Iceland’s most famous advocate, singer-songwriter Björk, appeared in an interview on RÚV’s news magazine Kastljós last night to advise against further energy harnessing for aluminum smelters and encouraging innovation in harmony with nature.
The interview was a follow-up of an article by Björk, published in The Times on October 28, which, according to Morgunbladid, has gained world-wide attention.
Björk at the Sugarcubes 20th anniversary concert in Reykjavík 2006. Photo by Thorvaldur Örn Kristmundsson. Copyright: IPA.
In her article, Björk criticizes Iceland’s government and claims that the general public shares her anger at the authorities. In her article, she writes:
“What makes people furious is that the same people that put Icelanders in this situation are now the ones trying to get us out of it. There are a lot of people here that want the people in charge to resign and allow others to tidy up after them.” Björk continues:
“Most criticism is aimed at Davíd Oddsson, the head of the Central Bank, with people now gathering once a week in downtown Reykjavík demanding his resignation. He is being criticised, among other things, for making himself head of the Central Bank after 19 years of being the Mayor of Reykjavík and then 13 years of being Prime Minister.”
Björk warns against “having all our eggs in the same basket,” referring to how Iceland tends to depend largely on one industry, fishing, finance and aluminum.
Instead, Björk wants Iceland to focus on innovative projects of different kinds. One of the ideas presented on Kastljós last night, was making Iceland a destination for health tourism, taking advantage of its hot springs and unique nature.
Björk emphasized that she is merely a spokesperson for people who have been working on such innovative projects for years, which not many people have paid attention to until now. This particular project, “Wellness Iceland,” is presented on the website nattura.info.
Björk firmly believes that innovation is the way out of the economic crisis in Iceland. She describes how she begun cooperating with innovators after her nature awareness concert in Iceland last summer, and how this cooperation was followed up with a symposium on innovative projects. The ideas from the symposium will be presented in the Icelandic media in the coming days.
Click here to watch the interview with Björk on Kastljós (it’s in Icelandic and only available for two weeks from this date).
