17 August 2007
The SI collective gave a presentation on Thursday 16th at the UK’s Camp for Climate Action. Over 30 people attended to hear about the heavy-industrial destruction of Iceland, Trinidad, South Africa, Brasil and India. Read More
Aug 17 2007
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Double Death – Aluminium’s Links with Genocide
By Felix Padel and Samarendra Das, Economic and Political Weekly, December 2005
“The evidence we present goes against the conventional history of aluminium, which tends to portray the industry as central to various countries’ economic power and prosperity, without understanding the financial manipulation and exploitation between and within countries, and the true costs.”
Few people understand aluminium’s true form or see its industry as a whole. Hidden from general awareness are its close link with big dams, complex forms of exploitation in the industry’s financial structure, and a destructive impact on indigenous society that amounts to a form of genocide. At the other end of the production line, aluminium’s highest-price forms consist of complex alloys essential to various ‘aerospace’/’defence’ applications.1 The metal’s high ‘strategic importance’ is due to its status as a key material supplying the arms industry. In these four dimensions ‘ environmental, economic, social and military ‘ it has some very destructive effects on human life.
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Aug 17 2007
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Plans for oil refinery in Westfjords
The local council in the westfjords yesterday gave their permission to build an oil refinery in the area, to “save the community from disintegrating since people are moving away.” They hope that a factory like this would interest young people in moving back to the area.
The likeliest place for the refinery would be Arnarfjordur, a place of tremendous beauty as most places in the westfjords are.
Scientists have pointed out that oceanic iceblocks may make the sailing route to the area unsafe for bigger ships. Also, a refinery of this size would pump one million tons of C02 into the atmosphere per year, which more than exhausts Iceland´s quota according to the Kyoto agreement.
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Voice of the Wilderness – The Saving Iceland Magazine
The first issue of Saving Iceland’s magazine Voice of the Wilderness (download pdf) introduces all the key issues and speakers at the Saving Iceland 2007 Conference.
Aug 10 2007
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A letter to ALCOA from Dr. Ragnhildur Sigurdardóttir and Gudmundur Páll Ólafsson
“The hurt many of us feel towards the developments in eastern Iceland is so great that we will never accept another aluminum smelter to be built in Iceland. We would not be surprised if the environmental NGO’s and grass root organizations would consider the proposed developments in Northern Iceland to be a serious provocation on the behalf of Alcoa.”
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Aug 08 2007
Rio Tinto Alcan after 550,000 tonne hydro project in Malaysia
Rio targets being top player in aluminium
By Nigel Wilson
August 08, 2007 06:00am
Article from: The Australian
RIO TINTO aims to be the world’s biggest aluminium producer – with the help of some of the world’s cheapest energy – before the end of the decade.
Rio Tinto Aluminium chief executive Oscar Groeneveld said yesterday that the possibility of a new aluminium smelter in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, coupled with closer links with Abu Dhabi once the Rio Tinto/Alcan merger was completed, would create a leading world player in the aluminium business. Read More
Reindeer Spotted in West Iceland
What this news item fails to mention is that the majority of the Icelandic reindeer population live in the highlands around Karahnjukar. A third of the population calve in the “protected” area of Kringilsarrani, now devastated by the Halslon reservoir.
Iceland Review
7 August 2007
Two reindeer, a female and her offspring, have been spotted in Arnarvatnsheidi in west of Iceland this summer.
The Icelandic reindeer population is confined to the east part of the country so this unusual sighting has generated speculation as to whether the animals are migrating westwards. That might increase the risk of animal diseases being transmitted between the different regions of Iceland.
In an interview with the national radio RÚV, Halldór Runólfsson, Chief Veterinary Officer, expressed his worries over such a migration but doubted that these two reindeer were indicative of that. Therefore he didn’t think it was necessary to kill these two far-traveled animals.
Aug 06 2007
Beseiged by Illness Jarloop Residents Sue ALCOA
The Sidney Morning Herald
August 6, 2007
US environmental campaigner Erin Brockovich has joined West Australian residents to examine the merits of a court case against mining giant Alcoa.
About 160 Yarloop residents have complained of respiratory problems, skin irritation, sore throats and eyes, extreme fatigue, mental dysfunction, stomach upset, blood noses, cancers and organ failure in the last 11 years.
They claim emissions from Alcoa’s Wagerup refinery are causing the ill effects. Read More
Tribal groups dig in over Vedanta Resources
06 August 2007
Indigenous farmers arrive in London to protest at mining giant’s AGM
an Action Aid report
Kumuti Majhi and Phulme Majhi, members of the Kuntia Kondh indigenous group travelled to London to protest at the annual general meeting of mining giant Vedanta.
They are concerned about the environmental impact of its proposed aluminium mining and processing plants in the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa, India. Read More
Aug 04 2007
Art Exhibition and Auction in Support of the Saving Iceland Conference
START ART – Laugavegi 12b, Reykjavik
Over a dozen major Icelandic artists have donated their work for an exhibition and auction in Start Art, Artists House in support of this weekend’s Saving Iceland conference.
The exhibition is open 3-5 July at 3pm-7pm, both days, and concludes with an auction of the artworks on Thursday 5 July at 5pm. The works and the artists will be introduced an hour before the bidding begins. Birna Þórðardóttir will act as auctioneer.
The following artists have donated their works:
Áslaug Thorlacius, Birgir Andrésson, Eggert Pétursson, Erling Klingenberg, Eygló Harðardóttir, Gaga Skorrdal, Haraldur Jónsson, Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson, Kristinn G. Harðarson, Kristinn E. Hrafnsson, Kristín Reynisdóttir, Magdalena Kjartansdóttir, Magnús Pálsson, Ólafur Lárusson, Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, Sigrid Valtingojer og Þórdís Alda Sigurðardóttir.
This is a golden opportunity to acquire a beautiful work of art at the same time that you can support a democratic debate about an issue that concerns all of us – children of Earth.