Editor's note

Greenland is larger than Mexico yet the entire territory emits less carbon than a single small coal power plant. Nonetheless, this huge, empty, icy island has an outsized influence on the world’s climate. Nowhere on the planet is warming faster than the Arctic, and Greenland’s melting ice sheets and thawing permafrost will in turn speed up climate change for the rest of us. As wildfires rage nearby, Kathryn Adamson, a glaciologist who works on the wonderfully-named Disko Island, explains.

If you’ve ever tried to argue with somebody who believes in a conspiracy theory, you will know how hard it can be, as facts and rational arguments aren’t very good at changing people’s minds. In a long-read article, Mark Lorch explains how this is down to our rational brains being fitted with not-so-evolved evolutionary hard wiring. But, he argues, there are subtle methods that can help you get your message across.

Meanwhile, a report published today by the Electoral Reform Society on the 2017 UK general election highlights the widespread practice of tactical voting and the large number of votes that are in effect meaningless. The suggestion is clear, says Ben Williams: the first-past-the-post system’s time has passed.

All the best.

Will de Freitas

Environment + Energy Editor

Top story

Dan Bach Kristensen / shutterstock

Greenland: how rapid climate change on world's largest island will affect us all

Kathryn Adamson, Manchester Metropolitan University

The ice sheet is melting and permafrost is thawing. What's happening in Greenland will speed up climate change across the world.

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