Posts in English
Cultural Equality is Foundational

“The Icelandic Youth Environmentalist Association (YEA) is a platform for young people in Iceland to make a difference in environmental matters. The association was founded in March 2013. Back then, there were 40 core members, but today there are 804 members in the association’s directory, according to its website. Pétur Halldórsson is chair of the YEA, heading up a five-person board with two alternate members.

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Cloth Diapers to Help the Environment

Shortly after I learned of my daughter’s existence, my boyfriend and I decided that we would use cloth diapers for her. Many people undoubtedly imagine big white cotton rags that you have to fold in a certain way, wrap around the baby, fasten with pins and then place a plastic cover over to keep them from leaking. And that’s really how it was thirty years ago. But thankfully, cloth diapers have evolved and greatly improved since then, and today most of them are used very similarly to disposable diapers.

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Seven Documentaries About Environmental Issues

Do you want nothing more than to curl up under a pile of blankets and watch a movie, but your conscience won’t allow you that sort of indulgence when important projects have piled up? Maybe you just can’t bring yourself to study but also don’t want to waste time on a bunch of nonsense? In that moment, what you need is a documentary, the perfect compromise between laziness and conscientiousness.

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Being an Informed Fashion Consumer

The typical Icelandic tourist skips from one clothing chain to the next, wearing his white Air Force Nikes and his ASOS apparel all while sipping on an iced vanilla latte from the one and only Starbucks. He buys a few things from Forever 21 and Zara, pieces he thinks he desperately needs, and adds a few more from H&M just because he can. You might shake your head at the sound of this description. Or perhaps you recognize this individual; am I maybe describing you?

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The “Car-free” City of Pontevedra

For the past few years, authorities in various cities across Europe have been taking action against pollution and global warming. Some cities have done so by limiting the use of cars, or in some cases banning them altogether. The city of Pontevedra in Galicia, Spain, is one of those cities, and over the last twenty years automobile traffic there has decreased substantially.

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It’s Time for Radical Action

We’re running out of time. Well, not those of us who have destroyed the environment the most (i.e. the Icelandic people), but rather people in distant lands for whom we’ve destroyed the environment. Here on our little island, we’re barely aware of the great consequences our daily consumption habits have on our planet. And what are we doing about it? Absolutely nothing.

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Increased diversity and broadmindedness

Sólveig Daðadóttir is on the board of Q, the Queer Student Association, and is the group’s educational officer. She is 21 years old and in her second year studying applied mathematics at the University of Iceland. Sólveig is also a peer counsellor for Samtökin ‘78. The other day, the two of us met up at Háskólatorg to discuss the Queer Student Association.

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Preparing for Finals: Some Practical Tips

It may be dark outside, but strings of lights illuminate the windows of nearby houses and point the way toward campus. The study hall is filled with the scent of mandarins and the sound of a can of malt being cracked open. Christmas is certainly right around the corner and on students’ minds, which can only mean one thing: finals are underway.

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