In an interview with the British cable news station Sky News on Friday, the singer Björk Guðmundsdóttir criticized those who want to expand electricity production in Iceland at the expense of the untouched wilderness of the Central Highlands. Only a few “rednecks” want to “erase” the highlands, she argued, while 80% of Icelanders support the creation of a National Park, encompassing this largest untouched wilderness in Europe.
Rednecks have wanted fast-forward industrialization
In the interview Björk argued greed was a major factor in stopping necessary action on climate change and the protection of nature. However, she stressed she is an optimist, pointing out that the vast majority of people in the world wanted action on climate change, just as 80% of Icelanders wanted to protect the highlands from further encroachment by power companies.
“So last seventy years Iceland has kind of been doing it [industrialize], the rednecks of Iceland have really been trying to do it in a fast forward way, to change it into aamm… to dam all the highlands, and there are now plans, in the system of Iceland, to build dams and to build aluminium smelters, and all sorts of things, in the next five years.”
Read more: See the spectacular waterfalls in Skjálfandi river which would to be sacrificed for more electricity
This kind of attitude was inexcusable she argued. The highlands were a source of enormous value if left untouched, she argued, pointing out that she gets the inspiration for her music hiking in the highlands. Björk directed her criticism especially at the leaders of the governing coalition, the Minister of Finance, Bjarni Benediktsson, the chairman of the conservative Independence party and the Prime Minister, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the chairman of the centre-right Progressive Party.
A pop star and conservation activist
Björk has recently emerged as one of the most vocal and visible campaigners for the protection of the highlands. In November Björk and author Andri Snær Magnason used the occasion of the music festival Iceland Airwaves to draw attention to the demand that the Central Highlands be made into a national park.
Read more: Video: Björk calls for global action to defend Iceland's highlands
The two pointed out that plans for new power plants which have been put forward by Icelandic energy companies would not only spoil vast expanses of untouched natural beauty, but lead to the destruction of some of Iceland’s most beautiful waterfalls.
In an interview with the British cable news station Sky News on Friday, the singer Björk Guðmundsdóttir criticized those who want to expand electricity production in Iceland at the expense of the untouched wilderness of the Central Highlands. Only a few “rednecks” want to “erase” the highlands, she argued, while 80% of Icelanders support the creation of a National Park, encompassing this largest untouched wilderness in Europe.
Rednecks have wanted fast-forward industrialization
In the interview Björk argued greed was a major factor in stopping necessary action on climate change and the protection of nature. However, she stressed she is an optimist, pointing out that the vast majority of people in the world wanted action on climate change, just as 80% of Icelanders wanted to protect the highlands from further encroachment by power companies.
“So last seventy years Iceland has kind of been doing it [industrialize], the rednecks of Iceland have really been trying to do it in a fast forward way, to change it into aamm… to dam all the highlands, and there are now plans, in the system of Iceland, to build dams and to build aluminium smelters, and all sorts of things, in the next five years.”
Read more: See the spectacular waterfalls in Skjálfandi river which would to be sacrificed for more electricity
This kind of attitude was inexcusable she argued. The highlands were a source of enormous value if left untouched, she argued, pointing out that she gets the inspiration for her music hiking in the highlands. Björk directed her criticism especially at the leaders of the governing coalition, the Minister of Finance, Bjarni Benediktsson, the chairman of the conservative Independence party and the Prime Minister, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the chairman of the centre-right Progressive Party.
A pop star and conservation activist
Björk has recently emerged as one of the most vocal and visible campaigners for the protection of the highlands. In November Björk and author Andri Snær Magnason used the occasion of the music festival Iceland Airwaves to draw attention to the demand that the Central Highlands be made into a national park.
Read more: Video: Björk calls for global action to defend Iceland's highlands
The two pointed out that plans for new power plants which have been put forward by Icelandic energy companies would not only spoil vast expanses of untouched natural beauty, but lead to the destruction of some of Iceland’s most beautiful waterfalls.
