UNA - the official magazine of Worldwide Friends Iceland - July 2018 by Veraldarvinir / Worldwide Friends

UNA the official magazine of Worldwide Friends Iceland

July 2018

CONTENTS

WHO A M I?

UNA

4 Sacefy and tourism 10 Migration and refugees 12 Petra’s stone museum 14 meeting the locals 21 From Italy to iceland

AGUILAR DEL ESPIRITU SANTO, Victoria · ARCHMAN, Dave · AZNAR LARA, Sebastian · BAUTISTA, Leiza · BELLUCCI, Gabriele · BROCO

22 pollution must end

FERNANDEZ, Carolina · CARLON ANDRES, Irene · GENOVESE, Ester · GIL PRIETO, Marta · HONG, Pan · HUANG, Jiaxuan · IVANCHENKO,

26 alaskan lupine

Anna · KOROTKOVA, Tatiana · LEE, Yeil · LIN, Guan-Ting · LJUBIMOV, Vitali · MARTINO VOLTA, Matilde · MARTIN--WURTZ, Laura · MINA, Giulia · OLMO RUBIO, Irene · PODRUZHKO, Ekaterina · REMIZOV, Artem · RICCI, Francesco · RUIZ RICCA, Carmen · SALSOTTO, Nicolas · SOLE INARAJA, OlEmpia · TABERLET, Mlodie · VENDITTI, Lea

32 arctic animals 36 landscapes in the screen

UNA Magazine | July 2018

According to Piramid of Maslow it is known that safety is one of basic need for every person. Nowadays situation in the world is getting critical: military conflicts between some countries, terror attacts, robberies, murders… Mass media tell us about new criminal incidents every day. But there are some countries which reached the great success in safety question. Iceland is one of them! Let’s try to understand how it happened. What icelanders think about safety in their country and how tourists feel here.

SAFETY AND T O U RI S M I N I C ELAND

Additionally,Iceland has not had a standing army since 1869 but has multiple insurance on defense. In 1949, Iceland signed a defense agreement with USA, requiring that the American to protect Iceland’s national security when necessary.In 2006, USA has announced that it will not be stationed in Iceland,but still be responsible for the defense. Furthermore, Iceland reached a defense cooperation with Norway and Denmark in 2007. Iceland is the only NATO member with the smallest population and also the country do not have standing army with only the coast guard on the defense. However,viewing the history ,they have security measuresand Iceland is a highly developed country with a Nordic welfare system such as health insurance and education. Therefore, people here live and work in peace and contentment.

Before the ninth century, Iceland was the last uninhabited island in the world except New Zealand. According to the recordation, the history of European Settlers dates back as far as 874 AD. The vikings, Ingrid and others were the earliest permanent settlers in Iceland. There is no denying that they are excellent sailors,explores and traders who had a significant impact on European countries. Only before independence in 1944,they have been occupied by the Danes and Norwegians, who were also descendants of the vikings. Nowadays, modern Icelanders have settled in Iceland from generation to generation.The have the courage like the ancient vikings and also love peace. Iceland has the lowest crime rate and one of the highest happiness rates in the world.

According to a report by the European Travel Commission, Iceland is the fastest growing destination since 2012. Tourism in Iceland has grown considerably in economic significance in the past 15 years. As of 2016, the tourism industry is estimated to contribute about 10 percent to the Icelandic GDP; the number of foreign visitors exceeded 2,000,000 for the first time in 2017; tourism is responsible for a share of nearly 30 percent of the country’s export revenue.

Iceland is famous for its beautiful landscapes, big variety of wild life and unique nature phenomena. What makes Iceland so attractive to many tourists is the variety of activities for both children and adults.

Social media developed and Iceland has one of the highest user rates in the world and love promoting their country;

Iceland became a filming haven for some well known programs and movies. (ie: Game of Thrones, Walter Mitty, Prometheus, Oblivion, Star Wars)

Iceland positions itself as one of the most peaceful and most friendly countries in the world.

More airlines open their flights to Iceland. The increase in passengers through Keflavik Airport from 2010 until 2016 is 330%.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

A few years later the Icelandic tourism industry started to experience a boom which to this day shows no signs of abating, as witnessed by the fact that the number of foreign visitors grew on average by 6 percent per year between 2003 and 2010, and by some 20 percent per year on average between 2010 and 2014. In 2015, this rapid increase has continued, with the number of foreign visitors already exceeding 1 million in the period January to October. According to the Icelandic Tourist Board, the total number of overnight stays by foreign visitors to Iceland grew from 595,000 in 2000 to 2.1 million in 2010, before rising to 4.4 million in 2014. The number of people working in tourism-related industries in Iceland was 21,600 in 2014, representing nearly 12 percent of the total workforce, and tourism’s direct contribution to GDP is now close to 5 percent. Also goverment is doing their best to develop tourism in Iceland and make their country is more attractive for foreign tourists. For example, Parliament resolves to entrust the Minister of Industry with the task of pursuing the following main objectives for tourism during the period 2011-2020:

to increase the profitability of the sector; to engage in systematic development of tourist destinations, effective product development, and promotion and advertising work so as to create the opportunity to lengthen the tourist season, reduce seasonal fluctuations, and contribute to better distribution of tourists throughout the country; to enhance quality, professionalism, safety, and environment-awareness in the tourism sector; to define and maintain Iceland’s uniqueness as a tourist destination, in part through effective analysis and research.

According to this information, it is obviously that the fastest growing in the tourism industry has to influence to the safety in this calm and friendly country. We’ve decided to ask local people in Stöðvarfjörður if they feel any changes because of this growing and if they still feel comfortable and safely.

ONG PAN, CHINA: «Compared to Iceland, from my perspective, security issues still have some problems in China. In general, China is safe and there is no gun problem. However, due to China’s huge population, large gap between rich and poor, and uneven quality of population, thefts and robbery incidents still occur from time to time. Especially in big cities, people come from all directions and have mixed populations. I have encountered two during my life in Beijing. One time my mobile phone was stolen at the subway, once was the wallet. Therefore, people will lock the door at home, and they will always be on the look out for strangers and protect their belongings to prevent them from being stolen».

ICTORIA AGUILAR, MEXICO: «If we are talking about my house I feel safe there mostly because of neighbors. Probably if I have other neighbors my feeling would be different. But it can be dangerous to walk through the city late evening, for example. It’s also important in Mexico to tell children that they can’t trust strangers and they can’t just go away if their parents don’t know about that. Situation with safety is quite different in Iceland. In Mexico I never leave my house without locking the door, keys are very important. Here I can leave my computer near the door and I’m sure it still will be on the same place when I’m back. I don’t know why but I feel very safe here. I guess it’s because of information which I learn about Iceland before I came here. I know what happens in my country and I know that I must be careful. But there are no criminal situations here and that makes me feel safe».

ÓHANNA SÓLMUNDARDÓTTIR, ICELAND: «I feel really safe in my town. We don’t lock the door of the house, we can leave our stuff on the street near the house and we’re not afraid that someone steals it. It’s true that more and more tourists come to Iceland year by year, but it doesn’t mean that it makes us more distrustful because locals can also be criminal. We don’t expect any risks from the strangers or tourists, we expect everyone to be nice and kind. The only thing which worries me is the style of tourists’ traffic. We have one-way traffic and people from Asia and UK, for example, drive on the wrong side of the road and it can lead to a road accident. When I travel abroad I also feel safe but just try to protect my documents and wallet»

ITALI LJUBIMOV, ESTONIA: «I don’t feel really safe in Estonia because of migrants from Middle East. I know that in Finland, for example, the situation is more dangerous, there are assaults on locals happened. That’s why we don’t know what to expect from migrants and due to this fact, I don’t feel really safe. Comparing to my country I don’t think about safety here in Iceland at all, because the image of country is very positive and friendly. Iceland is widely thought as one of the safest country in the world. That’s why I don’t expect any troubles during my trip in Iceland».

ELENA B HANNESDÓTTIR, ICELAND: «I feel very safe in my town, I don’t need even to close the door and hide all the stuff because nothing happens with it. We are not afraid about our children and we don’t warn them against strangers. We trust our government in question about safety. We feel its protection and we don’t worry about that. And due to increase of tourism in Iceland we don’t threat more from the tourists than from locals».

Based on the information in this article we can make conclusion that Iceland is really safe country for locals and for tourists as well. It is definitely the great example of peaceful and friendship between people. And it is one of many reasons which makes Iceland so popular for tourists.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

Statistical facts about Iceland:

07 Among the police only the detachment "Viking" carries arms

Population - 332 529

08 The number of criminals killed by policemen in the history of the country - 1 09 Number of military personnel in service - 0 10 The number of local residents who identify themselves with the middle class is 97%

Number of thefts per year per 100,000 people - 148 1

The number of vehicle thefts per year per 100,000 people - 20.95

11 The number of people from 15 to 64 who consumed cocaine in 2012 was 0.9% 12 The number of arrivals from other countries to Iceland for 2016 is 1,792,000 13 The tourist flow is growing every year by about 25% compared to last year 14

06 Number of policemen per 100,000 people - 191

02 04

In 2016, 2.7% of the population believes that they were subjected to unlawful actions (4% in Europe on average)

The leaders in the number of tourists entering Iceland in 2017 are: the USA (516,373), the United Kingdom (252,794) and Germany (145,398). The report included only tourists who arrived in Iceland via Keflavik International Airport.

Security and safety First place in the world

The number of robberies per year per 100,000 people is 16.91

The number of intentional homicides per 100,000 people per year is 0.9

UNA Magazine | July 2018

MIGRAT ION AND REFUGEES

According to Statistics Iceland, in recent years the internal migration flow has grown exponentially, reaching to touch the record number of 35,997 immigrants, representing today about 9.6% of the Icelandic population. This is the first time that this amount has been reached since the first census of 1801. For example, from 2016 to 2017 the number of immigrants arrived in one year almost doubled, from 4069 immigrants to 8040 in the past year. Also according to Statistic Iceland the number of second-generation immigrants has increased, from 4158 to 4473, and the total of first- and second-generation of immigrants reaches 12% of the population. The Icelandic Government defines an immigrant as a person who was also born abroad, as well as both of his or her grandparents. A secondgeneration immigrant is defined as an individual born in Iceland to parents who are both immigrants.

The case of a first-generation of immigrants is the family of Rawaa. The whole family is composed of 4 kids, two boys and two girls, two women, inlcuding Rawaa and her relative with her husband. She comes from a family of refugees, who, thanks to the United Nations’ help and the Republic of Iceland, has finally managed to have a “normal” life, far from wars and violence.

They have been living in the municipality of Fjarðabyggð since mid-February, which has accepted 27 people from Jordan, including women and children. The Municipality, working together with the Ministry of Welfare, distributed families in the two towns of Reyðarfjörður and Neskaupstaður, ensuring them a secure roof, good services and employment opportunities.We have talked to Rawaa and within moved words, hopeful smiles and a football match with the kids, this is what we got. Could you tell us please why have you moved here? Why exactly Iceland not Finland, Germany or Sweden for example? We are refugees we are coming from Jordan. My country is Iraq, i was born in Baghdad:, but I was forced to move to Yemen and then to Jordan where United Nation recognized us the status of “refugees”. It means always war, always a lot of troubles and economical problems. We are tired of that”life”. We just want to live in peace. We want a new start, here we have the opportunity to begin a new life.

Why you have chosen exactly Iceland? I haven’t chosen Iceland. Iceland chose me. United Nation (UN) gave us a new life in Iceland. Is it difficult to integrate yourself in Icelandic society? Could you explain us pros and cons of life/ living in Iceland? Every beginning is difficult. Our family is learning Icelandic, because refugees are allowed to learn Icelandic for free. Because if refugees don’t speak Icelandic, then it could be challenging to find a job. Thinking about pros in Iceland, I see kind, supportive and friendly people, amazing nature, good education. Our kids go to the schools and finally we live in peace and good living conditions. We have enough space and rooms in our apartments for our family. About cons, I think maybe the changeable weather and short daylight hours in winter, the long distance to capital (ca 700 km) and bad transport connection. For example bus goes only twice a day and the tickets are too expensive.

Another problem for us is to prove your English level in Icelandic universities like TOEFL exams. In fact any TOEFL exam grades means no ability to study in the university. I want that my son goes to university in Reykjavik, but we can´t allow apartments or room for my son, being here in Reyðarfjörður. We should spent a lot of money that now we don´t have and make 10 hours of travel every day is impossible. I hope that thanks to UNA Magazine my voice will be heard about it.

For further informations and researches, look at: https://www.statice.is/

UNA Magazine | July 2018

ST Ö ÐVA RFJÖ R ÐUR, PETR A’S STONE M U S E U M

Rock is better than metal Are there valuable stones here? Have you had problems with thievery?

INTERVIEW WITH PETRA’S DAUGTHER – THORKATLA JONSDOTTIR

How many stones are there in the museum? More than 10 000, too many to count and 99% of them are from Iceland and collected by Petra.

Try to imagine, how many stones you could collect if you started now and did it for the rest of your life? Perhaps you could make a large collection, but it would never be as great as Petra ́s one. Petra Maria Sveinsdottir dedicated her whole life to her passion: looking for the most amazing stones in the mountains of Iceland. In 1974 she decided to make of her passion and her house a magic place where anyone who wanted could enjoy it too. Since then, thousands of guest have visited this

surprisingly large stone garden located in the beautiful village of Stöðvarfjörður in the East of Iceland, and gotten inspiration from her adventurous life. Petra passed away in 2012, but her four children and many grandchildren carry on this museum, using only the money gained from the many tourists that come to visit the place. So, if you want to know more about her and her passion for stones, you just have to spend some time in this beautiful corner of the eastern fjords of Iceland. The place also houses a little

restaurant, so you can enjoy the collection next to a cup of tea. Apart from a variety of rocks and stones such as quartz, amethys, obsidian, etc, the garden also boasts a number of beautiful flowers, gnomes, elves, curios and statues. Most of them are hand made by Petra and her family. It is decorated to bring the visitors to a special, almost magical world of mystical beings. You can learn a lot about the stones and where to find them, but you can also spend a relaxing time having ameal or take amazing photos.

Most of the stones have emotional value, there no diamonds in Iceland, but some of the crystals are definitely worth something to someone. Thankfully no problems with thievery so far. What was Petra like?

She was a pioneer – there was nothing to play with when The place is kept going Petra was a child, and like her c o m p l e t e l y b y P e t r a’s father, Petra became interested descendants. How many are in stones, collecting rocks from you? beaches and mountains from an early age. Petra had 4 kids and manyBack then, no-one else was many grandchildren. We all doing it and people considered work here in shifts, but only during the summer. For the winter we close down, and when the sun comes out again, we have to clean all the stones, make the garden beautiful and then we are ready to welcome the tourists with open arms! Does the museum earn a profit? Has anyone wanted to buy the place? No, this is more of a hobby. The ticket money is not enough to live off of, but we would never sell the place – it’s our heritage. We don’t have any actual future plans for the place, we are just enjoying the fact that people want to come and visit us.

it weird, especially for a woman. But Petra didn’t care, even if people told her she should be baking cookies or other houseschores, she was happy combing mountains, patiently looking for stones that had great value to her, following her passion and calling it “her job”. She would take us, her children, up the mountain as well, and she was always very kind – when people passed the house with the car, I had to run up to them, knock on the window and ask if they wanted a coffe. She never locked the door, saying that if anyone wants to come in, they can, even when Petra was away. She was very trusting. Of course, times have changed, so you can’t do that anymore.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

ME ETING THE LOCALS: BREIÐDALSVÍK GUTNY HARTHARDOTTIR One of the best experiences we had the opportunity to live while being in Iceland was meeting with the local people from the Eastern Region. It is important to talk with the people of the aerea to have better knowledge about their lifestyle and their point of view fro some topics. Gutny Harthardottir is a sheep farmer from Breiðdalsvík and that is what she told us.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

Do you think the growth of tourism in the east of Iceland has brought significant changes in your daily life or your work? Not for me personally but I know there is this... we get a higher level of services for us because there’s a higher level of services for tourists also. So, it gives us the opportunity to go to restaurants here in the local area so that’s the major change for me personally. Does it have an impact on nature? Not here in East Iceland because there are not as many tourists as other parts of Iceland. But I think it’s the government’s problem to control it. And I would like to see the airport in Egilsstaðir in more us for flights from Europe or the U.S.A because it has all the licence for it but it’s not used as that. So you use the airport just to travel in Iceland? Yes! It’s plan B airport. If the weather in Reykjavik is not good they can land in here. Maybe they don’t use it so to prevent a wave of tourism in the East? I don’t have an idea of what they are thinking. Because we would love if they would use it and spread the tourism around all the island. Because you probably all have been in touristic places full of people. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this growth according to you? Like I mentioned before, the advantages are the higher level of services for us also and of course they should leave some money in the country... Disadvantages are just that we were not ready for all this tourism. The government has not planned for it all. So, I think it has come more to us, yes, we were

not ready for all this tourism. And we didn’t have any guidelines to work with all this people coming to visit us. What do you do for a living? First of all, I am a farmer. Second I’m an advisor for farmers. I work for this agricultural advisory company that is doing a lot of work for farmers. many things that we must do for the government, many bookkeeping’s. Yes so, I’m also an advisor. But now I’m on vacation so I’m enjoying it with my family. But, as a farmer I also have a meat production company. Yes, we are producing our own meat. we are starting it now, we started small scale in a small kitchen but it’s getting bigger, but we don’t have the kitchen during the summer because of tourism. that’s in use for tourists now. That’s a disadvantage... Yes! I can’t use my kitchen anymore... no, but it was the plan, just to do it during the winter but it has grown a lot so... we are making this factory in Breiðdalsvík. And we are not doing any production now because I need some plumbing and electrician. Do you like your job? and why? Yes! I love it! I don’t want to say it’s a job, farming is not a job, it’s a way of life, it’s my passion! Yes, and being able to work with the sheep and having my kids with me it’s... I can’t describe it it’s just... How’s the work at the farm during the year? We have to feed them all over the winter, and the lamping season is from the end of April until the beginning of June. Then it’s really hard, I have to watch them all day and all night and help them with the lamps, and after they have lamps we usually put them outside

and let them be here for several weeks, and in the middle of June we put take to the mountains. How many sheep have you got? 350. It’s not big farm. The sheep that you saw, the 4 one that I have here is because they are my dog’s trainers. I use them to train the dogs. How many dogs have you got? I have 2. I’m trying to train before the autumn because at the end of August we start to get sheep. We usually do this during the weekends because we have the possibility to the get help from the people from the villages. And of course, a lot of farmers are working all over the working days. So that’s approximately the whole year of sheep forming. Have you had another job? Yes, I was an advisor before I came here. For a short time I was a dairy farmer, I’ve had cows. What’s a lot different from being a ship farmer and you have to wake up at a certain time every day of the year, it doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas or not, and milk the cows. But the ship farming it’s way easier, it’s seasonal. there’s lambing season in the spring and in the summer the ships are just roaming free in the mountains and roaming by themselves...and in the autumn there’s hunting season so we have to hunt all this mountains here and over the winter time we are just feeding them. What are your hobbies during your leisure time? My hobby is farming, it’s just if you are a ship farmer then you are a ship farmer, it’s not your job, it’s your hobby and actually Icelandic ship farmers have other jobs, it’s a hobby because we can’t live from it. Sadly, it is.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

Is there a place or events to come together with other locals? Yes, there is always something in the school, for the kids. There’s this big event in autumn here in Breiðdalsvík, this family... it’s a cultural event. almost just a “get together” That’s your favourite place in Iceland? This place. What is your favourite Icelandic meal? That’s a difficult one... I have to say Slátur. Yes, it’s similar to haggis, Scottish haggis... have you heard about it? It’s meat, liver sausage and meat sausage. What kind of Icelandic music do you listen to? All the good stuff. Monsters and men... yes! I don’t like the rap though that is coming out now I feel too old for it. We haven’t asked; how old are you? I was born in 1985 so I’m 33 years old. Who is your favourite Icelandic personality? I have to say the former icelandic female president, Vigdis Finnbogadottir the first female president in the world. What do you think about the actual political situation? It’s a shit. It’s just... wow! have you heard about the midwife crisis that is going on? Now the midwifes are not working, there are demonstrations. Because they have been trying for almost a year to get higher salaries, because they have actually been left behind. The nurses are getting higher salaries than them. And I think midwife is one of the most important job in earth. Now if you are a pregnant woman, you are not sure if you can stay overnight because you just have to have your baby and go back home. They are really finished. And the government doesn’t do anything. Instead they are celebrating the independence, it was the 100th year independence from Denmark and they spend 18millions just making these ridiculous meeting. And there were a few people attending to it, it was just the government, itself and some stuff. So, why not to spend the money pay midwives? So I guess everywhere is the same. Governments always do something that people are against.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

Childhood in iceland Iceland is the country of children. Despite the small population and compared to other countries of same area, Iceland is on the top of global rating regarding maternity and children rights. Women of all around the world are getting concerned about feminism and all of what it entails.Maternity is one of the most important points in it. In the first world countries, the age of a first pregnancy is rising and rising. Maybe because in most of cases becoming a mother can lead to the weakening of their professional career. But Iceland is an exception. On average, the age of a first maternity is one of the lower in Europe. A great number of women have at least their first child before being thirty years old. In 2012 the ONG “Save the Children” established Island as the second country where it is better to be a mother, and the first one to grow up as a child. When a woman has a baby she benefits from nine months of maternity permission and three of them have to be compulsory for the father of the baby. This contributes to restore the balance concerning the partition of the tasks entailed by the fact of having a child. This is about the maternity but what about being a child in Iceland? Icelandic people attach a lot of importance to childhood. Children become responsible and independent when they are still really young. It is usual to see a lot of children playing alone in the parks and the streets without their parents. There is a curfew at 10 p.m and then they must go back to home. They also go alone to their schools from the age of six or seven onwards. This is also due of the low level of crime. Indeed Iceland is one of the most secure country in Europe. That is why parents are not afraid of letting their children growing up freely. There is a wild climate but in summer there is a natural light all day long, allowing to make activities outside. And even in winter, when the sun only appears for four hours, lot of programs are established in towns and villages so that parents can spend time with their children after they finish school. Icelandic children love playing with snow, doing ice-skating and they eat ice-creams even in winter. Iceland is definitely one of the best country to grow up as a child, one of the country where the child and the mother’s rights are the most valued.

Why do you think that mothers in Iceland keep being really young compared to other countries where the age of a first pregnancy is growing older and older? We grew up with young parents, my parents were very young when they had me. I am the older than my brothers. So I can say they are my best friends right now. I think we just want to hold on with that. I want to be my children’s best friend and do a lot of things with them. What do you think about the educational system in Iceland? I think it’s fine but they could make the ground school shorter. It’s ten years from first grade before getting into high school. Is there any governmental policy to help parents in Iceland? I am one of the lucky one. But in Reykjavík for example, people have more and more problems because nine months of maternity leave is not enough time to spend with your baby.

(It’s important to remind that Icelandic people are very critical regarding their own system) It is a fact that the vision change according to the person you are asking, but data does not lie. Iceland is the childhood country.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

From Italy to iceland: A story of pizza and art in the surprising Iceland Cosimo H. F. Einarsson introduced himself playing Icelandic jazz with his beloved harmonica. The story about him is interesting from the beginning.

We met him as a bus driver for Worldwide Friends and we soon realized that he is not a “common” one. Cosimo was born in Italy, he came in Iceland when he was only 18 with AFSAI association as an exchange student. He was supposed to stay one year and now he’s living in Reykjavik since 1980. When he talked about his first impression of this completely unknown country his eyes still showed emotion. The small airport, the moon landscape, the long old American cars, the people. The first year in Iceland

was divided between studying and working and walking around the capital with a giant vocabulary. The family that hosted him in the first period signed everything in the house with the Icelandic name to help him learning the language (that now he speaks so fluently). After some months studying in a theological school in Reykjavik, he moved to Akureyri, in the North of Iceland. It was 1985 and there he had a brilliant idea: open the first pizzeria and the first fruits and vegetables market. He also took part of the first Carnival in Iceland in 1987.

After some years working as a chef for sailors on a boat in the Faroe Islands, he came back to Reykjavik where he joined theatrical lessons and the company called “Secret Dream”. Then he moved from theatre to cinema and he played in different Icelandic movies like 101 Reykajvik where you can see him as the funny “Cosimo”.

As a man of various passions, he began studying at universities of psychomotricity, theology, Icelandic language and he started painting “Astralblom”, in English “Astral Flowers”, exposed in an Art Gallery. From 10 years he’s working as a touristic guide with European and from 2 years with Italian tourists, bringing them around Iceland on adventurous Jeep.

“Sometimes you need to leave your home, your country, your comfort zone to see what you couldn’t see before, even if it can be difficult. Iceland is the perfect place to find new opportunities, just because you’ll find a new you.”

UNA Magazine | July 2018

POLLUTION MUST END Nowadays, Iceland is well known as one of the most rich and prosperous countries around the world, not only for his evident economic growth, but his natural wealth, which means its biggest resource from his beginnings. Since his recovery after 2007 financial crisis, and due to a massive tourism boom from 2010 onwards, Iceland is enjoying such a thriving phase that is far from slowing down.

The long term effects with the trash deposited in the sea to ocean’s fauna and flora are barely unknown yet. Actually, there is a serious problem overlooked by Icelanders. Due to lack of sunlight and very low oxygen, trash breaks down over time. In addition, according to Kevin Sudeith, Brooklying based artist, who has lived and worked in Iceland for the past three months, told us he came across oil leakage from boats when doing scuba diving, which means even tourism could be affected by this problem. Also Iceland ships used to use heavy fuel which is recently banned. The oil has a bad influence on the ocean obviously. It has an impact on not only fishes, but also birds and animals. Symptoms can be shown slowly in the form of changing in heart rate, respiration rate and so on. In order to have more information, we tried to visit one of the local eastern fish factories, but this is such a controversial topic for Icelanders as it’s their main way of making a living, so they refused to be interviewed. What we did find on the web site was that Iceland boats still use fossil fuel and it cause the sea temperature to arise. Even if the effect is rarely noticeable currently, we should think about a long term future to find solutions about this before is too late.

Icelanders have a very deep relationship with their environment, as it is pretty much linked with any aspects of their lives. From the outside, this country is also seen as one of the most respectful and concerned ones regarding nature preservation. The most noteworthy change was made when in 1994 they joined the European Economic Area implementing EU legislation regarding waste management. Ever since, recycling methods are being encouraged as well as supported by government policies. According to www.un.org, “Over 58% of that waste was recovered by various means, e.g. material recycling, composting and incineration with energy recovery, while 42% were disposed of at landfills.” Nevertheless, as tourism, production and businesses are rapidly increasing also does waste disposal, so we wanted to find out how are they dealing with these new issues.

Regarding Icelandic waters, sea pollution can lead to damage their economy as it’s Iceland's largest source of income, exporting fish such as cod and salmon, so it should be a priority to avoid this. We had the chance to interview an Infopoint staff member in Stodvarjiordur visitor’s center, named Inqibjörq, born and raised in Iceland. One of the most interesting and worrying things she said to us was about the sewage treatment. Apparently, all the toilet paper flushed down the toilet is gathered at some point and dropped off directly to the sea through pipes. When we asked her the reason why they put the paper deep in the sea, and how it has impacted on the marine ecosystem, she couldn`t figure out what kind of advantages there were.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

“What they perceive as “in” right now is globalisation, so they want to be part of that. If the international community can show them how truly ridiculous it is to destroy nature, the very thing they love most,(…) they may start to think for themselves. They might finally have the guts to speak up and tell their dictatorial government how absolutely they have got this wrong. You have to shame us into change.”

UNA Magazine | July 2018

As concern about these issues rises up among people, governments are making changes in their policies in order to take action. Furthermore, there are some proposals prompted around the Icelandic territory, such as the one directed towards the International Maritime Organization to ban the use of heavy fuel in the Arctic region. Even if this does not affect Iceland’s territory itself, shouldn’t they be joining it not to preserve only surroundings but to whole area? As stated previously, the government of Iceland has a national garbage management policy, which the overall objectives are to reduce the generation of waste as much as possible, increase re-use and recovery, and to reduce the waste disposal. However, each municipality has freedom to choose their own methods to deal with this. Iceland’s strategy to decrease pollution is pretty much “the polluter pays”, which means that a fee is imposed to any company or factory around the country in order to treat all the trash that should be processed eventually, even so, this is not really accomplished sometimes because of their individual management plans.

Waste assortment is headed to the collection points in the villages, where everything is classified and shipped afterwards to processing facilities located abroad as Iceland does not have any of its own. Recyclable materials are sent away from Reykjavik or Akureyri harbors while others are disposed at landfills (a few amount of them are meant to be burn to obtain energy but since electricity here is so affordable is not really a competitive nor profitable method). The Audit Office of Iceland recently pointed out that “monitoring is lacking regarding making sure that municipalities live up to their duty to make zoning plans to improve waste management, or to ensure that such plans are followed”. Currently, Icelanders allocate 50% of their household waste into landfills. A report made by Icelanreview.com stated that, even if progress has been made in this field (234 kg per person in 2009 to 171 kg in 2013), compared to other Nordic countries, is such a much higher proportion. This is what makes recycling concern so important in Iceland. The Icelandic Recycling Fund is an organization where demands are placed by individuals, municipalities and the commercial sector in order to figure out best solutions to coexist with the environment, trying to disassociate economic growth with increasing pollution. There are many organizations trying to increase awareness about nature protection. The Fish Factory, an artist residency located in the harbour of Stodvafjiordur, were previously mentioned artist, Kevin Sudeith, has been working on, is making such a good example of this way of thinking gathering artists, activists and volunteers from all over the world to work and live in harmony with such an outstanding environment. Icelandic writer Gudbergur Bergsson says of his compatriots, “What they perceive as “in” right now is globalisation, so they want to be part of that. If the international community can show them how truly ridiculous it is to destroy nature, the very thing they love most,(…) they may start to think for themselves. They might finally have the guts to speak up and tell their dictatorial government how absolutely they have got this wrong. You have to shame us into change.”

UNA Magazine | July 2018

ARCTIC LUPINES

WHY IS THERE LUPINE IN ICELAND?

Forests become particularly important in Iceland, since they are able to withstand volcanic disturbances better than heathlands or grassland. They are able to resist to volcanic ash without being suffocated and prevent the ash from spreading over long distances that would affect more vulnerable ecosystems. Moreover, woodlands reduce the speed of the wind and favour water infiltration into the soil, providing protection against their erosive effect and creating a favourable habitat for many other species. This is of significant importance during winters in Iceland, to prevent damage from strong wind and frost.

1100 years ago, The Vikings began to cut down the forests in Iceland to build their homes and campfires. Trees were cut down faster than they grew, and therefore the soil was quickly blown away by winds or washed away by rain. Volcanic eruptions and sheep grazing also made things worse. As a result, the soil in Iceland is very poor. In 1945, Icelandic Forest Service imported lupine from Alaska to fight soil erosion. Lupine released the serious soil erosion and made Iceland a beautiful purple world in summer. However, due to their strong ability to reproduce, lupine threaten the original species, occupying lots of area in Iceland.

Soil erosion is the main environmental problem in Iceland since the first humans settled in the country more than 1,000 years ago, during the Viking age of exploration. Before their arrival, the land was covered in 25 to 40 percent forest. However, almost all of the island’s trees were cut down to adapt the land to the agrarian lifestyle. This rapid deforestation, together with the extreme conditions of the environment, in particular the high wind, has resulted in massive soil erosion that puts the island at risk for desertification.

A method to enhance the survival and growth of vegetation consist in the use of chemical or organic fertilizers, which provide nutrients to the soil, such as nitrogen. However in the long term, desert landscapes lacking organic material require self-fertilization plants to ensure growth rates. These plants are commonly known as nitrogen fixing plants because they are able to draw nitrogen from the atmosphere and store it in their roots, with the help of bacteria called Rhizobium. Nootka lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis) is a nitrogen fixing plant, member of the pea family (Fabaceae) which was introduced in 1945 to lowland areas of Iceland with the aim of restoring the land. Although already present in Iceland, it was not until 1960 that the lupine was actively spread by The Icelandic Forestry Service and on 1988 by the Soil Conservation Service (SCSI). This legume is a perennial herb native from North America, which is usually distributed in sunny open habitats. It actively grows during summer, while in winter it dies back to a robust rhizome. Lupine is an important pioneer species in its native environment, since it facilitates colonization of other species in lands devoid of vegetation.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

ethods that are considered most promising are cutting of lupine and herbicidal applications. Cutting down lupine has been shown to be most effective around Midsummer’s Day, when the root store of the plants is limited. Research has also been made on the use of the herbicide, glyphosate (Roundup), which is more effective when plants were fully grown, although the use of glyphosate is currently under debate in the European Union because of the potential risks to human health and the environment. In spite of the presence of some toxic compounds in the seeds of L. nootkatensis, research at the University of Iceland has shown that extract from the root of Nootka lupin contains strong immune-boosting chemicals. Few products have been made out of L. nootkatensis in Iceland. Some people have used the Ævar’s Lupine Tea and Lupine Herbal Remedy in order to maintain general good health, while others have used it after a diagnosis with serious illness. The lupine represents also one of the ingredients of some brands of perfume sell in Iceland. Even though lupines are able to easily adapt and spread in harsh environmental conditions, in some areas of Iceland the lupine has started to degenerate and die back after 15 – 25 years, while in others it still maintains high density after 30 years of growth. “The dilemma is that it is not known how the conditions will change over longer periods of time (e.g. in over 100 years). Will the lupine die back? Even in this case, it could still survive longer periods as a seed in the soil and germinate under the “right” environmental conditions” according to Dr. Magnús H. Jóhannsson head of R&D at the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland.

hese features are beneficial for preventing erosion and enhancing soil conditions. However, while lupine patches favour the growth of some native species such as birch (Betula pubescens), dense lupine patches can act as invasive species by hindering seeds germination or small plant proliferation (e.g. dominant lichens, mosses, and low shrubs) due to the reduced sunlight.

Further research is required in order to gain awareness about the impact of the invasive plant L. nootkatensis on the sensitive ecosystems in Iceland in order to protect native species and prevent soil erosion.

In a recent study, Jonathan Willow and co-workers observed that lupine patches can affect the biodiversity of potential pollinators. They observed more insects visiting native flowering plants than the invasive plant and suggested that L. nootkatensis may have limited value as a forage plant for small heath bumblebee, perhaps due to the presence of toxic compounds in lupine’s pollen. Due to their large size, the lupine seeds mainly spread via waterways but can also “travel” distances by strong winds. There are also some indications that seeds may be dispersed long distances by birds. However, a recent study by Vanessa M. S. Vetter and colleagues predicted that the area of distribution may be more than double in next 50 years and expand significantly into the Central Highlands due to human disturbance (e.g. tourism and the related infrastructure) and increasingly favourable climatic conditions. Measures to eradicate the lupine from certain areas have proven rather unsuccessful due to the need of hard labour, high costs and lack of endurance. Opening lupine areas to sheep grazing has been considered, although the seeds of L. nootkatensis are poisonous, causing inflammation of the stomach and intestines, which probably is attributable to the high alkaloid content and composition. Sheep can thus eat young plants, but not in large quantities. The toxic alkaloids can be leeched out of the seed by soaking it overnight and discarding the soak water, however fungal toxins also readily to invade the crushed seed and can cause chronic illness. As an alternative, there are often sweet varieties within that species that are completely wholesome.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

THIS IS THE EXPERIENCE OF SOME VOLUNTEERS IN THE LUPINE WORKCAMP

Why are you here? What brought you to Iceland?

What do you think about this job and about lupines?

I wanted to see Iceland for a long time and I thought this was the only possibility to come here.

I think that if you want to see Iceland it’s the best way because you literarily live in nature and we travel around to cut lupines.

Why did you choose this project? Honestly because was in my vacation, and it fitted in my itinerary. What’s a day here like? I wake up at 7 or 8 am, and I eat breakfast. At nine we go to the workplace and around 2 pm we eat lunch. We go back to house at 3 pm and do whatever we want.

What’s your favorite part of this job? Do you have any anecdotes? My favorite part of this job is to meeting people, being here is great and fun. We went to the pool and it was funny because the Russian girls, the Japanese boy and a Chinese boy learnt some bad word in spanish. I was funny to see them learning spanish.

Is this experience improving you? Yes, absolutely. Because I’m a person who likes to have the routine and here we don’t have one. I’m learning to be more patient and also to respect the other ways of thinking of people around the world. What did you know before and what do you know now about lupines? Before I actually didn’t know anything. Now I known that they brought them from Alaska and because of the erosion the land wasn’t fertile. And now there are too many, they are killing the native plants. Have you met a lot of people? How is the atmosphere with the other international volunteers? I think there is a good atmosphere because we are all good friends even though we don’t speak the same language. Are you planning on volunteering again? Maybe. What tip would you give to other volunteers? If they ask you to bring waterproof coat, you should. And you shouldn’t have any expectations because you don’t know what’s going to happen so just go with the flow. Go with the flow!

UNA Magazine | July 2018

AN I M ALS: A N GRY B I R DS A N D P OL A R B E AR S

Global warming is one of the most essential problems for polar bears too. Because of that reason, predators are going back to the north. However, there are less fodder base. Polar bears can eat on the ground but not for a long time. Their organisms need fat.That is why some polar bears are leaving Greenland and some of them are coming to Iceland. These animals have moored to the shores of Iceland many times.

Terns live in colonies and usually stay in one place if the habitat is stable. East Iceland is one of these stable areas where many of the birds settle, laying eggs in safe places, without actually making a nest.

Have you ever played this popular mobile phone game?

When someone comes near the eggs, the Terns become aggressive towards the intruder, flying dangerously close to the agressors head, usually attacking from behind and sometimes actually hitting them with their beaks.

This story is the horror movie version of it, and the scariest thing is – it’s real! If you are spending time in Iceland, you might happen upon big groups of noisy birds near the coast or wetlands. Iceland has a lot of bird species, but the Arctic Tern is probably the one tourist come most in contact with – unwillingly.

olar bears are one of the biggest predatory mammal in the world. They live in circumpolar regions in the northern hemisphere of the Earth. Greenland is one of the habitats of these animals. But nowadays there are some environmental issues there and the pollution level increases every year. Greenlandic polar bears are currently suffering from problems with the thyroid and endocrine system because of industrial chemicals and pesticides. These organs are physiologically necessary for the growth, development, reproduction, reaction to stress, tissue repair, and thermoregulation of the body. During some researches, scientists have found out that all the bears that they made experiments on had a lot of chemical compounds that had harmful effect plasma.

Iceland has repeatedly raised the question of what to do with coming bears. For now, men are killing bears or trying to send them back to their homeland. If you encounter with a polar bear, there are some ways to escape. The first option is to simulate death, in this case animals would pass by you. Another way is throwing off your garment (for example, a glove). Bears are curious, so they will stop to sniff it or to taste it and it will delay them.

The courtship of Terns involves flight and crowd displays, so when walking near a Tern group, one should wear a helmet, just in case the birds decide to attack. A long stick can also be helpful, since thebirds attack the highest point they see. However, nothing can protect against their second weapon – pooping on people.

UNA Magazine | July 2018

LANDSCAPES IN THE SCREEN PICTURES

as wild and unexplored. This representation of Iceland derives from a collective unconscious that dates back to thousands of years. Iceland had been related to the myth of the Ultima Thullé for a

celandic landscapes are a visual source of inspiration for many directors. It is the object of an enduring fascination on the part of audiences and it feeds the popular imagination. This is probablypartly because of the desert nature of its lands, where human activity can

he was actually talking about Iceland: at that time it was difficult to determine which territory was in question but Iceland correspond with the definition of a distant, mysterious and unknown place. One of the other definition attributed to the Ultima Thullé is long while. The Ultima Thullé is the name that was given to an island between 330 and 320 B.C by the Greek explorer Pythéas. He considered this island as the last one of the British archipelago and he was the first one to mention it. There is no proof allowing to think

sometimes be seen as an intrusion. That is why the narrative weave of lots of films or TV-shows that were shot in Iceland are not supposed to represent Iceland and are set in fictional universe, not really representing Iceland but fictional and imaginary lands that appear

T the one of the most distant ideal or goal to reach. In the mainstream TV-show Game of Thrones for example, many scenes were shot in Iceland and these scenes correspond to the exploration of the territory located beyond the Wall.

he Wall is the frontier that separates the civilized human world and the one of the “wildlings” (or Free Folks), a deserted, frightening and hostile territory (see pictures 1, 2 and 3). In some films, like Prometheus, Interstellar and Star Wars Rogue One the scenes that were shot in Iceland are located on other planets, populated by aliens. In Interstellar, the scenes shot in Máfabót correspond to the Miller planet, and the ones shot at Svínafellsjökull glacier represent the Mann planet (see pictures 4). The action is also sometimes set in post-apocalyptic universe. Recently, one episode of the TV-show Black Mirror (the third one of the fourth season - “Crocodile”) was shot in Iceland, it conveys a dark and gloomy vision of the future, with dejected landscapes (see pictures 5 and 6). Indeed, directors often opt for Iceland to shot their films, for practical motives : it is a country where there are miles and miles of uninhabited territories, where nature is preserved and where landscapes are extremely varied.

UNA Magazine | July 2018