Saturday, 17 April 2010

Mother Nature Fights Back!

Iceland is in the news again... as most of you will know there has been another volcanic eruption at Eyjafjallajökull in the south of Iceland...this one is causing more havoc than the others have in the last few weeks.  Mother nature is letting us all know it doesn't matter how advanced we think we are she is still the boss and can stop nations in their tracks if she wants to. The volcanic ash and billowing smoke has caused havoc with air traffic, disrupting flights across Europe.
 There are many amazing images around at the moment, this one is a radar picture of the craters as seen by the coast guard plane on April 15 Image from Iceland Review
 Another remarkable image found at The Iceland Weather Report taken by Ólafur Eggertsson from the farm Þorvaldseyri 
  
 This one is Ash cloud at Grafarkirkja í skaftártungu from Iceland's Facebook page which was added by Ísak Davíð 
Photo by Steini3 and added to Facebook group Volcano Iceland by Carlo Ævi Del Sal
Photo by Kjartan Þorbjörnsson and added to the Facebook group Volcano Iceland by Carlo Ævi Del Sal
 Photo by Fredrik Holm and added to the Facebook group Volcano Iceland by Carlo Ævi Del Sal
Photo by Belga and added to the Facebook group Volcano Iceland by Carlo Ævi Del Sal

This is footage from 1973 and of an eruption in Heimaey, a small fishing village in Iceland. Hopefully no Icelanders or their furry friends in 2010 will have to deal with this type of destruction.

The eruption has temporarily overshadowed the political fallout that is also current in Iceland.  The Black Report was released last Saturday which is an investigation into the financial collapse of Iceland at the end of 2008.  Many bankers and politicians who were less than ethical to downright dishonest in their dealings, actions and decisions were named in the report.  Whilst this investigative team are not about pressing criminal charges they have laid down the framework for it to happen...hopefully justice will be served and those that should pay for their actions do.  However few are coming forward to take responsibility for their role in this financial disaster that is crippling the country...the list of those who have can be found on the Economic Disaster Area website.  

I have found another amazing project to back on the Kickstarter website and in light of everything happening to our planet I think this project highlights the wondrous and majestic nature of the world we live in.  
brain coral #0210-4501 (2,000 years old; speyside, tobago)
image via Rachel Sussman
la llareta #0308-23b26 (up to 3,000 years old, atacama desert, chile)
image via Rachel Sussman
Please take a moment to look at Rachel Sussman's project the Oldest Living Things In The World. Rachel is working with scientists and biologists, traveling the world to find, document and photograph living organisms that are 2,000 or more years old. More info on Rachel Sussman can be found at her website and blog.

 

3 comments:

  1. Just showed mum your blog - we are both extremely impressed.. keep it up! Currently the tourism association is concerned that the whole world is thinking that we are wearing gas masks and hiding from the ash fall out. So we need to keep people informed about what the situation is here. Today they were saying that it seems to be subsiding - but that we can expect a resurgence in the near future. This is about the only time that I hope for strong Northerly winds to blow the ash out into the north atlantic.

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  2. Thanks Sigga and Kristin...you know I do already consider Iceland home! Hopefully the winds make the correct choice and everything settles down shortly.
    I sort of quite like the fact that mother nature reminds us who is actually running the show...I think this is something we all need to remember!

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  3. Vicki, your posts are amazingly interesting. I am so glad you let me know where you blog.
    Thanks again.

    x Charlotta

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