Sunday - February 04, 2007
Polar Bears in Iceland
I used to live in Iceland, from 1975 to 1977.
Mostly I remember celebrating the Bicentennial there.
And I remember the snow the first
winter and relative lack of snow the second winter. Before we moved there I was
nearly paralyzed with fear. Iceland had volcanoes and we would all die in a
fiery lava flow, and if it wasn't a volcano killing us, I was sure that an
earthquake would. Of course, no such
thing happened, Iceland is a beautiful land of fire and ice; of natural, mostly
untouched stark beauty. I had a lot of fun while living there, building forts
out of lava boulders in the fields behind our
house.The other thing I remember is
that there are no polar bears in Iceland.
But despite the demogoguery of Al
Gore, polar bears aren't dying off from lack of ice. In fact the opposite is
true, and Icelanders are now concerned that because of the great increase in
arctic ice, that there will be a greater threat of polar bears
moving into Iceland.
Now, Icelanders tend to be extremely socialist,
as least in their rhetoric, and love to jump in to save rain forests and
endangered animals throughout the world. I suppose that's because Icelanders
have killed off all the trees on their own island and don't really know what
trees are supposed to look like. Not having any trees, they think that they are
equally rare across the world, I
suppose.
Likewise with animals. They
like to hunt whales. I'm not sure if they're still doing it, but I recall
seeing whales being sliced up for meat and other food delicacies in what we used
to call "Whale Bay." As Americans we were strictly forbidden to own any ivory,
but not so the Icelanders. I don't remember eating any whale meat, but I may
have at one time or another, probably during our school band's tour about the
island.
Icelanders have an equal lack
of sentimentality when it comes to polar bears. It seems that on the rare
occasions when they do get near the island, they are killed quicker than you can
say, "whale steak." On the even rarer occasions that a polar bear has landed on
the island, they were dispatched with no tears shed.
To this day, the only mammalian
predator on the island is the arctic fox. If the fox weren't so sly, I've no
doubt that the Icelanders would eradicate them too. They can always claim that
it isn't indigenous to the island, it's ony been there for the past 1100
years.
But I don't think Al Gore will
be reporting the increase in either the arctic ice or the threat from increases
in polar bears.
Iceland has the
longest continuously governing body in the world, the AlÞing (pronounced
All Thing), and they aren't much afraid to kill off any plant or animal they
come across. Their politics don't get in the way of their common sense when it
comes to not allowing the most aggressive and violent animal in the world to
inhabit their home. Especially now that polar bears and polar ice are
increasing so radically.
Go Back to the Start, Do Not Collect $200 Send me your two cents
|
