According to a recent report by Reuters, Iceland is in a dangerous position when it comes to climate change and global warming.
Iceland is vulnerable to global warming merely because of its geographic location. Its landscape, full of glaciers and volcanoes, is one which will be greatly affected by melting ice and changing weather patterns.
Strangely enough, Iceland’s economy stands to benefit from the earth’s rapid transformation. Melting glaciers feed Iceland’s rivers which power the country’s hydroelectric industry.
Innovations in energy from Iceland have been largely fuelled by climate change and have led Iceland to the forefront of new technology to harness renewable energy sources. Iceland has become the leader in new fuel technologies and geothermal energy.
Foreign companies are lining up to learn from Iceland and scientists from universities around the world are competing to work with Iceland’s intellectuals on issues of energy and fuel.
“People are already now planning for a future that will be different from the past,” said Tomas Johannesson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
“We are in an unusual situation that many of the changes that are happening are maybe more beneficial than for the worse,” he added.
Whatever the benefits, most residents of Iceland do not welcome climate change. “If something serious happens to other nations, this can easily have an effect here. So people are not exactly welcoming these changes,” Johannesson said.