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Click on the picture to watch this audio slideshow about bird watching at Óshólmar, an area at the mouth of Eyjafjardará river just outside Akureyri in north Iceland, the largest Icelandic town outside the capital region. Not many tourists know about this attraction, which is perfect for a walk in the sun.
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Located just 40 minutes by car and six minutes from Keflavík International Airport, Sandgerdi (“Sandy Hedge”) is a growing town of 1,700 with a storied history and loads to see. Read this special promotion about the hidden secrets of one of Iceland's most charming seaside villages.
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The West Iceland Institute of Natural History has suggested that Iceland become the world’s first eco-certified country, which would repair its damaged image and strengthen sustainable development.
From Snaefellsnes in west Iceland. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
The institute’s report states that it would take four years for all of Iceland’s municipalities to be granted certification from the organization EC3 Global, which supervises the Green Globe certification system, Morgunbladid reports.
“Eco-certification from an internationally recognized organization with a well-known eco-label would provide new and versatile opportunities for promoting and marketing the country, especially for tourism and production sectors,” the report reads.
EC3 has given eco-certification to companies and institutions in more than 50 countries.
The Iceland certification would only include the country’s municipalities, not private or state-run companies in the respective regions.
Among factors measured in the certification process is all inhabitants' usage of resources such as water and energy in addition to waste management.
It can also be helpful if the municipality in question already boasts eco-certified companies.
The municipalities Stykkishólmsbaer, Helgafellssveit, Grundarfjardarbaer, Snaefellsbaer and Eyja- og Miklaholtshreppur on the Snaefellsnes peninsula received a Green Globe certification last year.
Their goal is to improve further in various fields, such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy usage, management of fresh water supplies, protection of ecosystems, management of sewage systems, and storage and usage of chemicals that can damage the environment.
The estimated cost for obtaining a Green Globe certification for the entire country is ISK 79 million (USD 634,000, EUR 392,000). The West Iceland Institute of Natural History suggests that the state should cover that amount.
A skeleton from a person who suffered from the Paget’s disease of bone was unearthed this week during an archeological excavation project at Skriduklaustur in east Iceland, where a monastery was once operated.
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The human being will be on display for the first time in its natural environment in the Reykjavík Family Park and Zoo next weekend. Visitors can observe three men and one woman in a cage after 10 am on Saturday and Sunday.
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The formal Videy island swim took place yesterday and there were three participants, two men and one woman, Thórdís Hrönn Pálsdóttir, who is the first woman to participate in the Videy swim since 1959.
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The Environment Agency intends to investigate whether the Heath Protection Authority handled the situation in Eskifjördur, east Iceland, in the correct manner when contaminated water from a trawler was carried into the town’s drinking water system.
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The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book Puffins as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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REVIEWS
Hendrikka Waage is an accomplished jewellery designer whose first children’s book Rikka and Her Magic Ring in Iceland, takes readers on an enchanted and educational journey through the country. It’s beautifully illustrated and a good lesson in geography, but the plot could have been better thought through and the moral of the story is a bit too prominent.
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On the third day of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption we drove from Skógar to Hvolsvöllur in total darkness, a distance of 18 kilometers. It was frightening, the darkness being so impenetrable that we could hardly see out the windows of the car. We could see faint lights from the farm standing right next to the highway.
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Ásmundur Sveinsson is among the foremost Icelandic sculptors. The current exhibition in the Ásmundur Sveinsson Museum in Reykjavík is entitled “I choose women who thrive…” and features women as symbols in the sculptor’s art. The works in the exhibition are selected from his entire career.
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