May 8: What a Wonderful World

On David Attenborough's 100th birthday.

 

A century of storytelling and curiosity...

 

The Icelandic band Sigur Rós were invited to perform at the special event at the Royal Albert Hall tonight. I look forward to watching it. I saw them perform live there in October 2025 - a memorable occasion.

On their Facebook page earlier, they said:

"We are deeply honoured to be a part of David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth celebration. He is one of the pillars of nature conservation and has raised awareness of environmental protection all over the world. He has been a part of our lives from early childhood, educating us on the wonders of our planet.

The fight for nature is one of the most important things in our lifetime.

 
Even in our little Iceland where we still have the largest unspoiled wilderness in Europe, we are facing plans of irreversible damage to our nature in many aspects.

Salmon farming is Iceland's new gold mine. As open-net salmon farming has been heavily taxed in Norway, the Norwegians are now welcomed to Icelandic fjords, destroying the seabed and the ancient breeds of wild salmon in our rivers. The conditions in these farms are absolutely disgusting. The raw sewage coming from fish farming in Iceland is equivalent to an 800 000 population town or city. To produce one kilo of salmon you need three kilos of protein. The salmon is partially bred on soy protein which is grown in faraway places which is another serious matter altogether.

As we speak they are transporting wind turbines to our first wind farm in the unspoilt Icelandic highlands and there are many more planned in the near future. We are told there is an energy shortage in Iceland which is not true. The wind farms will be used to power aluminium smelters, ferro-silicon plants, bitcoin mining and data centres. We don't really have to mention the effect these will have on birdlife and wetlands.

Iceland is also still allowing bottom trawling in certain areas around the island. Bottom trawling is like cutting down all the trees to get their fruits. It is a vulgar disrespectful method, destroying so much more than the species they are hunting for.

 
Oh, and let us not forget the whales. Iceland is still hunting fin whales, the second largest whale on earth, still listed as a vulnerable species, for no applicable reason at all.

The ongoing greenwashing of our government and the breach against our international commitments of conserving 30% of our seabed is highly alarming. 

Iceland should be in the forefront of protecting nature and inspire other nations to follow in its footsteps. Monetary bullying and greed for natural resources is the main fuel in this attack on our country's nature.

These are just a few things happening in our little bubble called Iceland. 

The whole world is at stake. Everywhere, we humans are slowly destroying our planet without giving it the slightest thought. We need to save nature to save ourselves. 

We should fight for nature as David Attenborough has done all his life.
Thank you David."