DAMS DESTROY VALUABLE NATURE AND HABITAT!

Do NOT let another Kárahnjúkar happen again! You can dare to care at:

[ SAVINGICELAND.ORG ]

I’m going to state very clearly upfront that I am NOT a stamp maker. But I have seen them, they seem to be popular, and if I had to do one, then perhaps it should be for a serious and worthy cause.

Before you stop and say, "Well this is there and it is none of my concern.” Then I beg you to listen. This is a direct statement make weeks ago by savingiceland.org and other members of it’s valuable habitat preservation to which I have been a member of for the last 2 years:

“With tears in my eyes I write these words I never believed I would. The flooding of Kárahnjúkar has now begun.

The Icelandic media has reported that within the first few hours of the closing of the dam doors on the morning of 28 September 2006, like a noose being tightened, the water level rose 15 meters. The entire 200m+ flooding depth will not be completed until next summer. Some people turned up to watch the valley be drowned, notably reporter Ómar Ragnarsson who will board a boat on the rising reservoir and film the death of the many waterfalls, valleys, cliffs, and so forth.

Despite two summers of an international protest camp in the Icelandic Highlands which was attended by hundreds of people from all over the world; despite a 15,000 people marching in Reykjavik the day before today, together with 200 from Akureyri, 50 in Ísafjörður, 100 in Egilsstaðir, a turnout which is over five times the size of the previous largest demonstration in the 300,000 person Iceland; despite a disastrous environmental assessment report; despite calls from scientists and nature lovers inside outside and out; despite all the consequences on Iceland’s economy; despite this area now to be known as the Halslon reservoir being of huge cultural significance to Iceland; despite it being the second largest wilderness in Europe: heavy industry has got its way and stolen this wilderness merely for the sake of the production of aluminium.”

You heard me right. This dam was built for nothing more than for a plant in which to produce tin foil .. well .. aluminium. And iwhat was the cost? It cost ALL of this here. Everything you will see in these photos below have now since been flooded, & entirely wiped out:

[ Photos of Karahnjukar ]

But if not there then where?

The direct motto for this stamp came about a result of an actual statement someone from Iceland made to me. They said, “I could care less..” and here weeks later, my thoughts have been haunted by that very statement. If not now, then when? When is the time to care? When is it time enough to start to care about the growing contamination of our wildlife and earth’s decreasing natural habitats and all it’s remaining wonders?

There is nothing that I say here that is not a fact. The number of endangered species is growing at a steady rate, our weather is changing, and global warming is a truth that can no longer be denied. It’s happening and it’s happening now. So tell me .. tell me when it is time that we should start to care?

Perhaps it is because I do not have the distinct pleasure of looking out my window and just seeing the valleys and fields go on and on until they disappear into the mist of some volcanic mountain range. When I look out my window I see streets, streets, and more streets and a network of concrete and construction. That just to have a front yard with grass is a valuable commodity for some people. Or to know that 5 times this passed summer our beaches were closed due to high bacteria content in the water.

So when? ... When IS it time to care?