Outside town limits and village limits where locals go fishing,
hunting or go for recreational purposes, be it on day trips or longer
trips, some people bring back their trash, burn it or bury it on site.
Some just leave it as is to be scattered by fox, raven, gulls or the
wind. Occasionally some dump it in a large plastic bag in the sea a few
meters from the shore on shallow water where it is discernible. Such
behaviour is new and is absolutely banned but has been observed a few
times in a few places also by rivers where there is arctic char. This
might have been done by town people on a recreational trip who have
begun to act counterproductively – they are known to react against
foreigners, in this case usually Danes who tell them not to litter in
nature. They react because in their mind it is their country and no
foreigner has the right to tell them what to do with their country. It
also proves that they have lost their connection to their cultural
heritage. This is rash pollution.
Box 3: Pollution disproportionally impacts first nations
people. To the Inuit Greenland peoples, pollution from The Outer World
presents a vast array of challenges. Documented here is a firsthand
account of some types of pollutants in Greenland and impacts these have
on Inuit communities. We have the capacity to influence pollution
impacts on a local scale, but we require political efforts, legislation
and global change to make positive impacts in communities and
environments in need.