CoolPlanet2009 – UN launches European public information
campaign on the environment.

With: The Road to Copenhagen initiative under the leadership of Margot Wallström, vice-president of the European Commission, Gro Harlem Brundtland, United Nations Special envoy on climate change and Mary Robinson, vice chairman of the Club de Madrid, UNRIC director Afsane Bassir-Pour and Björk.

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Nattura.info got an extract, made by the author Auður H. Ingólfsdóttir that gave us the permission to publish it, as well as the publisher of the book: Environmental Affairs and Foreign Policy: The Icelandic Strategy Negotiating Climate Changes. In this article we’ve got the brief and critical history of Icelandic climate negotiations.

At the end of the Kyoto-meeting, the representatives of the Icelandic government declared that the pollution limit registered for Iceland was not acceptable. To meet this standpoint half-way, a clause was inserted in the final decision of the meeting, for the later estimation of the position of small countries where the emission of certain projects could be relatively much. The attitude of the Icelandic government was testing to the full to get a special clause for Iceland, where an emission of greenhouse gases from a new heavy industry would be excluded from general commitments. Otherwise, Iceland could not sign the treaty. (more…)

Guðfrídur Lilja Grétarsdóttir
writes from the front lines of the struggle in Iceland and says that we cannot delay.

I never tire of quoting Jóhanna Jóhansdóttir from Hamarsheidi in Gnúpverjahreppur, she has lived with Thjórsá River for almost a century:
“The beauty was absolute. I thought of Landsvirkjun that might drown the hayfields of Hagi, this beautiful estate from the time of Settlement, drown it in such a way that it will no longer be habitable – and then no one will sit by a window and admire this beauty, or enjoy the fruits of the earth. It is a great authority that a few greedy men take into their own hands.”
There is a tendency to brand the struggle for nature preservation as extremist or unrealistic. Jóhanna Jóhannsdóttir, former farmer in her 90s is no extremist. Her fellow farmers, who valiantly fight for the preservation of Thjórsá, are no extremists either. These are normal Icelanders with different interests, different political backgrounds, who have different outlooks on life. They do, however, share the wish to protect their country – our country.
For more than four decades the locals around Thjórsá have stood guard and fought the Thjórsárver plant. These people have sacrificed precious time, energy, and even health, for the cause, and future generations shall forever be in their debt. (more…)

Rebecca Solnit spent some months in Iceland and gives us her view on the civil consciousness or the lack of it…
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With loosened ties and rolled-up sleeves, Secretariat staff in New York carried on their work in August with raised thermostat settings, as part of the “Cool UN” initiative to conserve energy. While it has sometimes been difficult during particularly hot days, Secretariat staff collectively made an important contribution toward reducing the UN’s carbon footprint.
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For five weeks 2500 Swedish pupils will decline a lift to school as part of the “On your own two feet” – campaign, an initiative that has been set up to improve the environment, traffic safety and school performance.
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