Viking Magazine - March 2020 - 21

but it does belong to the European
Economic Area and stays in sync
with the rest of Europe by adopting
many EU rules. In this case, the rules
prompted Akureyri to close a local
landfill and look at alternative ways to
handle some of its waste.
That led to the composting program,
which takes in both residential and
industrial organic waste and provides
fertilizer for homes and farms. It also
led to the biodiesel plant, which takes
in both household fats and fats from
the local food industry, in particular
several meat processing plants.
The landfill rules spurred something
else, too. In 2014, Akureyri started
capturing some of the methane gas
escaping from its old
landfill and compressing
it for use as vehicle fuel.
Methane is a natural
product of a landfill's
underground decay. Now,
car owners in Akureyri
can fill up at a methane
pump. But since many
drive cars that run on the
country's cheap electricity,
the methane fuel is used
largely by fleet vehicles,
like garbage trucks and
public buses.
It's true that methane
itself is 25 to 30 times
more destructive than
carbon dioxide in terms
of its climate impact.
But when methane is
burned, what's emitted
is carbon dioxide, and
at lower concentrations
than burning gasoline
produces. So, while this
process does not yield
a perfectly clean result,
it does reduce overall
environmental harm.
" It has this double
effect, " Sigurðarson says.
" We are stopping some of
the methane from getting
Molta, a compost company in Iceland
into the atmosphere, and we are replacing fossil fuel with methane, so we are
reducing the import of fossil fuels. "
The Power of Small Communities
AKUREYRI
SMALL COUNTRY,
HIGH EMISSIONS
Many countries have higher
greenhouse gas emissions
than Iceland in absolute terms.
But Iceland's emissions, when
divided by its small population
(357,000 people), are among
the highest per capita
emissions in Europe: 17.2
tons per person, according to
2017 data from the European
Environment Agency.
That's much higher than
Norway's 10.3 tons, Denmark's
8.8 tons or Sweden's 5.5
tons per person. (For the
record, the United States
is the world's highest per
capita emitter of greenhouse
gases, at just over 20 tons
per person, according to the
United Nations.)
There have been more initiatives in Akureyri, Sigurðarson adds: other recycling
programs, for instance, and a decision to make public transportation free of
charge to all users. His organization, Vistorka, doesn't
oversee all the projects, but it was formed in 2015 to serve
as an umbrella over several of them.
He describes Vistorka as part lobbying firm, trying to get
Iceland's government to recognize and support Akureyri's
work as part of its national environmental goals, and part
economic development agency, helping local businesses
develop new green products and find markets for them.
But Vistorka is also a connector of people with different
perspectives, Sigurðarson says. " The members of the
board, one is from the energy agency, one is from the
University of Akureyri, one is from the development agency
in the area for new businesses, one is from the utility
company and one is from the city council. "
Those connections are part of what Busch calls a
" Goldilocks Principle. " A community like Akureyri is a
good size to make climate-friendly changes in its local
environment and economy, he explains. It's big enough to
have the resources and systems of a larger community-
industry, public transit, a university. But it's still small
enough that many people know each other and can work
together without going through layers and layers of
intermediaries and administration.
Small communities have big potential for the
environment, Busch believes. In his experiences as a
researcher, he has observed that at the heart of every
community that makes a " green transition " like Akureyri's,
there's always a small handful of people who got the ball
rolling. " It always comes down to 'Okay, there were these
three people and they started this.' "
International accords and national policies create a
framework for change, he says. But " it always comes down
to what individuals do; how do they fill out
that frame? "
sonsofnorway.com VIKING MARCH 2020 21
KRISTJÁN ÓLAFSSON / MOLTA
http://www.sonsofnorway.com
Viking Magazine - March 2020

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