Qaanaaq is a town/ new settlement that was formed in 1953 when around 100 Inughuit people residing in a village near the newly constructed Thule Airbase in Greenland’s far north were given just a few days to pack up and move around 1,400 kilometers south of the North Pole.
Qaanaaq is one of the many communities in the Arctic that is cut off from the rest of the world since there are no highways linking it to the rest of the world. The icebreaker ship delivers practically everything that the town needs that it cannot produce on its own, including its supply of diesel. This diesel was produced somewhere outside of town.
There are two deliveries that take place each year, and they both take place in the late summer in the Arctic. This is when there is the least amount of sea ice because it is the warmest time of the year.
For Toku Oshima, a hunter originally from Greenland, the mission to bring renewable energy to her homeland of Qaanaaq is not only a battle against the effects of climate change; it is also a battle to preserve Greenland’s traditional way of life.
The people of the town, much like many other people who live in the Arctic, have a hard time coming up with the money to pay for the fossil fuels that are necessary to heat and power their homes. This is one of the many difficulties that the people of the town must contend with.
Over the course of the previous few years, many hunters have discovered that they are unable to pay the cost of feeding their sled dogs. In addition, some residents are leaving to get away from the mental and financial strain that they are experiencing.
The town’s only store closed down in 2016, and the post office is only open two days a week. The school has been forced to close its doors for lack of funding.
All of these factors have contributed to a sense of despair among the town’s residents. Oshima is determined to change this by working to bring renewable energy to the town.
Oshima’s goal is to bring renewable energy to the town in order to improve the quality of life for its residents. She is working hard to make this a reality, and she is hopeful that it will happen soon.