Robert “Mac” West is participating in a workshop from January 12-14 in Ilulissat, Greenland. The element he is involved in is to plan a visitor center for the Icefjord, are area at the base of a massive, rapidly-moving glacier, that calves off numerous huge icebergs every year. It is the focus of a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the massiveness of the ice formations as well as its sensitivity to climate change and the rapidly-diminishing ice mass of Greenland. A second aspect of the planning process is consideration of an international traveling exhibition that will have two stories – first, the glacier and its ramifications, and second, the remarkable indigenous science accomplishments and understandings of the native Inuit people, the original inhabitants of Greenland who still are the dominant part of the islands 50,000 population.
The west coast of Greenland is the focal point of major research programs from the US, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the UK, etc. West’s project will take advantage of their efforts and ongoing discoveries and interpretations of that part of the world.
