In Iceland puffins get help from humans who volunteer on the Puffling Patrol to ensure that the little birds can thrive. When baby puffins, known as pufflings, hatch they usually head to the sea from their nests on shore, but when bright lights are nearby they’ll go towards the light.
Continue readingTag: Iceland
Things Are Good: Shorter Work Weeks Work
Working less is better for everyone involved, including the employer. Iceland just ran a multi year experiment from 2015-19 to find out if a four day work week would damage productivity or improve it. Unsurprisingly, productivity didn’t go down and in some jobs it even went up. Tell your boss
Continue readingThings Are Good: How Iceland Conquered COVID-19
Iceland’s size helped it grabble the COVID-19 pandemic in a way that other nations couldn’t. The country was able to test half its population and keep a close eye on how the virus spread due to really good contact tracing. Like other countries which have successfully dealt with the pandemic,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Dirt Houses are Good for the Planet
Inefficiently constructed housing is a problem for the planet and people. Poor insulation, intensive manufacturing process, and costs all have long term impacts on energy usage and people’s budgets. There is a solution to this that has been used the world over: building homes using dirt. Sod, adobe, and other
Continue readingThings Are Good: Iceland’s Carbon Capture Plan Working
Iceland already is one of the greenest places on the planet and they are going even further to try keep the whole planet green. The country is hosting a research project that has sucked 43,000 tons of CO2 out of the air and injected it into the ground. They’re capturing
Continue readingThings Are Good: Iceland Recovering from Deforestation
Long ago, when the vikings first arrived in Iceland the land was forested. Something between 25-40% of the country was covered by trees and humans slowly cut down the trees to an extent that was harmful to local ecosystems. Efforts to replant trees in the country have failed since they
Continue readingThings Are Good: Teen Substance Abuse Decreases When They Have Fun
Being a teenager is hard with all the chaos that is finding one’s identity and dealing with the incoming stresses of life. In many places around the world, teens react to these pressures by using illicit substances or otherwise “misbehaving”. Iceland was having a huge problem with teens drinking and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Iceland Wants to Help Journalists Expose Real Threats
Iceland continues on it’s quest to be the ‘Switzerland of data‘ and is extending its program to do so for journalists. Part of the country’s plan to become a haven for people exposing the immoral and questionable behaviour of powerful people is already in action. Iceland is quickly achieving its
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Friday Musical Interlude: Iceland Edition
As you read this right now, our choir is on tour in Iceland. One of the songs we are singing is Heyr himna smiður, an Icelandic hymn, with the text of an 800-year-old poem, that was set to music in the 20th century. The harmonies are achingly, spine-tinglingly beautiful. This performance of Heyr himna
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Mantle Passing – Arbourist out on a Lark
Greetings and good day fair readership! I have the very good fortune of being able to travel to Iceland on a trip with my choir. Thus, my regular blogular activities shall not be pursued by myself. However, the rest of the DWR team is stepping up to fill the
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Iceland’s Supreme Court Upholds Jail Sentences of Four Banking Executives
Filed under: Capitalism, Crisis, Europe Tagged: Financial crisis, Iceland
Continue readingThings Are Good: Will Iceland be the “Switzerland of Data”?
Iceland is the de facto home of Wikileaks and is also a country concerned with privacy issues. The country is now considering leveraging their experience and reputation of being digital-data friendly to the next level. Presently, the country is considering branding itself as the “Switzerland of Data.” If Iceland does
Continue readingThings Are Good: Help Save The Icelandic Goat
Iceland is a beautiful country filled with beautiful life and sadly one of those lifeforms is threatened: the Icelandic goat. The goats have been on HBO’s Game of Thrones and now they all may die out if a goat farming operation can’t be saved. You can be a part of
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Hippocratic Oath for Bankers
Bankers destroyed the economy and in too many countries those responsible walk free despite the damage they wrought. Iceland jailed bankers at fault in their country, but what can we do to ensure that bankers behave in the future? Doctors take the hippocratic oath in order to practice medicine, now
Continue readingThings Are Good: Iceland Demonstrates Magma Power Plant
Iceland recently demonstrated that it’s not only possible to use the core of our planet to generate power, but it’s feasible. Iceland’s geothermal operations are the envy of the world and they tend to push boundaries in their search for more energy. Due to this recent development geothermal operations in
Continue readingdrive-by planet: RT interview with president Grimsson of Iceland – the little nation that stood for democracy and rights over banks
Came across this RT interview recently. It was recorded earlier this year and features host Oksana Boyko with President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. Grimsson served as a representative the left-wing People’s Alliance in Reykjavik and was finance minister from 1988-1991. More on his background – here. The description accompanying
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: We Now Pause For This Announcement
I’m out of town today, so let me offer you this inspirational graphic that I ‘borrowed’ from Richard at Cowichan Conversations. Recommend this Post
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Iceland Shills for Chinese Voice in Arctic Affairs
The timing must be entirely coincidental. Iceland just became the first European country to conclude a free trade agreement with China. The China-Iceland FTA covers trade in goods and services, investments, and various other areas. Specific provisions on investment, movability of citizens, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical trade barriers, rules
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Several South American Countries Are Showing Us The Way Back To Democracy!
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger Do you remember when Canada was seen as a friendly, socially progressive country? Well, perhaps not, but I will bet that your parents do. We have lost ground and are now a reactionary anti-science- pro military, right wing led and controlled country. We are going backward
Continue readingLeDaro: Iceland: Every baby’s name must be approved by the government
For example one cannot name a baby which has’ c’ in it as in the Icelandic language letter ‘ c’ does not exist. A girl named “Blaer” was not approved because authorities said her name sounded like a male name. Her mother had to fight in courts for 15 years
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