UNA
The official magazine of worldwide friends iceland
Table of contents MEET THE TEAM, 3 WELCOME TO ICELAND, 5 JOKULSARLON GLACIER LAGOON, 6 ICELANDIC SWIMMINGPOOL, 7 CLIMATE CHANGE - ICELAND AND JAPAN, 9 ICELAND'S NEW CLIMATE STRATEGY, 12 CLIMATE CHANGES - INTERVIEWS, 13 DREAMLAND STORIES OF ISLANDS, 14 BECOMING A VOLUNTEER, 15
MEET THE TEAM
Federica Marras, Italy
Eiji Akatsuka, Japan
Aurora Miari, Italy
Victoria Cassola, Italy
Nanae Ikawa, Japan
MEET THE TEAM
Jin Yim Hye, South Korea
Yuka Miura, Japan
Carola Piccari, Italy
Weronika Kowalska, Poland
Sophie Kim, South Korea
Welcome to Iceland by Aurora Miari and Carola Piccari
If you are completely alone in an unknown airport and you have been waiting for hours to take your second flight of the day, in order to finally arrive in Iceland, you would expect anything but receiving a message from Icelandair, glad to communicate you that “due to severe weather forecasted to impact Keflavik airport at midnight, we are exploring options in order to minimize the risk”. This is exactly what happened to me on February 13, 2020. And then, after a flight similar to a roller coaster ride, still completely alone, in an unknown country, you are finally arrived in your one-nighthostel, and this is the message left on the front door:
If “A powerful North Atlantic cyclone forced the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) to issue a red weather alertfor southern Iceland, in effect through the first half on February 14, 2020. Violent and dangerous wind gusts may exceed 200 km/h in some areas. Residents were advised to secure their neighborhood, fasten loose items and show caution. Traveling was not advised while weather warnings were in effect and Higher sea levels were anticipated due to storm surge with the possibility of small boats being damaged or detached from the dock. Damages due to flying debris are likely and construction workers were encouraged to secure construction sites.People were advised to remain indoors as much as possible while the red and orange warnings were in effect.
Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon By Federica Marras
February 14, 2020. Photo taken during the project Photography and Journalism on the move by WF Iceland
The last stop of our long long trip from Reykjavik to Stöðvarfjörður was at Jökulsárlón, the amazing glacier lagoon in the Southeast Iceland.This ice lagoon has become one of Iceland's most popular attractions due to its stunning beauty. The lagoon connects with the ocean and is therefore composed of a sea and fresh water mixture which causes its unique colour.Seals can be seen in Jökulsárlón year round and they flock to the mouth of the lagoon to catch fish in the winter, but unfortunately no seals for us!!.With a maximum depth of 248 metres, Jökulsárlón is Iceland's deepest lake and the surface area measures 18km².The icebergs are composed of ice that is over 1,000 years old. Jökulsárlón first started forming in 1934, when Breiðamerkurjökull glacier started retreating, leaving the lagoon in its path.The lagoon has increased fourfold in size since the early 1970s. In 1934 the glacier's edge was only 250 meters (820 ft) from the ocean, today the distance is 78 km (4.3-5 miles).
.Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon will have been turned into a fjord geologists predict. Global warming has caused the outlet glacier Breiðamerkurjökull to recede, exposing more and more of the lagoon at its edge. At the same time the narrow strip of land separating the lagoon from the ocean is being eroded by the sea.The lagoon has been expanding especially rapidly in the past twenty years, due to rising temperatures. We stopped at the lagoon just before the sunset and we were all enraptured by its beauty!The colors, the nature around us in all its strength, the fresh air .. difficult to explain in words gratitude in front of such beauty!But also a lot of sadness in thinking about what it was like, how it is now and how the lagoon will still change if things will not change!
Ljósmynd/Photo ©Helgi Arason, 1935
Our Day in Icelandic Swimming Pool By Sofi Kim
On our third day in Iceland, we finally had a chance to enjoy the best part of Icelandic life: heated swimming pool! We went through the blistering cold and had to drive over there for 45 minutes, but I would have to say it was totally worth it. Before you enter a locker room, you have to make sure you take off your shoes and leave it outside. I suppose it is because a space to take a shower is not separated from where you get undressed. One of the strictest rules in Icelandic swimming pool is that everyone should wash their bodies thoroughly with soap before putting on a bathing suit. Because going to public hot tubs and sauna is also a part of the Korean culture, I personally didn’t find it quite awkward to get naked in front of others. However, for those who would feel shy, there was also a corner where you could get undressed with more privacy. As soon as we came outside the dressing room, crazy wind encountered us. Because we were all wet after the shower, it won’t be difficult to imagine how cold we would have felt. Although it is a common sense that you shouldn’t run in a slippery water pool, I couldn’t help but run as fast as I can and dive straight into a hot tub. A hot tub in Icelandic swimming pool fits about 8 people in maximum. Because the size of the tub is not that big, you get to sit close to everyone and it is very natural for any kind of conversation to break out. Going to swimming pool is more than just an occasional leisurely activity to Icelanders. It is actually where most of the social gatherings happen in Iceland. Before or after work, people would talk about their days or about politics, pretty much everything that comes in mind.
They would also regularly drop by the pool to work out (there is a gym before you get into the dressing room), or to let children play. Because swimming pool takes quite a big part of their daily lives, Icelanders start learning how to swim in a relatively younger age. It is mandatory to learn swimming starting at the age of 6, but many of them start swimming even before that.I was watching the fantastic mountain view while relaxing in the pool. Fluffy snowflakes soon started to land on my face, adding the drama to the scene. I had to grow quite jealous of what Iceland’s nature offers to its people. The best view we get in Korea during our conversation is a Starbucks logo on a mug! I bet you can never get bored out of going to the swimming pool when such a beautiful scenery awaits (It is a pity we couldn’t take a picture of the view due to the pool rules).
Not only the view, but the heated water itself is the gift of the Icelandic nature. 99% of water in Iceland is heated by geothermal energy. Geothermal power plants use steam that comes from underground spring water to generate electricity. Because earth’s core generates unlimited amount of heat, geothermal power is considered as one of the most sustainable energy source. It is also relatively eco-friendly compared to oil or gas, having the smallest carbon footprint among any other heating or cooling energy sources. Visiting a swimming pool in Iceland is too cool a thing to miss. It is not only the most “local” activity you can do in Iceland, but it will certainly be a new experience for most of the tourists from the rest of the world. I mean, not everyone can be lucky enough to enjoy the magnificent nature inside a hot tub on a daily basis.
Climate change between Japan and Iceland by Eiji Akatsuka, Nanae Ikawa and Yuka Miura
JAPAN Annual mean surface temperature over Japan, as with the global annual mean, has increased, with some fluctuations, at a rate of 1.19 ℃ /100 years. During this winter, the temperature is around 10-15. Until this year, Japanesetemperature is under 10 ℃ in winter. And Ume which is blooming warm seasonlike a spring is blooming before I came Iceland.
The number of fatalities due to heat illness is on an increasing. Especially, in2010, we had extreme temperature with a high seen. Last year, Niigata updatedthe highest temperature in October. Moreover, there has been an increasingheavy rainfall in recent years and it related to serious damage to human. We can imagine the temperature will keep on increasing.
ICELAND From 1975 to 2008 the warming rate in Iceland was 0.35 ℃ per decade, which is substantially greater than the globally averaged warming trend (~0.2 ℃ per decade). In Reykjavik 2009 was the fourteenth consecutive year with temperatures above the 19611990 average and the 9th consecutive year warmer than the 1931-1960 average.Since the start of this millennium, the southeast outlet glaciers of Vatnajokull have retreated rapidly. Their mass loss per unit area is among the highest in the world. One of the glaciers in this area, Breidamerkurjokull, has retreated more than 5km,losing 11.2% of its volume from the late 19th century to 2010. Current annual average retreat of this glacier is about 96±9m and surface lowering 3.5-6m. Modeling of the Langjokull and Hofsjokull ice caps and the southern part of the Vatnajokull ice cap in Iceland reveals that these glaciers may essentially disappear over the next 100-200 years.
Geothermal power generation in Iceland Iceland is a pioneer in the use of geothermal energy for space heating. In late years geothermal power generation largely increases, and the geothermal power generation facilities generate electricity in 25% of total electricity of the country. The hot steam heated by heat of the magma in the underground of volcanic area is taken out by Iceland and the geothermal power generation from which I get the electric power by turning a turbine is being used. Warm water utilization by heating is performed from 1930 's, and a hot-water heating by the geotherm is introduced at most housing, school and public facilities present. Farm cleaning the snow from the road of a greenhouse for agriculture and fish and pool use are also a social wide scene besides the heating, and the geotherm is utilized, and the use besides the generation of electricity occupies 60 % over the geotherm use by the same country.
Approximately 99% or more of generation of Iceland serve waterpower and terrestrial heat by a clean energy. Iceland is a volcano country and effectively utilizes geothermal power generation. It is used in a heater by serving approximately 15% of electricity by geothermal power generation and sending warm drainage from the power station to the home. Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source that can be utilized in a sustainable or excessive manner. Excessive production from a geothermal field can only be maintained for a relatively short time and can indicate over investment in wells and power plant equipment. After a period of prolonged overuse, a field operator is forced to reduce the production to the level of maximum sustainable use. To avoid excessive production, “Stepwise development” is Iceland. Stepwise development of geothermal resources is a methodology that takes into consideration the individual conditions of each geothermal system, and minimizes the long-term production cost.
Geothermal power generation in Japan IJapanese energy self-sufficiency rate is only 8% but energy consumption is 4th in the world. The Japanese terrestrial heat resources which are a world eminent "volcano country" have a high scale of the third place of the world. As for the geothermal power generation technology of Japan, the world is top level, but the use to the generation of terrestrial heat resources in the country is only only 2%. I introduce from factor that geothermal power generation does not advance to this time in Japan and this of the geothermal power generation. The Japanese terrestrial heat resources have potential energy of the third place of the world next to the United States, Indonesia. It was geothermal power generation regarded as rose color of Japan, but might not always colonize widely. As for the factor, three points of the next are thought about. The system of the electricity industry blocking a new entryBecause the electricity industry of Japan was monopolized by the electric power company every area, the new entry from other fields was difficult. The development support of the country was negativeThe country was more negative against development to geothermal power generation for small scale than nuclear power generation and thermal power generation, and the development budget was small, too. The quasinational park national the most of the right lotIt was difficult to build the geothermal power plant by "the natural park method" in a natural park (a national park and quasinational park). In addition, adjustment with the hot spring area is necessary because there is concern about the influence on hot spring.
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But the geothermal power generation was reviewed as consistency of the "renewable energy" use with a nuclear plant accident of 3.11. After Great East Japan Earthquake, one consequence of Fukushima nuclear accident was a shutdown of all nuclear power plants, which resulted in significant increase in fossil fuels use, increased fuel imports and rising carbon dioxide emissions. It has also brought electricity prices to unsustainable levels. Ministry of the Environment relaxed part of regulation by "the handling of the terrestrial heat development in the national, the quasi-national park" in March, 2012. In this way, development of the geothermal power generation was accelerated. It will be that the future geothermal power generation development accelerates from the deregulation of expectation and the country to efficient renewable energy. Deregulation and harmony with the environment, an explanation effort to the hot spring area are demanded in that. When the development in the national park and coexistence with the hot spring area advance, as for the ability for geothermal power generation of 2050, it is about 10,000,000kW (for about 20 engines of the latest thermal power generation), and there is the estimate to occupy 10% of the whole in the electric energy. It may be said that the expectation to geothermal power generation is big.
Iceland's New Climate Strategy By Victoria Cassola
On 4 November 2016, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) signed an agreement, called the Paris Agreement, aimed at limiting global warming and dealing with greenhouse gas emissions. The main long term goal of the agreement is to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels, with the commitment to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. With these goals in mind, each country has to develop a plan and regularly report on the contribution it undertakes to limit global warming.
What about Iceland? Climate change is having, and will have, a big impact on Iceland and Icelandic waters. Almost all of Iceland‘s glaciers are receding. Glaciers cover some 11% of Iceland today, but scientists warn that they may largely vanish in the next 100-200 years if warming trends are not halted. On 10 September 2018 the Icelandic Government announced a new climate strategy, that aims to step up on the efforts on reducing net emissions and and reach the government‘s ambitious aim to make Iceland carbon neutral before 2040. This new strategy has very defined priorities, and works simultaneously on two levels to reach two different goals: to gradually eliminate fossil fuels in transport and provide clean transportations run on renewable energies; to increase carbon sequestration, which is a geological process of confinement of carbon dioxide, by restoration of woodlands and wetlands, revegetation and afforestation. Therefore, fundings for climate mitigation measures will get a substantial increment, and the carbon tax, which in nowadays already in place, will be progressively increased.
Climate changes – views in different countries By Weronika Kowalska
Have you ever wondered what are the point of views on climate changes in different countries? What do the people do to prevent them? What actions do they take? In this article we present the opinions from South Korea, Japan, Italy, Poland and Belgium.
POLAND
ITALY
Do the people care in Poland about the climate changes? Generally we do not care much as the nation. The good example is the coal. It is our main electricity resource. And although most of the countries want to change to renewable energy sources, in Poland there are still plans to build more coal power stations and mines.
Do the people care in Italy about the climate changes? Federica: Yes, but there are regions that are more active. In the south people do not do that much. It is because of the economic reasons.
Do you feel consequences of climate changes in Poland? Generally each year now we get less and less snow in the winter. Also I used to skate on the small lake nearby my city. But recently it is just not freezing anymore because of the high temperatures.
What exactly are the actions taken in Italy against climate changes? Aurora: In Bologna, where I study, many students joined the climate Fridays. What is more, in my region (Emilia Romagna) the government recently decided that we have to pay for the general waste by weight. Each family has a microchip. So if you sort the rubbish well, you pay less.
SOUTH KOREA
JAPAN
What exactly are the actions taken in South Korea against climate change? Jin: In the supermarket you get charged if you want to get a bag. Also it is forbidden to use plastic or paper cups inside the coffee shops. It is only allowed in case of take-out.
What actions are taken in Japan? In Japan we have now the new environment minister, but he has no plan to act on global warming. He actually blamed people in Europe about it. However, we separate and recycle the waste. In the shops you have to pay for the plastic bag now and in some coffee shops the paper cups are used instead of the plastic ones. There are also many recycle places where you can bring bicycles, clothes, laptops, bottle corks etc.My mother takes eco bags, when she goes shopping. This way you get the discount in the shop.
Do the people feel responsible for the changes? Are they willing to take any actions? Sofi: Because of our history, people are obsessed about economic growth. In recent year we have seen such a rapid change. We do not want to come back to where we were. We are scared to come back to that place. So the people feel like the climate action are kind of bothering and stopping the economic growth.
Do you feel any causes of the climate changes in Japan? We had a lot of natural disasters: typhoons, heavy rains, earthquakes. Temperature rises.
Dreamland stories of islands By Federica Marras
Two days ago, in our WF house in Stöðvarfjörður, we saw a very interesting documentary, the title was Dreamland.Watching the documentary I found considerable connections with my island, Sardinia.Both have a very large territory and a low number of inhabitants, magnificent and unspoiled nature and small rural realities that with the development of progress have been slowly abandoned to themselves.But unfortunately I was able to notice other very sad similarities such as the strong presence of NATO bases in both of the islands.On the Sardinian territory there are some of the most important American military bases, in terms of size and characteristics, of the Mediterranean.Since the 1950s, NATO and the United States have transformed the island into a large strategic area of essential war services: exercises, training, testing of new weapon systems, simulated wars, fuel depots, weapons and ammunition, espionage network and telecommunications. 60% of all military bases in Italy are located in Sardinia.The island, among the most militarized regions of Italy, is home to the largest polygons in Europe, of which the Sardinians denounce the impact on the environment and the health of citizens.Over the years there have been many demonstrations that have seen the Sardinians fight against military exercises and against the polygons hosted by the Sardinian territory.The cattle that grazed near the polygons or within the same polygons started to have malformations, as if these animals were in contact with a radioactive substance.Later it was discovered that the same thing happened to the shepherds: the children who were born had serious malformations and the shepherds died very young because they fell ill with tumors and leukemias.
Sardinia
Iceland
Becoming a volunteer By Aurora Miari
Last summer I decided to challenge myself leaving for a two-weeks volunteer camp organized by an Italian environmentalist association (Legambiente) in Paestum, a very little but wonderful town in south Italy, near Naples and 750 km away from my city, Reggio Emilia. The main reason why I made this decision was that I wanted to make something important, different and out of the ordinary for the planet, in a moment as delicate as the one that we are all experiencing directly on our skin all over the world; what I didn’t know was that I would give the biggest gift to myself.Personally I think that the best thing about these experiences is the leap into the unknown that you have to do if you really want to challenge yourself and live every single moment they can gift you. And this leap has been even bigger coming to Iceland: here you are not just completely alone in a new place with totally foreign people from all over the world, but you are in one of the few places in the world that is left unspoiled by human beings.
This means that you will have to get used not only to live with strangers, but also to adapt to a new life-standard. Life in Iceland is not quite easy for an European: for example, the weather conditions are constantly changing and during the winter there are less hours of light than normal.Being a volunteer gives you a huge charge of energy, because it makes you feel part of something much bigger than you. Even just the feeling of doing something important not only for you, not only for the others, but for the planet, is completely worth it.To decide to leave for a volunteer camp it is definitely not the easiest choice you can make, but today, almost at the end of my second camp, the biggest and most sincere advice that I would give to anyone is: put all your fear aside and leave. There is no better way to get to know people’s humanity, the reality of a different country and, last but not least, yourself, than do it by sharing this kind of experience with strangers.