Monday Blues

"Author Andri Snaer Magnason said the construction of smelters like Alcoa's, and the geothermal and hydroelectric plants that power them, has created a "heroin economy"."

A good overview of the continuing debate on aluminium smelters and energy usage from Reuters. It seems that this issue is not going to die anytime soon. It is already one of the main issues facing voters in next month's parliamentary elections. Another debate that apparently refuses to die is the issue of whaling, but Iceland recently resumed commercial whaling after abiding the International Whaling Commisions moratorium since 1991. According to a new study by Eurostat, Iceland tails only Switcherland for the highest drug prices in Europe, with prices in Iceland being 60% above average. Next time I get sick, I'll fly to London for the prescription... Orri Vigfússon, a former vodka entrepreneur and banker from Iceland, has been awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Price, the equivalent of the Nobel Price in the Eco-circle, for his work on saving the North Atlantic wild salmon population. In 1989, Vigfússon established the North Atlantic Salmon Fund, which has raised $35 million to buy fishing rights from commercial fishermen in England, France, Greenland, Iceland and Norway. By paying fishermen not to fish, the fund estimates more than 5 million salmon have been spared. No word on how the demand drove up prices of fishing rights.