Saving Iceland

“We have the passive mentality of the eternal colony.”

A talk delivered by Iceland’s foremost author Guðbergur Bergsson (1932-2023) at the Saving Iceland Conference 7 July 2007.

     

Jesus, a leader of an upcoming universal power knew that he would soon be physically destroyed when he heard women cry over his condition. He then turned to them and said: “Daughters of Jerusalem don’t cry over me, cry rather over you and your children.”
At that time the Roman Empire dominated the world and the lesson Jesus gave reminded people that destruction was not something that would only happen to him but also to future generations. He seems to have already known that in spite of being the Saviour of the world, his death, uprising and the ethics of his learning, destruction as such would go on having future and be constant in acting of Christian nations, at least the European.

Devastation was obviously the nature of great powers.

Till our days they succeed one after another and nothing has changed, people live in constant fear the land and they themselves would be destroyed. So daughters and sons of Iceland will still have to cry over their land which is only a small part of the world at this moment due to globalisation of economical growth which has in stead of promised glory brought widespread hate in form of terror, hate as ethics and revenge, a claim for justice. In our time hate has become a sense of justice.
Because of globalisation there is no reason why we in this country should only cry over our condition. Of course to everyone the nature of a homeland is dearer than the one of others. The world is too big for an individual to have true feelings for it, at least not in details. Feelings for faraway nations with strange sounding names tend to be abstract rather than real, more intellectual than emotional.
This is at least so in my case. I have sailed up the Yangtze River through the impressive XiLing Gorges before that beautiful phenomena of nature was going to disappear for ever in name of Chinas giant progress. I saw cities along the riverbanks, empty houses without dwellers; citizens had been chased away and the rivers turbulent brown water to supply power stations for heavy industry was to take their place. I listened to speeches of proud authorities and common people too. The population is obedient and as usual follow the words of mighty rulers. But at the end they become victims when it will be too late to resolve anything. Nations do not eye destruction until benefit brought to them is harm. Then women cry as daughters of Jerusalem but nothing can be repaired and no universal saviour.
I have seen Egyptian monuments destroyed at the Aswan dam and heard voices of pride but the poverty of neighbour people seemed to be as it always had been. In Spain during Franco’s time villages were wiped out to build dams in name of economical progress. The inhabitants protested, they climbed up to the rooftops to defend their homes and farmers were seen beating police with stick. But they lost. And now, years later, they still cry over the waterpower station producing electricity for heavy industry. Read More

Iceland Review
07/03/2007

The Left-Green Movement political party has urged the government to put an end to further expansion of the aluminum industry in the country. The Left-Green MPs fear that the government’s policy of heavy industry will eventually use up all of Iceland’s carbon emission quota according to the Kyoto Protocol.

When interviewed by RÚV national radio, Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir, the Left-Green’s representative on the parliamentary environmental committee, criticized the government for its ambiguous policy with the potential result of damaging the Icelandic economy.

Katrín Júlíusdóttir, an MP for the Social Democratic Alliance and the chairman of the environmental committee, disclosed that a committee had already been formed with the task of deciding how the emissions quota will be allocated. She didn’t rule out the possibility that companies will have to pay for their use of the quota.

From the Express 2007-06-20:
UC RUSAL TO EXPAND ALUMINIUM OPERATIONS.

Kingston, Jamaica: United Company Rusal?the world?s biggest aluminium producer?said last week it hopes to expand production in the Caribbean by boosting capability of two bauxite plants in Jamaica using coal-generated power.

UC Rusal?s representative in Jamaica, Igor Dorofeev, said the company plans to build two coal-generated power plants to boost annual alumina production at its Alpart and Windalco plants and provide electricity to the Caribbean island?s energy grid.

Jamaica is the world?s fifth largest producer of bauxite, the principal ore used in aluminium.

The two bauxite plants became a part of UC Rusal when the company was created in March in a three-way merger by combining Russia?s No. 1 producer, Rusal, its rival Sual and the alumina assets of Swiss-based commodities trader Glencore, said company spokeswoman Larissa Belyaeva.

Dorofeev said in a statement the coal-generated power plants would ?lower our energy cost, increase efficiency, expand employment and allow us to contribute to strengthening the national energy grid.?

UC Rusal produces some 12 per cent of all aluminium manufactured worldwide.

14 June 2007

PRESS RELEASE FROM: protesters against Coega, including: Earthlife Africa, Nimble, The Zwartkops Trust, The Valley Bushveld Affected Parties, The Citrus Farmers, Concerned Members of the Public

COEGA’S TOXIC CLOUDS
While the rest of the world, including thousands of the world’s leading scientists, politicians and economists are scrambling to come up with solutions to what is potentially the biggest crisis we have ever faced in the shape of Global Warming, the Coega Development Corporation seems to know better than everyone else. Faced with increasing public concern and protest, the CDC has gone to great lengths in recent adverts in the local media to try to discredit the opponents of the Coega smelters and some of the other highly polluting and toxic industries the CDC is trying to attract, such as the ferro-manganese smelter, the oil refinery and the chlorine plant, and once again the CDC is doing its utmost to misinform the public (The Herald, 9th May, 2007). Read More

Jornada internacional contra as corpora��es multinacionais apoiadas pelo gobernó local, que est�o investindo nos recursos hídricos da Isl�ndia, com a constru��o de barragens gigantescas, a ponto de produzirem uma catástrofe ambiental de propor��es inigualáveis, destruindo regi�es de uma beleza única, com características bot�nicas, geológicas, biológicas e ecológicas de importancia cientifica universal.

A campanha “Salve a Isl�ndia”, depois de outros dois acampamentos de a��o em 2005 e 2006, este último nas terras já inundadas de Káhrahnjúkar e contra a represa e a fábrica de alumínio Alcoa em Reydafjordur, volta � carga para deter a destrui��o dos ecossistemas islandeses pela industrializa��o capitalista. Read More

Ólafur Páll Jónsson
Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 7, 31 May 2007

Democracy is hailed as the best form of government, but yet the countries that have been ruled by this best form of government are responsible for the worst consequences in the history of humanity: climate change and other environmental crises threaten the very living conditions of millions of people around the globe and no part of the world will be unaffected. Some people believe that democracy itself is responsible for this severe situation � that democracy as such undermines environmental rationality and plays into superficial and unreasonable preferences while ignoring long term consequences by making environmental decisions subject to procedural standards. In other words, since democracy is primarily about procedures while environmental rationality requires certain outcomes, democracy has no way of guaranteeing environmental rationality.

Read More

Iceland Review
06/07/2007

Reykjavík Energy Company (Orkuveita Reykjavikur) revealed yesterday that Century Aluminum Iceland (Nordurál) would pay ISK 2.1 (USD 0.03, EUR 0.02) for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) for a planned smelter, while greenhouse farmers pay twice as much.

Read More

Featuring Múm, Ólöf Arnalds, Rúnar Júl, Bogomil Font og félagar, Magga Stína, Ellen Eyþórs, Mr. Silla og Mongoose, Bloodgroup, Evil Madness, Skátar, Retro Stefsson, Strakovsky Horo, Dimma, Reykjavík, Velvet Ego, Dj Árni Sveins and Captain Tobias Hume.

Read More

Update: ALCAN say the Mayor of Hafnarfjordur suggested the landfill. The Mayor says ALCAN suggested it. One of them must be lying…

Read More

Sigurdur R. Gislason, Eric H. Oelkers, and Árni Snorrason

Geological Society of America
Volume 34, Issue 1 (January 2006)
Article: pp. 49–52
Volume 34, Issue 1 (January 2006)
Article: pp. 49–52

Abstract:

1. Institute of Earth Science, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland, 2. Géochimie et Biogéochimie Experimentale—LMTG/Université Paul Sabatier, 14 rue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France, 3. National Energy Authority, Grensásvegi 9, 108 Reykjavík, Iceland

The reaction of Ca derived from silicate weathering with CO2 in the world’s oceans to form carbonate minerals is a critical step in long-term climate moderation. Ca is delivered to the oceans primarily via rivers, where it is transported either as dissolved species or within suspended material. The relative importance for climate moderation of riverine dissolved Ca vs. suspended Ca transport stems from the total Ca flux and its climate dependence. Data in the literature suggest that, within uncertainty, global riverine dissolved Ca flux is equal to suspended material Ca flux. To determine how these fluxes depend on temperature and rainfall, a 40 yr field study was performed on 4 catchments in northeastern Iceland: Jökulsá á Fjöllum at Grímsstadir, Jökulsá á Dal at Brú, Jökulsá á Dal at Hjardarhagi, and Jökulsá í Fljótsdal at Hóll. Suspended material Ca flux depends more on seasonal and annual temperatures and rainfall variation than does dissolved Ca flux in all four catchments. For example, the average difference between the annual maximum and minimum daily suspended Ca flux for the Jökulsá á Dal at Brú is four orders of magnitude, whereas the difference for dissolved Ca flux is only approximately one order of magnitude. Similarly, the annual dissolved Ca flux for this river varies by a factor of 2.6, whereas its annual suspended Ca flux varies by a factor of 7.1. Because suspended material Ca flux is more dependent on climate, it provides a stronger negative feedback for stabilizing Earth’s temperature through the greenhouse effect. Read More