Iceland and waterfalls, geology and culture By Luca Russo @liukkkkkkkkkkkkk It seems like there's a stunning waterfall at every turn in Iceland. From towering to teeny, water is cascading all over the place. Sometimes waterfalls plummet into emerald pools. Other times, they seem to dribble over stone terraces, slow and languid. And while there's no official record, estimates say there may be as many as 10,000 waterfalls in Iceland. But how do they form? Why are there so many in Iceland? What makes them so common in the area? “A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops.” (source: Wiki) Waterfalls can be formed in several ways, but the most common method of formation is that a river courses over a top layer of resistant bedrock before falling on to softer rock, which erodes faster, leading to an increasingly high fall. Iceland by being on the North Atlantic Ocean has one of the wettest climate in the world. And that water will look for a way to get back to the ocean. Having existing glaciers that are retreating and melting makes river flows even stronger. Iceland sits on two tectonic plates, which gives it unique geothermal activity, geysers, hot springs and well.. mountains, in other words “pathways” for the water to descend. Mountains in Iceland are high plateaus, the elevation plunges dramatically, often at impressive cliffs. Basically: A lot of water + cliffs = waterfalls Waterfall are ecosystems “cutter” Waterfalls are an important factor in determining the distribution of lotic organisms such as fish and aquatic invertebrates, as they may restrict dispersal along streams. The presence or absence of certain species can have cascading ecological effects, and thus cause differences in trophic regimes above and below waterfalls. Certain aquatic insects also specialize in the environment of the waterfall itself. There are birds that nest in the nearby presence of waterfall because their eggs get coverage from potential predators. Waterfalls are microscopic ecosystems, they raise humidity, they lower temperatures. That supports communities of mosses and liverworts. Humans and waterfalls Many explorers have visited waterfalls. Explorers recorded waterfalls they came across. Geographers argue that it was uncommon to specifically name waterfalls until the 1700s. The trend of Europeans specifically naming falls was in tandem with increased scientific focus on nature, the rise of Romanticism, and increased importance of hydropower with the Industrial Revolution. As European explorers traveled around the world they often ignored the names native peoples had given the falls in favor of a "European" name. Waterfalls can pose major barriers to travel. Canals are sometimes built as a method to go around them, other times things must be physically carried around or a railway built. It is argued by geography if waterfalls in under developed countries are a reason for their underdevelopment. Basically: if their commerce was not able to travel trough rivers that could have made communities isolated from each other, slowing technological advances and economical development.
Tourism Waterfalls are often visited by people simply to see them. Hudson theorizes that they make good tourism sites because they are generally considered beautiful and are relatively uncommon. Wealthy people were known to visit areas with features such as waterfalls at least as early as in Ancient Rome and China. However, many waterfalls were essentially inaccessible due to the treacherous terrain surrounding them until improvements began to be made such as paths to the falls, becoming common across the United Kingdom and America in the 1800s and continuing through the 1900s and into the 21st century. Human development has also threatened many waterfalls. For instance, the Guaíra Falls, once one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world, were submerged in 1982 by a human-made dam, as were the Ripon Falls in 1952. Conversely, other waterfalls have seen significantly lower water levels as a result of diversion for hydroelectricity, such as the Tyssestrengene in Norway. Development of the areas around falls as tourist attractions has also destroyed the natural scene around many of them. Waterfalls are included on thirty-eight World Heritage Sites and many others are protected by governments. Iceland is investing in geothermal energy for many reasons, one of the reasons to not use hydroelectric energy is the touristic value waterfalls have for this country.
Culture Waterfalls play a role in many cultures, as religious sites and subjects of art and music. Many artists have painted waterfalls and they are referenced in many songs. In different cultures purification ceremonies where held in waterfalls, Japan, India, Haiti, still have them today. African culture uses them as places of worship, age ceremonies etc. Waterfalls are referenced in Vikings tales, Loki used to hide in form of a salmon in waterfalls, and hide behind them in human form. As humans we all have to agree that waterfall are still able to carry emotional vibes.
Arctic fox at risk. By Carolin
It is now established that global warming will have a strong impact on the distribution and frequency of plants and animals. It is also confirmed that the Arctic is particularly vulnerable to climate change because global warming is most pronounced at high latitudes. In recent decades, the Arctic has warmed at double the rate of the rest of the world. In summer, the pack ice is only about half as thick as it was around 20 years ago. The Arctic fox is one of the most characteristic species of the tundra. In this article, we discuss how the expected warmer climate will affect the arctic fox and the ecological relationships of the Arctic fox. The direct threat from humans has diminished. Today, it is against the law in many countries to hunt the arctic fox. But the warming of its habitat is causing major concerns for the arctic fox. Habitat Arctic foxes have a circumpolar range and are commonly found in all tundra habitats, from the vast Arctic tundra of Eurasia to North America and on all major Arctic and subarctic islands such as Greenland, Iceland, and the Arctic archipelagos of Siberia or Canada. Polar species usually expand their range extensively during ice ages and shrink it during warmer periods. In particular, the Arctic fox had a large expansion during the last ice age (9,000 - 15,000 years) in southern parts of Europe. During the current Interglacial, Arctic foxes have declined and are heading north following the Arctic tundra. The Arctic Fox is one of the smallest species in the family of dogs and usually weighs between 2.5 and 4.0kg. It comes in two colour varieties, white and blue. White foxes have a pure white winter coat that turns brownish-gray on the back and white on the belly in summer. Blue foxes have a dark coat all year round but becomes slightly lighter in winter. Blue foxes are most common in coastal areas and are perfectly adapted to the habitats there. In the snowy interior, the white fox can adapt very well with its white winter coat. The fur of the animals is extraordinary. The winter fur is almost three times thicker than the summer coat and is the most insulating of all mammals - allowing them to survive temperatures as extreme as -80°C. Climate changes Due to climate change, the habitat of the arctic fox is getting warmer. The Arctic fox is one of the top land-dwelling predators in the Arctic and can be seen as a good model for the overall health of the tundra ecosystem. Changes in the food chain are most evident in predators in the tundra. Even small changes in prey populations can cause predator reproduction to come to a complete stop. It has been noted that there are declines in Arctic foxes, especially in the southern part of the tundra region and in the Scandinavian high mountains. Diet The diet of the Arctic fox consists of mice, snow hares, birds and their eggs, mussels, sea yolks and dead seals. Arctic foxes feed primarily on lemmings and voles. The health of an Arctic fox population is assumed to be closely linked to the lemming population. Arctic fox populations are variable according to the availability of their important prey species. Milder and shorter winters due to climate change will lead to instability in population sizes of lemmings and other relevant prey species.
Competition Habitat loss is probably the greatest threat to the Arctic fox. Climate change and temperature increases are allowing new plant species from the south to populate the tundra region. As the Arctic region warms, much of the tundra habitat is expected to be slowly replaced by boreal forest. It is known that this forest habitat is unsuitable for Arctic foxes, and therefore individuals living in the southern parts of the species range must move north. Consequently, it is possible for the red foxes to advance further and further north. The physically superior relatives drive the arctic foxes away and could become a serious threat to the smaller relatives. Arctic foxes living on Arctic islands may eventually turn out to be the safest of all populations. The islands are mostly contained at high latitudes and will be the last to confront changes in tundra habitat and threats of invasion by red foxes. However, island populations often have a tendency to be more susceptible to loss of genetic variation and the associated effects of long-term population health. Eventually, the increasing rate of global warming is predicted to result in a significant decrease in survival and reproductive rate of the Arctic fox. Therefore, it is predicted that the species will eventually become an extinct species.
In the map here it’s easily noticeable how those two species are overlapping
Red foxes are more aggressive than their relatives. Making them a direct predators and competitors
Melting glaciers in Iceland – and all over the world By Tim In Iceland, almost one tenth of the land mass consists of glaciers. In recent years, however, these have shrunk significantly. Researchers are now warning that the millennia-old ice masses are disappearing ever faster. The consequences could be dramatic. Since the turn of the millennium, Iceland's glaciers have lost seven percent of their area due to global warming. A new study by Icelandic scientists shows that the glaciers have been melting faster and faster in recent years: Since 1890, the land area covered by glaciers has shrunk by almost 18 percent almost a third of this decline has been recorded since the year 2000. The glaciologists, geologists and geophysicists involved in the study found that the country's glaciers have shrunk by 750 square kilometres in the past 20 years alone. Experts had already warned that Iceland's glaciers could entirely disappear by the year 2200. The changes in glacier area in Iceland since about 1890 show a clear response to climate fluctuations," the authors of the study described. In 2014, Okjökull had already been stripped of its status as a glacier in Iceland after glaciologists found that it consisted only of dead ice and was no longer moving as glaciers normally do. Worldwide, almost all of the 220,000 glaciers on Earth are losing mass increasingly and at an ever faster rate, as a study in the scientific journal "Nature" noted back in April. According to the study, the melting of these ice masses has already contributed to more than a fifth of the global rise in sea level this century. An analysis of images from Nasa's Terra satellite showed that the world's glaciers lost an average of 267 billion tonnes of ice per year between 2000 and 2019. The immediate consequences of glacier melt are floods, combined with landslides, mudslides and rock avalanches. In the long term, there is a threat of drinking water shortages, because three quarters of all freshwater reserves are bound up in glacier ice. Experts from the United Nations fear that the number of people living in regions of acute water scarcity could increase from just under one billion at present to 1.8 billion worldwide by 2025. The meltwater is also causing sea levels to rise. Island states are generally in danger of sinking, as well as entire ecosystems with countless animal and plant species. The glaciers show how rapidly man-made global warming is progressing. It is causing a multitude of ecological and social problems: hunger, impoverishment and an increase in refugee movements and conflicts. It is foreseeable that the wars of the future will be fought less over oil and other raw materials than over fertile soil and water.
The consequences described are one of the biggest things that made me want to come to Iceland and work for the environment. The fact that I can do something good for the environment with small things makes me happy and proud. It was during the time I spent in Iceland that you first got a real awareness of the effects and dimensions of climate change.
How much can a movement change the world? The impact of the global movement “Fridays for future” by Jette Lorenz In few days I’ll be back home, in Germany, to my “regular life”, trying to develop myself and build myself a future. But I have to be honest.. the impression of the melting glaciers will leave traces in my mind. Is it worth trying to build a future in a future that I can’t imagine positive? This disappearing part of the nature clarifies the danger of the climate change accelerated by humans and reinforces my worries about the environmental conditions in our future.
Since almost three years young people all over the world demonstrate at the street for climate justice and stronger rules to protect the nature. Our motivation: our fears about the future - that maybe there is no future because of our unresponsible, destroying behavior in the presence. Our demands: compliance with the 1.5 degree limit and the Paris climate agreement, the coal pass-out, the stop of the destruction of villages for lignite mining and a lot more. Our result after almost three years of fighting: we are not really heard. The politicians use the promising of filling our demands as a strategy to get more electoral votes, but after they got their aimed posts, suddenly it is not possible to hold their promising. Same game every year, in every country where we are demonstrating. But who are „we“? We are students all over the world, mostly in European country’s, who went on some Friday mornings at the street to make our demands public. It started 2019 with a 16 years old girl named Greta Thunberg who stood in Stockholm in front of the Swedish Parlament in a yellow west, holding a poster on what was written „Friday’s for Future“. She did not visit school on fridays because she did not saw the sense to learn something for the future when we probably have no future. With this she hit the nerve of our generation and her role Model was followed by Millions of young People, who organize a bunch of demonstrations, environment-working-camps and -workshops and political acts. This girl set the ball rolling for a generation long plagued by fears about the future, who are now turning their fears and anger into activism to bring a positive change. In Germany, where this global movement is well represented, the support of a huge part of the society is given, even there are everywhere some critics who believes that students should better visit school than demonstrate to learn more. But activists prove that this way of thinking is to unilateral. „When I participate on the demonstrations, I realize that I am not alone with my fears and wishes, it gives me a sense of community and it feels good to speak about this important topic“ means Lutzi Nickel, an 18 years old German activist. This movement gives more than politic critic, agrees the 19 years old German climate activist Hanna Zöbisch: „Since I am a part of Fridaysforfuture I spoke a lot about the topic climate change with different people in my surrounding. For me it’s more than an enrichment for the society, it’s also an enrichment for my personal development.“ Now Greta Thunberg is 19 years old and still fighting for a better future, probably she made just a little change in the political sense, but she changed a lot the mindset of people around the world and creates more awareness about how important it is to care for our habitat. In conclusions it can be said, that even this global movement moves political decisions very slow in thetargeted path, it is still a huge enrichment for the environment cause it brings people and their power together, makes worries visible and helps to create a sense of community in our young generation. Fridaysforfuture - a global movement what moves local a lot.
Garbage on the Beaches: Mexico vs Iceland By Tamara When I joined the project to clean up one of Iceland's beaches, I expected to see a coastline littered with trash thrown away by tourists, mostly plastic, something I'm used to seeing in Mexico, but I was in for a big surprise when I arrive to the first cleaning day, the coast was "clean"? In Mexico there can be tons of plastic bottles, fried food wrappers and personal items, they can range from shoes to beach umbrellas, so much so that in 2018, 100 tons of garbage were accumulated daily on the beaches of Acapulco and 50 thousand in Zihuatanejo during the weeks of vacations according to the promoter and Administrator of Beaches. The coastline I helped clean up, located in Stöðvarfjörður had mostly metal scrap, from small metal rods to full tractors, there was also bits of wood, some fishing nets, small pieces of hard plastic and some shoes, however all these trash were few compared to Mexico. One thing I found in common was the fact that waste like plastic bags they are confused with marine algae that reach the coast dragged by the current and begin to dry, both look very similar and this is dangerous for animals that seek food there, since by confusing the plastic with a marine algae, they ingest it, suffocate and die. I think that programs for the maintenance of natural areas is something that should be given more publicity, specially in Mexico, because there are some of these programs but I don't know them, they need to get better publicity and there is no awareness about caring for the planet to carry out this, but an option to help the planet is to be informed about cleaning projects or that when you are on the beach, do not throw your garbage in the sea, if you can, bring a bag with you and collect as much garbage you can and take it to a recycling center afterwards.
BIBLIOGRAPHY •https://www.greenpeace.org/mexico/blog/9039/la-basura-plastica-de-12-paises-llega-a-playas-mexicanas/. •https://heraldodemexico.com.mx/nacional/2019/4/6/basura-en-playas-mexicanas-aumenta-en-vacacionesel-plastico-es-el-mayor-residuo-86035.html
Microplastic in nature and the human body By Muriel Plastic pieces that are less than five millimeters in length, which is comparable to the size of a sesame seed, are called “microplastics”, which results from both commercial product development and the breakdown of larger plastics. The problem with plastic and therefore also microplastic is that they take hundreds or even thousands of years to decompose during which they wreak havoc on the environment. Plastic is getting into the environment through littering but also due to storms, water runoff, and winds that carry plastic into our oceans. Single-use plastic items are one of the biggest sources of plastic in the environment.
How is microplastic affecting marine life? . Between five and thirteen tonnes of plastic are dumped into the
ocean every year. This means that there are currently over 140 million tonnes of plastic floating on and under the water. Water covers 70% of the earth's surface, which means that with the pollution of the oceans, a large part of the earth and its living beings are in danger. The impact of microplastic on nature is immense. Every year around 135.000 marine mammals and birds die because of it. Microplastic can have negative effects on phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, and large marine organisms. Penelope Lindeque, a marine biologist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK says: „Researchers have done the most work on microplastic risks to marine organisms. Zooplankton, for instance, among the smallest marine organisms, grow more slowly and reproduce less successfully in the presence of microplastics. The animals’ eggs are smaller and less likely to hatch.“ Her experiments show that the reproduction problems stem from the zooplankton not eating enough food. The decomposition processes of plastic release hazardous substances such as bisphenol A, phthalates, and flame retardants, which can accumulate in the food chain and have a lasting effect on the genetic material and hormone balance of marine organisms. For example, this can result in delaying growth and abnormal behavior. Additionally, microplastic can block the gastrointestinal tract of small birds and fish and can also cause physical damage internally such as lacerations or irritation to sensitive GI tissues. But microplastic will not only affect the animals but also us humans. Microplastic in the human body Microplastic is getting into the human body through inhalation of particles in air and ingestion in dust, water, and our diet because it’s in salt, beer, fresh fruit, and vegetables. Fish and seafood also carry microplastic because they can’t differentiate between food and microplastic and it gets into their system. But the amount of plastic we eat by eating mussels and seafood is still lower than the amount we just breathe in that is flying in the air around us, fibers shed by our clothes carpets, and upholstery. Through all of this, around 65.000 particles of plastic are being consumed through food and 74.000 - 121.000 particles through air and dust every year. The WWF estimates that a person consumes around 5 grams of plastic every week, which is roughly the amount of a credit card. Scientists right now are unsure whether microplastic is harmful to the human body. But even if the results are not alarming right now, Dick Vethaak, a professor emeritus of ecotoxicology, says that we should be concerned because plastic should not be in our blood and lungs. Scientists examining animals confirm this because they found out that solid particles can damage the gastrointestinal tract, particles complicate food intake, and lead to a feeling of satiety and the uptake of very small particles can lead to inflammation.
What can we do? There are many things we can do and have to do to save the ocean. You can start by doing a few things in your daily life a bit differently. Here is a list of what you can do differently in your daily life: 1. Buy a water filter and stop using bottled water. Most carbon block filters with a micron rating of 2 or less will remove microplastics. 2.Buy non-synthetic eco-friendly clothes. 3. Air dry, don’t use the dryer.
4. Reduce your meat and fish consumption. You don’t have to go full Vegan but consider a more flexitarian approach. 5. Use paper bags instead of plastic bags, buy things that are not wrapped in plastic, or use cosmetics without them 6. Support organizations that use plastic, for example, to make new things. Furthermore, it is simply important to inform oneself about it, for example through documentaries, in order to be aware of the consequences of what one is doing.
Using whales as carbon sequestration machines A newborn idea by Nelson Ortiz IG: @nelsonortiz_montalvo
The Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) has exploded in popularity over the past few years. And for those who don’t know what this is, it is basically the tiny box you check to pay a small amount to compensate for the carbon footprint related to that action. This option is very common at purchasing a flight ticket, for example. Carbon compensation is not only done at the consumer level but also at the business level, where a company pays a sum of money to carbon sequestration projects in exchange for a certain amount of credits that certify that a certain amount of CO2 has been removed from the atmosphere. In turn, the company can proclaim that it has reduced its CO2 footprint by that exact amount. Businesses use this toattain their emission reduction targets. Here are some numbers that show the current and projected evolution of the voluntary carbon market.
⁃ According to the latest report from the non-profit Ecosystem Marketplace on VCM, the market has already topped the US$2BN mark in 2022. This result is driven by an increase in demand and carbon credits prices. ( https://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/articles/press-release-voluntary-carbon-markets-rocketin-2021-on-track-to-break-1b-for-first-time/ ) ⁃ The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM), sponsored by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) with knowledge support from McKinsey, estimates that demand for carbon credits could increase by a factor of 15 or more by 2030 and by a factor of up to 100 by 2050. Overall, the market for carbon credits could be worth upward of $50 billion in 2030. (https://www.mckinsey.com/ business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/a-blueprint-for-scaling-voluntary-carbon-markets-to-meet-theclimate-challenge) Most carbon sequestration is done through forestry and renewable energy projects, representing around 92% of the VCM (Ecosystem Marketplace). These solutions are so popular thanks to the simplicity of their mechanism as well as their scalability. In general, it is never advised to rely so heavily upon a reduced amount of solutions. As we can imagine, forestry and renewable energy projects have their limitations and potential points of failure. The main problem we can cite about forestry is the longevity problem. Keeping a tree alive is often challenging, and when it dies, the carbon captured is rereleased into the atmosphere. In that case, we can wonder what would happen with the carbon credits that were given to the project and that have probably already been sold. In a future where wildfires and extreme climate will likely increase in frequency, this can become a critical point for this type of solution. As for many aspects of life, diversity is the critical ingredient in any portfolio of carbon capture projects. Over the years, other types of carbon capture technologies have seen the light of the day. A promising new category is the ones that are based on ocean mechanisms. The main advantage of solutions based on the ocean is that when something dies, it simply sinks to the bottom of the ocean, where the carbon can stay trapped for hundreds of years. Carbon captured through ocean-based solutions is often called blue carbon. This is where whales come into play. Beyond coastal flora, science has discovered that whales also play a critical ecological role in the ocean’s capability to sequester massive amounts of carbon, thus helping to mitigate climate change.
How does it works? Whales sequester carbon through two main mechanisms that we know of. Their body and their contribution to phytoplankton growth. Here are two infographics from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) that illustrates these two mechanism (https://seas-atrisk.org/members-news/the-green-whale-how-whalesgive-us-hope-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/). A famous study published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2019 estimated the value provided by a single living whale services to be $2 million ( https://www.imf.org/Publications/fandd/ issues/2019/12/natures-solution-to-climate-changechami). They also estimated that a single whale could sequester 33 tons of CO2 in their body and 250 tons of CO2 annually through their enhancement in phytoplankton productivity. The latter is computed using the current population of whales and their 37 billion tons per year contribution to the entire population. Simply with the contribution to phytoplankton productivity, a living whale captures as many as 11 thousand trees annually, considering that a tree absorbs up to 22 Kg of CO2 per year. Carbon sequestration is needed if we want to reach net-zero by 2050 There is much debate concerning carbon capture. Some wonder if it is simply a way of allowing the Business As Usual trajectory for polluting companies. Also, some see it as a distraction from the primary solution, reducing our emissions. However, it has been proven that if we want to reach net zero by 2050, we will need negative emissions. In other words, we not only need to stop harming nature, but we also need to repair the damage we've done so far. In the latest report from the International Energy Agency titled "Net Zero by 2050," Carbon Capture, Storage, and Usage (CCUS) is presented as one of the key solutions to achieve this goal(https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050). Furthermore, let's look at the scenarios from the latest IPCC report on the mitigation of climate change(https:// report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg3/pdf/ IPCC_AR6_WGIII_SummaryForPolicymakers.pdf). We can see that most scenarios leading to <2°C global warming require negative emissions. In other words, we need carbon capture to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, and we will need to have it at scale. This, of course, should not come at the expense of initiatives that aim to reduce our emissions. Conclusions: ⁃ Carbon capture, storage, and usage (CCUS) are necessary to reach net zero by 2050 and avoid the worst consequences of climate change. ⁃ Currently, we're relying heavily on one type of carbon capture (forestry), which reduces the system's resilience to future challenges. ⁃ Whales can be an exciting solution to include in any compensation portfolio, firstly because of the longevity aspect of an ocean-based solution and secondly because of the biodiversity benefits that come with it. Scientists now recognize that without biodiversity – both in the ocean and on land – ecosystems lose their resilience and capacity to draw down carbon from the atmosphere at the rates needed to stay within the 1.5 °C warming. Thus, whales are critical allies in the fight against climate change.
The Story behind Fishing Nets on Iceland’s Coasts By Janina Ludeman, Michele Steinhauer, Leni Zandar When we went Beachcleaning for the first time in Iceland, we expected to find mainly plastic bottles, plastic bags and packaging waste in general. But what we actually found surprised us. See for yourself: We found ropes, stranded buoys and other equipment for industrial fishing - especially huge fishing nets. Those items that we collected are called Ghost Gear. This expression is used to designate the equipment lost and abandoned by the fishing industry, which pollutes the environment, threatens animals and stucks in the ocean and at our coasts. That we picked up more ghost gear than plastic bottles was not a coincidence at all. George Leonard, the chief scientist at the Ocean Conservancy, states that “At least half of [ocean plastic waste] is not consumer plastics, which are central to much of the current debate, but fishing gear.” In fact 46% of the great pacific garbage patch consist of plastic fishing nets. How does ghost gear get to Icelands coasts? You may know that different countries have varying fishing requirements. In some countries with lower standards, they just cut the fishing net when it is stuck under a stone. In Europe the disposal of fishing gear in the ocean is illegal. If boats are losing their nets – for example they get ripped off by storm or other boats – it must be reported. The further action is up to the countries and it is not mandatory to pick them up. Another reason why fishing nets are dropped into the sea is illegal fishing. In order to not getting caught by the coast guards, the fishermen are cutting of their nets and leaving them behind in the water – no matter what they already collected or that their nets will keep on catching animals. Because there are a lot of sea currents which are streaming to Iceland, trash from all over the world is also arriving at different coasts in Iceland. So you see there are different reasons why fishing gear lands in the sea and flows to Iceland, where we at least collect some of them while cleaning the beaches. Why is ghost gear so dangerous? One of the biggest problems of ghost gear is that abandoned fishing nets are traps for any kind of animal living in or near the sea, like seals, dolphins or sea gulls. They get stuck in the nets and die. At least 344 species are threatened by the plastic in the oceans. Furthermore, ghost gear stays in the ocean for a long time. It is not biodegradable and because of waves and rocks it declines into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastic, which fish confuse with food. In fact two thirds of fish species in the north Atlantic ocean have plastic inside of which 98% are plastic fibres. The plastic then stays inside the fish and we consume this amount of plastic. Also more than 90% of seabirds have plastic in their guts and “researchers are pre dicting the ocean will contain more plastic than fish in weight by 2050”. The marine ecosystem is essential for the climate on our earth. It produces 85% of our oxygen and stores more carbon dioxide than the rainforest. Because of that, humankind needs healthy and living oceans and the threat for the marine life falls back on us too. On the one hand it is important to stop or at least to reduce the production of ghost gear. For example, obligations like the above-mentioned constraints in Europe are essential for reaching that goal. And because the ocean connects the whole globe and so it comes that ghost gear is an international problem, it is necessary that all our countries are solving the issue together. Iceland itself joined last year 17 other national governments to the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), who “is focused on solving the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear worldwide”. But since there is already a lot of ghost gear in the ocean – about 640.000 tonnes of ghost gear is discarded in the sea every year –, there is beside avoiding new ghost gear on the other hand the need for removing the one which is already in our oceans. That’s why organizations, governments and companies are developing projects like ghostdiving in order to locate nets and gear and recollect them. And finally, we as volunteers in Iceland can contribute our part to improve the situation by coast- and beach cleanings.
Lupines destroying Iceland’s environment. By Lutzie and Hanna The attempt of two piglets being brought to Iceland in order to maintain the biodiversity in 2019 failed. Their task was to eat the leaves and the roots of the so-called Lupines – an invasive plant – at different locations on Iceland. But why was this even necessary? Lupines on Iceland are an invasive species which are living organisms that cause harm to an ecosystem it isn’t native to. Requirements for a species to be called invasive are for example the quick growth and reproduction of itself, fast adaption and spreading in a new environment and the cause of any kind of harm for example considering the environment, economy or even the human health. Due to processes linked to globalization and the world getting connected more and more those species are primarily spread by human activities. But why are invasive species so harmful? When being introduced into a new ecosystem they don’t have any kind of predators meaning they can grow and spread. At some point they are outgrowing and outcompeting indigenous species, spreading diseases, destroying food sources for native species and even reducing the possible diversity of species. With those advantages an invasive species is able to change a diverse ecosystem into a monoculture. In other words invasive species are considered “invasive” when there’s nothing in the environment where they were introduced that could guarantee competition to said invasive specie In 1970 the government of Iceland started to import Lupines in order to fight soil erosions. On Iceland the weather is marked by strong precipitation and sandstorms concluding in the soil being loosened too much. Lupines prevent this by forming a large root system underneath the soil, which ensures the stable remaining of it. Since Lupines are undemanding, have low standards and there can be found lots of bare floors on Iceland, the Lupines that were originally just planted around Reykjavík can now be found on the whole island. Through this spreading the invasive species not only affects the environment with its disadvantages but also enriches the soil with nitrogen. That benefits the chervil – another invasive plant. Is it even possible to stop this spreading? This is the point where our work as volunteers starts. We spent time tearing out the Lupines to stop their growth. Even though we cannot stop it completely, we prevent the spread for the moment so the native species have an advantage over the Lupines. Those areas we freed from lupines can now grow maturely. It is not sure how much time it takes until the Lupines take over the free areas again. Although it may seem our work has just a very small impact it is still something and we see the progress and the importance in protecting the environment. Maybe there is another solution approach for the problem of the Lupines and a way to integrate an invasive species and transform them into an active part of the environment?
How does the Gulfstream work?
By Leon The Gulfstream is a 10.000km long water current that transports warm water from Africa and Mexico to Europa with a speed of roughly 2m per second kind of like a gigantic heat pump. All of this movement has a lot to do with density of the water. Denser water sinks down and the least dens water on the suffice can be moved by wind. There are two determining factors for water density: salt content and temperature, hot water is less dens than cold water and salty water is denser/heavier than freshwater. Along the equator a lot of water evaporates living the salt behind and increasing the salt content in the remaining water. The constantly blowing south east trade wind drives warm water on the suffice from the west coast of Africa to the north west into the Gulf of Mexico where it heats up more to about 30°C. The turning of the earth and the west winds then direct it towards Europe where it splits into three streams. One part flows south, another east and the third north where it releases heat into the air. There the salt content of the water rises on account of evaporation and it drops down between Greenland, Norway and Iceland and forms the biggest water waterfalls on the planet. Gigantic 15km wide pillars with water falling as deep as 4.000m, this creates a strong maelstrom and constantly pulls in new water. That is the reason the Gulfstream gets pulled towards Europa. Many water animals like whales use the Gulfstream to travel vast distances from the Caribbean to the north of Europa like Iceland. But by far the biggest impact the Gulfstream has on Europa is the amount of heat it brings. Without it the weather would approximately be 5 to 10°C colder. Due to climate change and the resulting melting of the glaziers and icecaps scientist fear that an increase in freshwater might lower the salt content and density of the ocean around Iceland to the point that the north Atlantic current is no longer heavy enough to sink down, create a maelstrom and pull new warm water in. In the worst case that could bring the Gulfstream to a standstill with all the negative implications for the European climate. Some even speak of a new ice age for the north of Europa. Rough winters and cold summers, permafrost etc. devastating effect on agriculture and cattle farms. That in turn could lead to food shortages which would hit the poorer countries the hardest. I think the possibillity of that happening should alert us even more to the drastic impacts of climat change and how dangerus they can be.
Polar bears and climate change By Lucy 60 years ago the first polar bear was discovered in Iceland, since then about 600 polar bears from Greenland choose the same way. The reason is a sad one. The non-native bears take the 300 to 600 km journey, several hours without food, because their home is literally melting away under their feet.
The scandal in 1962 when a female polar bear was shot in Iceland went viral in many countries. The polar bear, which had recently gave birth , searched after assumptions in her homeland Greenland for food and must have drifted with an ice floe. When it melted and no other ice floes were in the near it swam hundreds kilometers antil it finally found mainland. Once at the shore, it took less than 24 hours for the polar bear to be spotted and then shot because, according to police, its starved state posed a danger to humans and animals. Polar bears move from floe to floe for food. With their incredible sense of smell, which is considered the best among mammals, they can track seals under the ice. But due to climate change and global warming, there is less and less ice. Greenland is the second largest ice sheet in the world, and is covered 80% with ice. This ice sheet is over 100,000 years old and has a thickness of 3.2 km. However, this habitat is severely threatened by global warming. Southwest Greenland observed the fastest warming of three degrees in the last seven years. In west Greenland, a maximum temperature of 25.9 degrees has been measured. Due to this rapid warming, the melting phases are becoming increasingly violent, so that in 2012 97% of the inland surface melted and between 2002 and 2016 the ice sheet lost 265 million tons per year. This goes so far that experts believe that the sea ice will have completely disappeared by 2035. By these facts it becomes clear how much these animals are actually in danger, but also for us humans it has serious consequences. When all the ice in Greenland has melted, the sea level will rise by seven meters. Because one third of the world's population lives on coasts ist leading to a global catastrophe. In addition, the inland ice helps to moderate the earth's temperature, once this has disappeared the temperatures on the whole earth will rise considerably. For hunting, polar bears rely on pack ice, which is formed from seawater and comes from the largest glacier in West Greenland, the Ilulissat Glacier. This glacier moves the ice sheet into the ocean at record speed. Due to global warming, this pack ice melts earlier and freezes later, which leads to minimis the hunting season. Polar bears can eat less reserves, which leads to a bad condition, limits their reproduction and makes it difficult for them to provide for their young. To find enough food it polar bears change their location and swim for example to Iceland. Scientists therefore assume that more and more are looking for their way to Iceland.
Polar bears habitat
Iceberg routes
The Shape of Happiness - two weeks volunteering in Iceland By Vivian Chiu
Happiness is not about how much wealth you have or how successful you are, but whether you love what you do and live your life the way you like; that is my most profound feeling during the two-week volunteer camp in Iceland.
Tears of the Ocean During the first few days of the volunteer camp, we cleaned several different coasts in western Iceland. It was my first time doing beach cleaning. In my imagination, cleaning the beach is doing something like picking up bottles and cans on the beach. However, after actually doing it, I realized that I was wrong. On the coast of Iceland, there nare larger pieces of trash like fishing nets, iron wire, and occasionally some plastic bags or ropes. And there's more "unnatural" trash than I thought. Fishing nets or iron wires are buried deep in sand or even under rocks after being washed away by waves. It often takes a lot of effort to remove them. After the explanation from other volunteers, I realized that whether it is plastic or fishing nets, it is the leading cause of death of birds or marine life. "Ghost fishing": Abandoned fishing nets trap countless schools of fish in the ocean and gradually deplete them. Plastic: Ocean creatures or birds that swallow plastic risk death. Even if there is no death, those plastic residues in fish or shellfish can be harmful to humans after being eaten. For a long time, I thought that beach cleaning was just landscaping. And now, I know that what we are doing is helping marine life find its safe home again. All trash is a memory forgotten by humans. They seem to turn into tears of the ocean, quietly flowing on the shore, telling the story and helplessness of this ocean. So we flicked them off, put them in heavy bags, and took them home. "You are strong." After the volunteer activities in western Iceland, we went to the north of Iceland to do forest maintenance. The "owner" we met in the forest was a cheerful local Icelandic woman. After greeting us, she explained the tasks that needed our help. There are two main tasks of my work: 1. Help collect the felled forest branches and take them to the. recycling center for recycling. 2. Help build roads out of stones Regarding collecting branches, I didn't quite understand why they cut down these branches at first. After asking the “owner” the reason for that, I realized that they were trying to make paths for people to walk on, so that's why they needed to cut off the lower branches. However, I didn't fully understand the importance of cutting branches to make paths -until I got lost in the forest. One day, when I was making a path out of stones in the forest, I suddenly heard a strange sound. To find out what it was, I followed the sound source and walked out of the woods to a prairie I had never seen before. The beauty of the prairie was incredible, and just as I saw it, I forgot how to walk back into the forest. No matter how I went, the low branches clawed my clothes and blocked my way, just like in “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”. I got lost in the forest.
After that time, I first realized the importance of making roads for the forest. And also, I knew that the "owner" of the forest was named Rut; she was just a volunteer but not an owner. She and her mother, Kristrún, a seventy-year-old but still quite strong lady, has been doing the work of afforestation and road building since they deeply love this forest. "My hand was hurt when I was cutting down trees." Rut showed us her left hand. "But at least it's okay to eat and go to the toilet, so don't worry!" she said proudly and laughed. "I enjoy doing these things for the forest. I feel delighted." She smiled innocently, like a child with the sun shining on her face. During breaks, her mother served us homemade jams, bread, coffee, etc. Although we are not native English speakers, we tried to understand, talk and listen to each other. They told us about the history of the forest and the town, about their lives. We told them where we come from and how we feel about this town. Time was warm as the autumn sunshine but slowly passed among the leaves. Before leaving, they gave each of us a deep hug. Rut laughed and said to me: "You are strong." Since this was the first time I was told "You are strong" by others, I was surprised and a little happy. Although it was only three days, we helped to build roads and throw away many branches of the forest, making the forest different. This experience is something I have never experienced or thought I could do in the past. Epilogue Iceland is an incredible country. There are more animals (especially sheep) than people, which is an exceptional experience for me. However, the "smile" I saw here was something that impressed me the most. The people here love their land very much and always have warm smiles when protecting the forest or maintaining the local traditional culture. I was also impressed by the smiles of the volunteers who helped clean up the beach when they found the vast fishing net and successfully removed it. It was a smile mixed with a sense of accomplishment and joy, and it was particularly dazzling under the reflection of the waves. These smiles don't come from what they can take or how much they earn. They don't even count how much they "contributed." Since everything is voluntary, and people do things just because they have a love of it, they enjoy doing it so that they can feel happiness. My experience here goes against the principle of equal exchange of all things under capitalism. Since capitalism only teaches us how to acquire valuable items, it doesn't tell us that priceless happiness is so easy to get. A month ago, I was living a 9-to-5 life in Tokyo, dragging my heavy body to and from get off work on the train every day and seeing people as unhappy as myself crowding the train. I thought this was "life." A month later, I witnessed a different way of life on the other side of the world.
“Another shape of happiness”
My “first magazine” By Luca Russo Ig: @liukkkkkkkkkkkkk During my stay in Iceland I got the opportunity to be in charge of producing one edition of the “UNA magazine”. I had the chance to challenge myself, as an editor and as a “graphic designer”. Looking back at this edition I feel very proud of the finished project. I feel thankful to everyone who took part at putting this edition together. I’m thankful to the challenge it brought to me. I was never able to build a project like this, I would love to conclude this with a photo gallery of the best pictures I’ve taken during my trip. I’m very thankful to whoever contributed at developing me and this magazine.
Volunteers Photogallery