Author: ttierney

Reflections for subsequent Hales Fund trips: what was good, what could be better

1) Group size: For a self-directed group, six people should be the maximum. It allowed us to have real conversations with our contacts rather than meetings, and also meant that we could all travel in one minivan. Groups around this size also allowed for diversity of opinions, disciplinary approaches and areas of interest and expertise. (Note from China group: 3 was not too few.)

2) Scheduling: Unstructured time is good for processing what the group is learning. Travel can also be physically exhausting, so don’t overschedule. For example: We arrived in Reykjavik at 6:30 am on Tuesday, dropped our luggage at the guesthouse, located breakfast, visited the national museum, met up with Wooster folks, took a dip in one of the geothermal pools, and then had a lengthy and intense dinner conversation with one of our contacts (who delayed going on vacation to meet with us) – then finally went to sleep and awoke for an 8:00 am breakfast meeting with our next contact. From that meeting – for which, to our regret, we allotted too little time – we went on to tour a geothermal plant, go on a three-hour hike, and drive several hundred kilometers to our next destination. We crammed a lot in because of our limited time in Iceland, but we do not recommend setting this pace for very long! (Note from China group: our experience was similar, but overscheduling may be inevitable if you’re trying to maximize your time!)

3) Plans: Be flexible and have some ideas for backup plans. One of our Iceland contacts canceled on us, but we were able to put the day to even better use. (Note from China group: This can be hard to achieve, but being prepared to cope with schedule changes is an important mental characteristic.)

4) Group process: Everyone contributed to the planning by pursuing their individual interests in finding background reading, contacts, and suggesting sites to visit. Then by sharing that information in regular meetings, we were able to refine our plans by consensus. This process continued as members took it upon themselves to become resources for the group. For example, members worked on diverse areas of interest such as Danish or Icelandic language, the Icelandic and Danish culture, the Icelandic sagas, environmental science, and travel logistics. Owing to the environmental impact of hydroelectric and geothermal power, it would have been helpful to have a greater background in the flora, fauna and geology of Iceland. (From China group: yes, each person should find a way to utilize their own interests and connections. This makes for a better trip that is more than a tourist experience, and makes it more likely that the trip can have lasting impact.)

5) Focus: Try to focus your interests as early as possible during the year, preferably before booking air travel. We thought that our focus in Iceland would be deforestation, the issue discussed by Jared Diamond. However, after booking the trip we learned that there is now tremendous controversy in Iceland over the construction of huge hydroelectric plants that have destroyed or will destroy precious natural areas. The more we learned about this, the more we wanted to spend time there to investigate further, but our travel arrangements couldn’t be changed.

5) Blogging: We had some problems due to lack of Internet access, and to how complicated we found it to blog from multiple computers and to use Flickr and YouTube. (We are wondering whether it wouldn’t be just as simple to post everything on Woodle.) But if the blog continues to be the communication mode of choice, we have a few suggestions:

* Perhaps IT could investigate what is the best technology to use. We had talked about a satellite link, but there wasn’t enough lead time to arrange it. Other alternatives are updating the blog from a BlackBerry or iPhone. (Bill’s wife was following another blog updated with those, and says that they were frequently and easily updated.)

* The group as a whole should get more comprehensive instruction in creating and using the blog.

* Everyone in the group should have a laptop and be registered as an administrator for the blog.

* IT should do a dry run with the group to make sure all plug-ins work the way they are supposed to.

Follow-up suggestion: investigate alternatives to blogging, such as twitter. It would also be useful to have some guidance about the content for a good blog entry.

6) Equipment: We did not use the video flip cams. We were able to take brief videos with our own digital cameras and that was sufficient. If producing a video is part the intended focus of the group, then the proper equipment, instruction in its use and in editing should be done well in advance. Producing even a short video will significantly alter the group’s activities and will be time intensive.

7) Handling money:

* Have the group’s “treasurer” get a CapitolOne credit card – the only card that doesn’t charge up to a 3% foreign transaction fee. Otherwise you risk attack from a large band of Vikings. (“What’s in your wallet?”)

* Have a backup credit card just in case.

* Everyone should inform their credit card companies in advance of their travel destinations, to avoid blocks on their accounts.

* Set up a PIN for any credit card you intend to use. This was generally required at self-service machines (gas pumps, train tickets, grocers, etc.). Some locations required a special security chip which our US cards apparently do not have.

* The group should also have at least two ATM cards to be sure that cash is accessible if the credit cards don’t work. Check carefully – some of these have foreign transaction fees as well.

(Note from China group: money issues will differ in different parts of the world. If you anticipate using ATMs, make sure you know your PIN number and not just by the spatial arrangement of the numbers, which may change! We like the idea of having one person be primarily responsible for the financial arrangements, if someone is willing to take that on, to make the procedure for reimbursements work more clearly.)

Tom:

Dale and I rode our bikes around the largest land-based wind turbine installation early one morning.  It was quite windy, and the noise of the turbines was difficult to distinguish from the wind itself.  One of the aesthetic problems associated with the land-based turbines is the strobe-like shadow they cast.  In the following video, Dale pans from a pig-raising facility, which was abandoned after the closing of the island’s slaughterhouse, to the nearby turbine installation.  In the video, you can see the shadow of the turbines on the trees.  Turbines are placed to avoid casting such shadows on residential buildings.  Each of the turbines in this video is located on a separate farm, and is owned by an individual farmer.  Other turbines are owned by groups of individuals.

Reflections on space and light in Iceland:

Iceland’s landscape strikes me as a kind of inspiration for organic minimalism. The space where the land meets the sea, and sea meets the sky forms a double horizon line. The textures of the lava fields, volcanic rocks, and glacial gravel do not create the kind of places you’d want to spread out your blanket for a picnic.

The houses squat low on the landscape, hunkering down in the thin veneer of volcanic soil, much like the early Viking long houses. These old shelters were almost, subterranean, built of turf because construction materials were scarce and winters were fierce. Many of the today’s farms are white, contrasting with the green valleys and dark basaltic cliffs.  In the cities, buildings are often painted bright yellows, oranges and blues, as if in defiance of the short sunless days of winter but also in celebration of the long days of the artic summer.

Galvanized steel forms a corrugated exoskeleton on many of the buildings.

The light of summer is long and clean.  What’s most striking is the twilight that extends well past midnight, in a slow pastel waltz from orange, to pink, to purple.

Iceland’s sparseness fills the eye.

Biking in Iceland & Denmark

* While bicycle riders were relatively common in Reykjavik, I was surprised by their relatively free style. Riders generally seemed to prefer riding on the sidewalk, but then would jump out onto the street when pedestrians blocked their way. It made for an interesting (and slightly dangerous) mix as bikers weaved their way through foot and auto traffic (all without helmets).

* Outside of the capital city of Iceland, the casual bike rider of the city was replaced by more serious road bike warriors. Piled high with camping gear and supplies, teams of these two wheel Winnebagos were interspersed along the vast stretches of the Ring Road (Route 1), the mostly two lane highway that circumscribes the country. In the parking lots of state parks and roadside shops, we had a chance to marvel at the ingenuity and care in packing ones belongings for the week.

* Copenhagen certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the friendliest bike cities in Europe. The main boulevards were lined with bike lanes that had their own special traffic lights! At most times, the number of people on bike equaled or exceeded those in cars.

Interestingly, the same maladaptive behaviors encountered with car drivers were observed by bicycle riders. This included riders merrily chatting on their cell phone or listening to their iPod nano, which they held in one hand, while steering with the other (again all without helmets).

* In the leisurely resort towns of Samso, bikes again abounded on the small, two-lane country roads that winded between towns. Here we were finally able to rent our own bikes to explore the country side and small towns of the island.

Mareike:

Why are green projects more successful in some areas and not in others?

One of the highlights of our visit to Samsø was a half-hour conversation with the passionate and captivating leader Søren Hermansen and his equally passionate partner, photographer Meline Lundén.  They pointed out that on Samsø they took a holistic approach that he described as an “energy democracy.” Firstly, Denmark is not a producer of fossil fuel based energy (like the U.S. and GB), which means that no-one is lobbying the government and they did not have to overcome inertia created by existing energy interests. As far back as the 1970s, the Danish government has been supporting alternative energy by supporting research in sustainable energy use. They, like many other Northern European countries, are also used to high taxes on gasoline to discourage overconsumption. By energy democracy he meant the participation of all constituents in shaping a shared vision of an economically and environmentally sustainable society. In this way, citizens have a moral and economic stake in the project and take ownership of the island. The Samsø project had an effective leadership team consisting of the charismatic, warm, dynamic Søren Hermanson and the technical brain Age … Søren and Meline … described their way of relating to the citizens as “embracing our community,” with which they emphasized the importance of knowing their neighbors and building on their strengths. Søren characterized the U.S. as a nation with a great sense of humor, but as way behind the curve in renewable energy research and production despite its leadership. For example, the carpenter Michael, who often upgrades homes to make them more energy efficient, talked about how inefficient he found American building methods on a recent visit to Akron, and this despite all the available know-how and the wealth of materials. (And the American carpenters knew that it was inefficient, which is even sadder.) When Søren visited Greensburg, KS, the town that got nearly destroyed in a tornado and decided to rebuild as a green community, he suggested to them that they build a communal district heating and cooling plant. He ran into huge resistance and found the citizens horrified of such a “socialist” (our phrase) endeavor. This is interesting considering that in America, there are many existing forms of cooperative arrangements, e.g. in the agricultural sector, but Americans seem to have an almost instinctive resistance/fear of the IDEA of cooperative activities. This is a good example of a point Jan made during his lecture about the importance of the deep local knowledge of the culture where projects are initiated – and of Søren’s point about “embracing the community.”

Tom (7.20.09)

After a very hearty breakfast at the Sommer Pension, we rode our bikes a short distance to the Energiakademi of Samso, where we met Jan Jantzen, the Education Director of the academy.   [Jan with Wooster swag] Jan greeted us outside, and explained that the Academy’s main building was designed on the model of a Viking long hall – i.e., one long, open room.  The south-facing roof of the building is clad in photovoltaic solar panels, which provide much of the electricity used by the 6 full-time employees of the Academy.  A short, but safe, distance from the main building is a hydrogen plant, which separates water into oxygen and hydrogen molecules, which are stored in hydrogen fuel cells.  he Academy plans on building 4 additional “guest houses” that will allow the many visitors to the Academy to stay on the grounds.

Once inside, Jan explained the background behind Samso’s attempt to become a “carbon neutral” island.  In the late 1990s the Danish government sponsored a contest, in which islands could submit plans for becoming self-sufficient in regard to energy consumption.  A local farmer brought this contest to the attention of the citizens of Samso, and the effort was spearheaded by two individuals – Soren Hermanson and Age Johnsen .   Through a series of public meetings, and the help of a consulting firm Plant Energy, the 4000+ citizens of Samso developed a 10-year plan to produce 100% of the island’s energy from renewable sources – wind, solar, and biomass power.   Samso won the contest, began implementing the project in 1997, and by 2005 had reached its goal of energy self-sufficiency.  Currently the island uses renewable sources to produce 140% of the energy used.   According to Danish law, any surplus energy produced by alternative energy sources must be purchased by the national energy company at the current rate charged to consumers, making this experiment in energy self-sufficiency a highly profitable endeavor.

The most noticeable feature of Samso’s energy system is the 11 wind turbines that are spread across the island in groups of 5, 3, and 3.  Each of these massive, slow-spinning turbines produces 1 megawatt of electricity.  Less noticeable than the wind turbines are the 4 district heat plants that are scattered over the island. These heat plants use either straw or wood chips to heat water that is distributed to large groups of households, providing both heat and hot water.  Some of the heat plants are supplemented by arrays of solar panels that heat water during the summer months, and each of the plants is backed up by an oil furnace in case the combination of biomass and solar power is insufficient during particular periods.

While the Samso energy experiment has been successful, the one “sore thumb” in the process was the failure to get the citizens of Samso to switch from traditional automobiles to electric cars.  Once it became apparent that the project’s plan to transform the transportation sector was a failure, the citizens decided to build 10 offshore wind turbines off the southwest side of the island.    Each of these turbines produces 2.3 megawatts of electricity, which more than compensates for the non-renewable energy consumed by the gasoline and diesel engines of the many cars and trucks on the island.    This offshore “wind farm” is the first thing one sees from the ferry from Kalundborg, on the mainland, to the island’s ferry port at Kolby Kas.

In his morning presentation, Jan took great pains to dispel the media image of the Sams energy project as an idealistic, almost religious, movement.  He emphasized that the overwhelming support of the citizens of Samso was based on a combination of environmental and economic motivations.  Just prior to the Danish energy contest, Samso lost one of its primary employers, a slaughterhouse that employed over 100 people.  The designers of the energy project presented it to the citizens as a form of economic development that could help keep residents of Samso on the island.   The project designers worked hard to get local trades people involved in the project, training them to install highly efficient windows and doors in the older houses of the island, as well as geo-thermal heat pumps and solar panels on houses that were not part of the heating districts.

Jan also emphasized that the success of the project was largely attributable to the flexible approach taken in regard to funding the various forms of renewable energy production.  Some of the land-based turbines are owned by individuals, while others are owned by private investors and investment groups.  One of the land turbines is owned by the 1000+ individuals who bought stock in the turbine.  The offshore turbines are also owned by an array of investors.  The municipality of Samso invested in 5 of these offshore turbines, which now generate not just electricity, but a source of income that can be used for the benefit of all the island’s inhabitants.

Our visit to Samso is a particularly appropriate bookend to our field trip.  The bottom-up approach to energy development taken on Samso stands in stark contrast to the experience of Iceland, where the top-down approach to hydroelectric plans has generated an organized environmental resistance movement.

Green Architecture for the Future: Melissa

Upon recommendation from Martha Lewis, the gang headed north to see a special exhibit on “green architecture” at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.  It was fortuitous for us that this exhibit was on display when we were visiting!  Unlike many of the world’s renowned art museums, Louisiana is not located in an urban setting, but in a quaint town (Humlebaek) 35 km north of Copenhagen.  We even stopped to pick some wild red raspberries on the walk from the train station to the museum.

The green architecture exhibit was divided into three themes: “the city”, “climate/energy”, and “metabolism”.  In “the city” section, the idea of compact, dense city centers was emphasized as the most sustainable way for cities to grow.  Interestingly, this was the layout of many medieval towns.  Projects proposed included CO2 and garbage-free cities.  The only U.S. city profiled in this section was Philadelphia where urban voids are being filled with ecological corridors to provide residents with greener ways to come together.

Comfort is a main concern when utilizing sustainable architecture.  Thus, the “climate/energy” portion emphasized the green architects’ uses of cues from the human senses to create the perfect balance of comfort with efficient energy conditions.  In addition, special climate and energy conditions inspire architects to design site-specific buildings that adapt to the actual surroundings.  Incidentally, the RiverPark Development in Pittsburgh was the (only) U.S. example of a site-specific climatic design.   This design featured buildings staggered in a manner that will incorporate buffers from blustery winds, while allowing ample sunlight to penetrate at ground level.
The final section, “metabolism,” described the use of material and new design parameters in sustainable architecture.  “Cradle-to-Cradle” is a philosophy that mimics nature in which the concept of waste does not exist. Similarly, designers are working to create products in which nothing goes to waste. In the same vein, architects are starting to question whether when designing a structure, does it have to last forever?  Or “should the building only stand for 25 years and then automatically be broken down into fish feed, or should the building be programmed to change its function for the generations of the future?” (R&Sie laboratory architects)  The museum featured a prototype of such a limited time-span, biodegradable structure that was constructed of a biopolymer (no petrochemicals).  The biopolymer will degrade over time with addition of water to become fish food.  In six months, half of the prototype will be degraded.

Dale’s comment on the Green Architecture for the Future Exhibit 7/18:  The exhibit sits at an interesting spatial intersection. Its not located in a large city or housed in a museum of science or industry. The exhibit, is however, is in a small town, on the coast, in a park, facing the sea, where wind, sun, sky, land and water meet. The exhibits of contemporary artists within the museum are opposite floor-to-ceiling glass walls, which also face out into the park.  One is aware of both artistic inspiration and natural harmony

Additionally, only the environmentally sensitive art exhibits are air-conditioned. As a result, outside air drifts through the galleries.

The Green Architecture exhibit itself merges with the galleries, further blurring the boundaries between art, science, architecture and environmentalism.   It is a subtle but effective way for us to think, not in terms of compartmentalizing these perspectives, but intuitively understanding them through their spatial relationships, and as multiple, interrelated ways we might relate to our world.

(Melissa and Joan 7.16.09):   In 1932 a tongue of the Vatnajökull glacier, the largest in Europe, began to melt, creating a flow of water into the ocean. As the flow increased it formed a lagoon into which chunks of ice now float as they break loose from the glacier. This is the Jökullsarlon glacial lagoon, an ice fairyland. The lagoon is an astonishing 284 meters deep, making it the deepest lake or lagoon in Iceland. We rode in on an amphibious craft originally built for the US military in Stamford, CT, and cruised around, gaping at ice floes melting into fantastic forms and hoping to see some of the seals that live in the lagoon. (The guide said they were mostly at sea now, but Dale claims he saw one.)

The guide retrieved a chunk of clear ice from the lagoon about the size of a salmon from the Pike Street Market

[here’s Tom with the ice chunk]

and informed us that it was between 1000-1500 years old. She then broke off pieces with a hammer and gave us pieces to taste; it was absolutely clean and fresh-tasting. She explained that climate change is responsible for the melting, but here the glacier is melting at an accelerated rate because of the salt water that flows into the lagoon from the ocean. (Salt speeds melting by decreasing the freezing point, as we all know from our driveways in winter.) The lagoon is actually half salt water, and at this rate, the estimate is that it will disappear by the end of the century because this entire piece of the glacier will have melted. The ice, as you can see from the photos, looks blue in places. This is because water absorbs all other colors of the rainbow but reflects blue. However, the eye doesn’t notice the blue in small quantities of water or ice. (Lakes and oceans are blue, but a glass of water taken from them is clear.) The guide also told us that the ice we saw was only 10% of each little iceberg, with the other 90% underwater; at that point we checked to make sure that the amphibious craft’s name was not Titanic.

Tom (7/15/09)

We woke to beautiful blue skies on our second day in Reykjavik, and had a very informative breakfast (see photo) with Rev. Dr. Sigridur Gudmarsdottir, a Lutheran minister and passionate environmental activist. Sigridur explained to us that although it was not possible to stop the Karahnjukar hydroelectric, the next major environmental struggle in Iceland involves another hydroelectric project slated for Thjorsa river, in southeastern Iceland. The Thjorsa river is the longest in Iceland, running from the Myrdaljokull glacier to the sea, through a region that has numerous environmental and cultural treasures. A spectacular waterfall that is close to the mouth of the river, Urithafoss, is threatened by this project, as are the historical seat of the regional parliament and as-yet unexcavated sites from Iceland’s early settlements.  This project is not required for a new smelting facility, but rather is part of the plan to expand an existing metal production facility near Keflavik, many kilometers from the river. This means that the locals who support it as a job-creating engine will not even be the ones to reap those benefits. Sigridur was somewhat optimistic that the lessons learned from the frustrating experience with the Karahnjukar project may lead to greater success in stopping the hydroelectric project planned for the Thjorsa.

In our conversation, Sigridur explained how the combination of the Karahnjukar experience and the recent collapse of the Icelandic banking system has led to a change in attitude — she called it “a conversion” — toward the environment among many Icelanders. Icelanders have long felt that they were environmentally conscious and careful, due to their extensive geo-thermal power-generating and water-heating system, but the flooding of a vast pristine area for the Karahnjukar hydroelectric dam shattered that self-image.  That combined with the international damage caused by the banking catastrophe are making them aware that they need to reflect much more carefully about the impact of their choices. She was visibly excited that the normally staid Icelandic population rose up in anger at the governmental leadership, and removed them from power this past year. Even more surprising to her was a demonstration that culminated in the crowd burning the national Christmas tree, an annual gift to Iceland from Norway. From the impression given by Sigridur, Iceland is about to enter a more reflective stage of environmentalism, where the myth of Icelandic environmental specialness gives way to a more sober assessment of the trade offs between the economy and the environment.

Joan 7.15.09

[Typical Lutheran Church in Vik, coastal town on Ring Road]

The Lutheran Church of Iceland is the state church, to which about 85% of the population belongs, at least nominally, so we asked about the church’s role in the environmental debate. Sigridur’s response was that it has done nothing, and to date has shown very little interest in the issue, for several reasons. First, since it is a state-supported institution, the leadership is reluctant to rock the boat – or jeopardize its position – by criticizing the government. Second, the Icelandic Lutheran church (unlike the ELCA, the largest US Lutheran grouping) still adheres to a traditional theology emphasizing human sinfulness and the need for divine grace, and this can foster a certain apathy toward problems in the world, including environmental issues. Third, the rethinking that both Arni and Sigridur pointed to is still largely a product of the educated urban class; pastors of churches out in the rural areas tend to agree more with the perspective of their parishioners, who still look to energy development – realistically or not – to provide jobs. An exception to this, Sigridur mentioned, is a friend of hers who serves a church near the site of the proposed dam mentioned above. He is strenuously opposed to it, but speaking out publicly, she said, is for him “a matter of life and death.” Fourth, in such a small country (pop. 300,000), everyone is either related to or knows practically everyone else, so people are reluctant to criticize, even when criticism is deserved. Finally, there is a widespread view among members of the church (as in many religious institutions in the US) that when they come to a service they want to hear a sermon on “religion, not politics.”

Here’s a telling coincidence: We just stopped (Thursday morning) at a roadside memorial to Jon Eiricksson, a native Icelander born out here on a farm near Hofn, whose intellectual brilliance led him to a distinguished academic career in Denmark, where he became a central figure of the Enlightenment. He returned to Iceland with great plans for progressive reforms, but as he grew older he fell into depression because of the Icelanders’ resistance to all his ideas. It seems that today’s attitudes have deep roots.

Dale: 7/16/09 I also was struck with Sigridur’s passion for the environment and by her comment about the importance of place and history in the Icelandic sense of identity. Unfortunately, she fears that in their current economic crisis, many Icelanders have either forgotten this or consider it insignificant. The proposed hydro project that Tom mentioned above would not only destroy or alter wildlife habitat, but would flood out important historical areas from the Viking era and land traditionally used by farmers for generations.

Joan and Melissa 7/14/09:   Reykjavik is a city of disconcerting contrast. The downtown has some broad streets, but mostly the streets are narrow enough for only one car, or barely two. Most of the older buildings downtown are small, no more than three stories, and obviously used to be homes before they were divided into apartments, stores, restaurants, and an amazing number of coffeehouses. We have noticed that a good number of the buildings have painted, corrugated galvanized steel. If you are a cat person, Reykjavik is your city. There are a large number of cats (with collars) roaming the streets. As long as you keep your eye on the city streets, it just seems that you are in a small, very windy but otherwise unremarkable city – and then you look down one of the narrow streets that end at the harbor, and suddenly your entire perspective shifts. Across the slate grey harbor and its whitecaps rises Snaefells, an imposing mountain, grey and barren, with traces of snow on it, dwarfing the city and making you realize that you are one of a very small number of people (300,000) on an island the size of Kentucky in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean.

We arrived from the airport, dropped our suitcases at the guesthouse – which is in a gentrifying part of downtown, rather close to the red light district – and wandered off in search of breakfast around 8:00 am. The streets were empty and most restaurants were not open; we began to wonder if this was some sort of holiday. So we were quite pleased to find a place that offered good food, very good coffee, and free wi-fi. We parked ourselves there for close to 3 hours, during which time we realized that in this city nothing starts before 9:00 am. Very civilized.

The film Dreamland was showing here this spring and broke all records for attendance, but it’s left the theaters and hasn’t been released yet on DVD, so that was off the day’s options list. We walked through the downtown to the Tjörnin, a large pond where people come to feed the ducks, geese, and gulls. City Hall was built on pillars in a corner of the Tjörnin; we went in and found a huge relief map of Iceland. From there we walked down to the National Museum, where we spent some hours browsing through an extensive and excellent exhibit on the history of Iceland. We were hoping to visit the Culture House as well, just to see the manuscripts of the sagas, but we were too tired. On our way back to the guesthouse we met up with Meagen Pollock and her three geology students and had a little Wooster reunion back at the Tjörnin with the water fowl. One of her students informed the group of the differences between basalt and rhyolite, two common igneous rocks, that are commonly found in Iceland.

Then all except Bill took off for a soak in an outdoor geothermal pool in one of the city’s public baths. Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh….it was very nice and relaxing (There are NO photographs of this!) (Tom – that’s what you thought.  Here’s one of Dale, Mareike, Melissa, and Joan post-soak) 

Mareike 7/14/09: Met with Arni Finsson today, had a lovely dinner (during which jetlag caught up with Melissa a few times, and the rest of us acted as if we didn’t notice).  I admit I was the only one who did not have fish, instead I went for the delicious roasted lamb. We had interesting discussions about Iceland and its independent streak, which he compared to the Alaskan spirit of the frontier and the stubborn attitudes people have in light of their resource extraction economy. This leads to conflicts between people’s love of nature and their unwillingness to compromise regional development (i.e., aluminum smelters in Iceland, pipelines in Alaska). Finsson explained that, within its own culture, Iceland tends not to be rebellious, except in issues of nationalism or independence. This leads them to be stubborn against others, whom they perceive to be intruding or telling them what to do (the EU, Denmark, …). I am thinking of Halldor Laxness’s novel Independent People (1955), which describes just this kind of stubborn will to be independent in a farmer who worked for 18 years for others to finally get his own piece of land in the early 20th century, and he is not going to swerve from this goal, even if it means his demise and that of his wife. Finsson  mentioned an interesting piece by Laxness entitled “War Against the Land”. It’s published in “Overshadowed Places” – and the only thing I can find online is an interesting article about it. See here: http://www.doubledialogues.com/archive/issue_seven/rawlings.html  It contains an interesting parallel (and then distinction) between Iceland and Australia.

Bill 7.14.09  After a morning regaining our strength in a local coffee shop, we trekked over to the National Museum of Iceland <http://www.natmus.is>. The museum showcases the early history of Iceland, and was an excellent introduction for putting our visit in a larger, historical context.

In the evening, we dined with Arni Finnson at a small restaurant across from the Althing (parliament) Building. Finnson is an environmental activist from Iceland <http://www.natturan.is/frettir/1679/>, who studied in Copenhagen.

Since returning to Iceland nearly a decade ago, Finnson has worked relentlessly on environmental issues in Iceland <add link>. During dinner with our group, Finnson noted that the Iceland environmental movement has achieve both successes and disappointments in championing environmental protection. Interestingly, much of the success has been thanks to external institutions, including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) <http://www.worldwildlife.org/>.

Eventually our conversation turned to Iceland’s recent economic collapse. Finsson recounted speaking with an Icelandic business colleague several years ago who commented that Iceland’s banking practices were inherently unstable and that this financial bubble would ultimately burst. A year before the collapse, even Iceland’s politicians should have know that the banking system was increasingly insolvent and stemmed the losses before they ballooned further. However, rather than acknowledge and deal with an unpopular mess while it might still be manageable, they remained silent until collapse of the Icelandic banking system finally resulted.

Just before our departure, I finished reading Limits to Growth (2004) <http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Growth-Donella-H-Meadows/dp/193149858X>, a 30-year update to the original report that questioned whether continual economic growth was sustainable. Based on modeling analysis and increasing physical evidence, they argue that continued growth is unsustainable and will lead to societal collapse. While they argue that time is running out and that further delay reduces our flexibility to respond, they urge world leaders to recognize and respond to the approaching crisis. If it’s politically unfeasible for government leaders to acknowledge a potentially devastating situation that imperils a national economic institution, can we genuninely expect our governmental leaders to initiate change to rescue us from impending global challenges, such as climate change? Or is it inherently the fate of human societies to ignore the warning signs of potential danger until it’s too late?