Hi! I'm checking in and blogging from this amazing hotel on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in Northwest Iceland, pronunciation "!" or "?". Basically I'm about as far as you can possibly get from anywhere, on a piece of land that is simultaneously a glacier AND a volcano, which completely blows my mind. Also there is wifi? And seals. My boyfriend brought me here, and he insisted that I blog about having been brought somewhere green and sustainable and how we're not going to leave a trace because Snæfellsnes is an internationally certified  "Green Globe Community", the first in Iceland and one of only four in the world. What's interesting about the "green globe" designation is the seriousness and intent required to reach the status. This is not "eco-tourism," which generally involves ex-frat-boys going scuba diving or guilty white people going somewhere indigenous. (Seriously, google-image "eco-tourism" and count the non-white people on rafts.) This is a concerted effort for an entire community to weave sustainability into every facet of governace and day to day living. It's even more impressive here on Snæfellsnes because it's a coalition of towns that have joined in the multi-year effort, not just one municipality. From the Green Globe site:

Green Globe is an international benchmarking system for sustainable travel and tourism.The certification programme is a 3-step, multi-year process aimed at converting broad objectives into specific targets in ten core areas where travel and tourism operations are involved, including:

• Waste minimisation, reuse, recycling;
• Energy efficiency, conservation, management;
• Management of freshwater resources;
• Waste water management;
• Hazardous substances;
• Transport;
• Land-use planning and management;
• Involvement of staff, customers, communities in environmental issues;
• Design for sustainability; and
• Partnerships for sustainable development.

Sitting on a glacier, with shifting tides and permafrost and snow-covered lava fields and waterfalls, it's easy to understand why climate change is of grave concern. What's great here is how minimally invasive on the environment this community already is, yet they went through this process anyway. And they're not obnoxious about it. We're going on our hikes and eating our meals and having our time and it's not in your face that we're doing something "green" or "activist-y." It's just a part of the place.  The only other such sites in the world are Kaikoura, New Zealand; Vilamoural, Portugal; and Cumbria, England. It would be nice to see some American cities follow suit; maybe this bold environmental agenda proposed this week by a coalition of Western Governors (Republicans Included!) could be a step in the right direction? Oh and by the way, a revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world. Can we get on that? Anyway, it's crazy here. Iceland is in the midst of an economic crisis that dwarfs ours, so I've been pillaging doing my part by eating piles of lobster and buying sweaters. There were protests the last three Saturdays demanding the removal and resignation of the entire government, and a similar anger to what we're feeling in America: outrage that the people who broke it are the ones tasked with fixing it. It's been interesting as well to follow the news from here. I love how it took the US media about three weeks to start covering the 2012 election, particularly Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and how he is positioning himself to run for President in 2012.The theory is that Republicans can win everything back because Jindal is NONWHITE and YOUNG and that's all that they need to do. It's not just Jindal. There is an effort to make Michael Steele, the only living black Republican in the world, head of the Republican National Committee, and a series of ridiculous op-eds (the stupidest is by Ronald Kessler at Newsmax) about how the GOP must "target" Latino voters. What's missing from all of these discussions are any acknowledgement that maybe the policy and platform should change. Republicans don't need to pay more attention to cities or health care or immigration reform. They just need to TALK to a black or latino voter enough and they'll appreciate it and vote for you. That's a good black and latino voter YAY! It's fine, because unless Obama goes batshit and tanks the country it will fail, but in a country that just rejected hate and actually did something thoughtful, it's a little naive to think that an Indian-American candidate and some welcome packages for Mexican immigrants (seriously) are enough to change anything. Also there is the fact that Jindal is (a) as socially conservative as Sarah Palin and (b) once led an exorcism in college. That dog won't hunt. Anyway I'll be back on Wednesday. Since you know you want it, here is a picture of a little tiny Icelandic horse licking on my PINKO glove that I wore for YOU. FOR YOU. Don't leave a trace.