From Cockaigne to Greenland

1. "All sequences have reached their conclusion / Time cannot..."Back in 1980, the group Zombis released what is considered the founding song of the Movida Madrileña: GreenlandI was a 16-year-old kid in my second year of high school. Fascinated by Catalan and French singer-songwriters, the lyrics seemed like a trivial bit of nonsense to me, but it was impossible to avoid: they played it on every radio station. Forty-six years later, however, the first two verses of the song are enigmatically suggestive. Time loves everything.

2. The toponym Greenland literally means "green land." Its earliest documented appearance is found in Icelandic sagas such as those of Eric the Red. Borges was fascinated by these stories. The name was introduced following the arrival of settlers from Iceland around 985. In this case, it has taken 1,041 years to complete another circle of suggestive meanings. The name of the territory reflects the perception those people had of the island's southern coast: during the summer months, there were relatively extensive green pastures, suitable for livestock and for limited, but at least possible, agriculture. Excavations at the farm attributed to Eric the Red have revealed cultivated fields, haystacks, and agricultural structures. How can this be? The Norse colonization coincides with a period known as the Medieval Warm Period, conventionally placed between 950 and 1250. Temperatures in the North Atlantic were considerably higher. That natural warming didn't make Greenland a temperate zone, but it did allow for summer pastures and, therefore, livestock farming. From the 14th century onward, the climate began to cool steadily. Pastureland shrank, the warm seasons shortened, and living conditions became nearly impossible, leading to the decline and eventual disappearance of the Norse colonies in the 15th century. Today, the name Greenland has acquired great symbolic significance due to global warming. Rising temperatures and the accelerated retreat of the ice sheet have made this "green land" greener in some places than it has been in recent centuries. In general, you see, the world neither advances nor retreats: it simply spins, in every direction, like unpredictable horses.

3. Whatever their nature, changes generate expectations. Some are reasonable, while others are more fanciful. The line between expectations and mirages is sometimes very thin. The idea that Greenland is an immense treasure trove of natural resources has recently circulated in the media, as well as in certain political discourses. The Arctic El Dorado, capable of transforming the global economy, shortening distances, and who knows what else: a land of plenty. This narrative has been fueled by the energy transition and the world's dependence on China for rare earth elements. It is true that Greenland contains significant deposits of critical minerals such as rare earth elements, lithium, and strategic metals, as well as potential hydrocarbon reserves, but the presence of a resource does not necessarily imply its viable exploitation. Most deposits have low concentrations or are mixed with uranium, which makes extraction more expensive and difficult. Furthermore, almost the entire territory remains covered in ice, and the potentially exploitable areas are located in remote environments, lacking basic infrastructure and subject to extreme weather conditions. Echoing the siren songs of figures like Trump, the media have amplified these expectations by combining popular fascination with an exotic, remote, and almost uninhabited territory with stereotypical geopolitical narratives. However, the current economic reality is much more modest: most mining projects are only in the exploration phase, and some have already been abandoned.

4. Do you remember the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan? Without providing any evidence whatsoever, it was repeatedly claimed that the Americans weren't after terrorists, but rather large oil reserves. It was all fabricated. It's true that international conflicts related to oil control can arise where there is oil, but it's not true that where there are conflicts there must necessarily be oil. We like to believe that politics always It has a rational basis and clear objectives that have been adopted by responsible people. It's an absurd but reassuring idea.