Showing posts with label Laxá River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laxá River. Show all posts

Monday, 6 September 2010

Monday Ice: The power of the people!

Environmental issues today world wide should be core policy with all governments guided by a set of standards that promote nature conservation according to principles of sustainable development, these core policies need to protect the ecological limits of any region before any development is approved.

Iceland has some of the few remaining large wilderness areas in Europe and there are many concerned that some of these areas are being sold off to large foreign corporations for future development.


 Dreamland is a feature length documentary about the exploitation of Icelandic nature.

I have also just been reading a little story about Lake Mývatn and the River Laxá in Iceland, a heartwarming story where a small community just over 40 years ago took the law into their own hands to bring about environmental change and halt destruction to their land by the then government and developers. Through the actions of this small community Lake Mývatn and the River Laxá are now protected.

This trailer about The Laxá Farmers is a documentary about farmers who on August 7th 1970  blew up a dam to save their valley and river. They had protested the dam for years utilising all legal means available but were losing the battle and being chased off their land, as a last resort they went in the middle of the night with dynamite. Today Laxá River and Lake Mývatn are one of Iceland's most precious areas.