Pragmatically, what does Greenland have to gain from independence? And think about all the new responsibilities it would be burdened with, especially w.r.t. defence/security policy.
56000 is just a big town and Greenlands area is 5 times that of California and a much harsher environment.
But I wouldn’t say that the dream of independence is gone from Greenland if they desire. Global warming will, after all, probably make the periphery of Greenland more habitable (like the Medieval Warm Period, before the cold Maunder Minimum, when it was farmed by Vikings), even as it ravages the glaciers.
I am sympathetic to Greenland's desire for total self-determination but so long as they continue to receive aid from "mother Denmark", and so long as they are unable to mount a proper defense of their lands with their own military funded from their own pockets, they will never be allowed. The danger of another nation sailing in with a fighting navy is just too great.
You simply can't defend a country the size of four Californias when you are a nation of 56000 people.
A bit of a tangent but as a Dane I'd like to see Denmark, the Faroes, and Greenland find a way to come closer together, given that the population of the Faroe Islands and Greenland together number little more than 100,000. Our relationship to the Faroe Islands is already "pretty good", it's our relationship to Greenland that could be much improved.
I've long advocated that Danes have a duty to visit their friends in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. In Danish, the autonomous territories and Denmark together are called, "Rigsfællesskabet", the "Fellowship of the Kingdom". We understand each other by going to those places and hearing of the problems and difficulties they face: what they need.
If Russia put down a commercial landing and started drilling off Greenland, we’d throw around sanctions but I’d sure as hell want to see a military base before I’d advocate going to war with a superpower over fewer than 60,000 people. Especially if a decent fraction of the population could, reasonably, claim they were free riding on our blood and money.