Iceland's president weighs in on impact of rapidly disappearing Arctic ice

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 09:00:00 -0500

Iceland is in a unique position as far as the changing global environment. The northern country not only sees the melting ice, but also has a front-row seat for the effort to convert to a clean-energy economy. Iceland uses clean energy for virtually all of its electricity and heating.

Plantiful

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 16:37:20 -0500

The monetary savings from moving on from the old 20th century fuels to new, and renewable forms of energy are significant, as Iceland is now enjoying. In switching our home from old energies to new energies, we enjoy low electric bills, solar hot water during the summers, free clothes drying with a clothesline, and security in knowing that our pile of heating wood is not going to double in the course of the winter. Just in conservation, we are saving a lot of money. We have two cars, one is a hybrid and the other is electric, and the savings there have also been significant. It is great that Iceland has moved ahead. Perhaps the rest of the world can as well.

But with the ice already melting at terrifying speeds, Royal Dutch Shell is already drilling away for more destructive profits. I guess none of the U.S. politicians or the oil corporates have ever seen the movie "Age of Stupid." We are well on our way to this new age. I am doing all I can to slow this tragedy down: solar hot water panels, LED lights, composting, one hybrid and one electric car, manual landscaping tools, shutting things off, wood stove, clotheslines.

Who else is willing to make the changes to at least extend our way of life out before we force nature to make changes for us?

We can slow this down. We only have to do it.

Good luck everyone-- enjoy the ride.

PRI: Public Radio International

Iceland's president weighs in on impact of rapidly disappearing Arctic ice

Plantiful