Dam It

This is what will be lost when the Karahnjukar Dam is finished.

Arguably, I have never been there nor do I have any intention of going there. I don't like animals, birds or nature as such. In fact, if you make me go there and, say, make me stay in a tent, I'll probably be in a bad enough mood to turn the faucet and flood it myself.

My irritation with the project is the sheer stupidity and short-sightedness of it. It seems like the reasoning when the decision was made to build it went something like this:

A: The Gargantuan American Group, aka GAG, wants to build an aluminum smelter and they need energy.

B: No Problem. We will build a dam. We will tell people that it will reinforce the economy, it will bring lots of jobs to the area and there will be joy and mirth.

A: Hm. What about the environmental effect?

B: Do not worry, we will stamp the findings with my super cool, red TOP SECRET stamp and the people will experience joy and mirth.

A: Ok. What about letting the nation vote on the issue?

B: Huh? Vote? What is this "vote" you talk about? The people will know that it will rejuvenate my econ..., I mean the economy, and there will be joy and mirth and happy tidings.

A: What about those pesky little earth quakes the sometimes rattle Iceland?

B: Yes, those are dangerous, so we won't tell anyone about it, avoiding mass-hysteria is important, the people should be joyous and..

A: Mirthful, yeah, of course Icelandic construction company will do well, so you are right, it will be good for the economy.

B: No, no, the construction company is Italian.

A: Oh. Well, the icelanders working there will strengthen the local economy.

B: No, no the workers are mainly Chinese and other foreigners.

A: Well, the workers will strengthen the area by buying locally.

B: Yes, they leave the container compound once a week for 12 hours. They have to because of stupid Icelandic union rules.

A: Well at least the Icelandic economy will gain enormously on selling the energy to GAG.

B: Yeah, it's fantastic, we are giving them a great discount.

Seriously.

Why are we focusing on a bizarrely old fashioned industry, when the majority of the population is skilled in high tech and service related industry?

Why are we giving up our land to the lowest bidder when we should be courting the tech companies?

Why are we not world leading in finding solutions to the renewable energy crisis?

Morons.