Global Normaling

I remember as a kid, learning about how Erik the Red found a green Greenland when he got exiled there back in the tenth century. It was a lesson in how the climate is always changing. Now the lesson is similar except for the addition of calls to the almighty, i.e., "dear God, oh Lord, the climate is changing,":

The map of Greenland will have to be redrawn. A new island has appeared off its coast, suddenly separated from the mainland by the melting of Greenland's enormous ice sheet, a development that is being seen as the most alarming sign of global warming.

So it was green, it froze over, and it's possibly heading back towards green. And some guy at Wikipedia agrees with Mrs Wolf, my fifth grade teacher:

It should also be noted, however, that the southern portion of Greenland (not covered by glacier) is indeed very green in the summer, and was likely even greener in Erik's time because of the Medieval Warm Period.

Just like Mrs. Wolf said, except that she added exhortations to pay attention and quit making spit wads.