8pm, The Treehouse, Baker St – Talk & Film
A number of heavy industry corporations including RioTinto and ALCOA are invading vast areas of uninhabited wilderness in Iceland for new smelters, refineries and power plants. Come and visit some of the most stunning places of beauty on earth, and help protect them with direct action.
Despite of its green image, Iceland is planning a large number of heavy industry projects, including a number of aluminium smelters and an oil refinery. If they continue, every glacial river in the country will be dammed, vast areas will be destroyed by flooding and large scale geothermal drilling. The subarctic tundra harbours some of the most valuable wetlands and bird breeding areas in Europe, unique ecosystems with geological phenomena and landscapes that can not be seen anywhere in the world.
Aluminium smelting, even when powered by geothermal energy, emits so much greenhouse gas emissions that Iceland now produces 18 tons of CO2 equivalent per capita, compared to the European average of 11. If all the plans continues, emissions will increase by at least 63% over 1990 levels.
May 7th, Saving Iceland will give a presentation of these issues in the Treehouse in Aberystwyth, and we will tell you about the international direct action campaign that has taken place, and the plans for this summer’s camp starting in July, including practicalities. We will have a number of vehicles going from the UK (incl. Wales) and Europe to the camp. We will also show some videos of recent actions and a slideshow of some of the threatened areas.
More info: http://www.savingiceland.org.