tirsdag 31. august 2010

Rapport fra Islandsfareren

Jeg har vært på Island en god stund nå, så her kommer en liten oppdatering.

Nå bor jeg på en gård ved Selfoss, 20 km øst for Reykjavik. Det er gjennom HelpX, som betyr at jeg bor der og får mat mot at jeg hjelper til med oppgaver på gården. De driver med produksjon av rabarbrasyltetøy, chutney og karameller som sendes ut til 40 ulike steder på Island, så akkurat nå går det i rabarbrainnhøsting, og tilberedning av varene. Hestene må holdes i form (les: rideturer!), blåbær plukkes og jordbærplanter plantes. Og selvfølgelig: sightseeing! Har sett masse allerede, og flere planer er på gang.

Kjartan og Dorothee, vertene på Langamyri, har gitt meg et nytt syn på hva som er mulig å få til med tiden man har disponibelt. De har en datter å ta hånd om, hver sin "vanlige" jobb pluss en gård med 15 hester, 100 sauer, 2 gjess, 17 høner, 10 katter, en kanin og en hund. Full produksjon av rabarbrakaramell, syltetøy, chutney og sirup som sendes til 40 ulike plasser på Island. Økologiske ingredienser, selvfølgelig. Jeg er superimponert, og virkelig blitt inspirert! Vi har helt klart tid og mulighet til å gjøre ekstremt mye, så "å ikke ha tid" til noe er egentlig en grov feilformulering. Det er vel heller "ikke prioriteringsvilje" vi mener! Men det har seg jo sånn at vi ønsker å leve forskjellige liv, så det som passer for noen passer ikke for andre. Poenget er at jeg synes det er viktig å bruke livet på noe man liker å holde på med, og at man har tid til å følge drømmene sine!

Det føles helt vidunderlig å benytte seg av hundre prosent naturlig geotermisk varme. Nesten alle husene på Island får strøm fra jordens naturlige varmekilder, og på fjellturer kan man lett ta en dukkert i naturlig oppvarmede badebasseng gjennom varme kilder og elver. Det føles helt fantastisk å vite at alt sammen er en kontinuerlig, naturlig prosess! Ingen skadelig energiproduksjon, bare ren gevinst.

De er svært gode på resirkulering her. De har åtte forskjellige sorteringsmuligheter! I praksis blir nesten alt gjenbrukt eller lagt i kompost. Forbilde!



fredag 13. august 2010

Norway: eco example?


A good friend gave me a link to an article called "Norway has set an eco example". I must say I was a little surprised, because in my eyes, we have... well. Room for improvement, to say it nicely.

Don´t get me wrong; many of the fields in Norway are at top level internationally. With our numerous waterfalls, clean energy is easily accessible. We´re good at technology, recycling, subsidizing science (sometimes, at least) and electrical vehicles and financing rainforest protection. But to be Europe´s leading example?

How about Germany and Spain´s focus on solar energy, Sweden´s bio fuel, Iceland´s geothermal energy and Denmark´s wind? There are many good examples out there. The thing is to spin them together in a sustainable web of renewable energy! Let´s not forget that every country should try contributing in the best and most effective way possible, taking into account financial history, geography, population and international impact.

Norway has done many good things. But with the decades of oil production on our consciousness, I would say we could have done quite a bit more for the environment than we do now. We should always seek improvement. Particularly now, where things should go faster than ever! We need speed in order to restore the balance, so we shouldn´t hesitate for longer than necessary.

See the article about Norway as a good example here.

tirsdag 10. august 2010

A short update on the World Orienteering Championship...

The start has gone better than expected, as the weather has been perfect! This is the Green Point. This is the base for our Environment Team, and everyone who wants to recycle or have questions can go there.
Interests for Buddy from both spectators, athletes, organisers and coaches...There has been a lot of interest in our green focus, particularly for the electric vehicles. People absolutely love them!
Here I´m painting the Green Point, one day before I attached the blue signs. Luckily, it dried...


lørdag 7. august 2010

White Flag ceremony for WOC 2010






















Here are some pictures from the ceremony of hoising the White Flag. This is the proof of our environment certification!

Top right: President of the Organizing Committee, Lars Skrøvseth, me and municipal chief of environment, Marianne Langedal.

Right: the ceremony opened and ended with cello musician Valentine Ash.

I was a little nervous that the flag would turn upside down or something, which of course it didn´t. Everything went smoothly!

All in all, it was a very nice pre- opening for the World Championship. Now we´re prepared for the real thing, which starts tomorrow. We´re all really excited!

To find the program, you can visit the WOC website here.

torsdag 5. august 2010

World Championship with green twist


I´ve been working night and day with the World Orienteering Championship (WOC) recently. There´s a lot of organizing work to be done! I´ve also arranged the two electric vehicles we use before and during WOC. It´s fantastic! See the cars to the right (you can just see the green one behind the white car).

The EUVs (Electric Urban Vehicles) are made in Norway! They´re called Buddy, and really live up to the name. I feel like we´re best friends already! You can read more about them here.

I´ll get back to you with more pictures of the things we´ve done for the environment during WOC when it starts. Fingers crossed for a great World Championship!

See the link to our environment- pages at WOC´s website here.