
It is happening very fast.
Adam says Greenland has even had
some bushfires,
which is pretty weird
for a place covered in ice.
But there is another side to this
warming story in Greenland.
Some people are actually
happy about it.
The warmer weather means warmer water
and that has meant the arrival
of fish like mackerel
that usually hang out
further south.
It's made fishermen here very happy.
We see some higher stocks
due to climate change,
or at least due
to warmer sea temperatures.
And then there are some just enjoying
a reprieve from the cold.
It would be nicer to be warmer,
yeah.
I could use some of that.
But while global warming might mean
more fish in Greenland for a while
and fewer jackets,
pretty much everyone does agree
its long-term impact will be
really damaging,
not just here but around the world.
And that's why experts say
we should keep up the fight
against climate change
and keep countries like Greenland
looking white and frosty
into the future.
