What does it mean to be a nature lover?

Iceland is a country with the purest air and water I’ve ever experienced. No restaurant asks if you want tap, bottled or sparkling water – there’s no need; the rare smoker seems more illogical than ever. The land was made by accretion of which 30 volcanic systems remain active and by the rifting of two tectonic plates. As such, the country blurs any definition distinguishing the land from the landscape. It can only be called sublime existing at the very limit of human perception. Any presentation of travel photographs would have to be silent as words are inadequate to describe what you see. As such, it questions if being a nature lover extends beyond acts of breathing the air, drinking the water, hiking the mountains and viewing the scenery.

Glaciers, geysers, waterfalls, volcanic moraines, black sand beaches, hot springs, lava fields and floating icebergs on clear lakes make up the geography with each type appearing in rapid bursts as you travel on the narrow, mostly paved, ring road. Less than a quarter of the land area is vegetated with small farms and pastures on coastal plains that appear inserted between the finger-like fiords and bays. The only crop is hay which is grown over a short two-month season to feed the sheep, cattle and horses through the long winter. The fishing industry is extensive and the salmon, trout and cod are as fresh as I’ve ever tasted. Compact cottages are clustered in villages or surround developed city centers such as Reykjavik, the capital where two-thirds of the population of 320,000 people live. On the northern coast is Akureyn, a university town with a botanic garden containing diverse plants capable of growing in this temperate climate. The Gulf Stream (North Atlantic Current) maintains temperate temperatures year round although the country is just south of the Arctic Circle.

Icelanders have the fourth highest life expectancy (OECD) and enjoy socialized education and health care, and have the highest rate of internet access of any country. The lack of pollution is due to their natural resources: hot springs are taped for geothermal with the remaining power generated by hydroelectric plants. The country was deforested centuries ago and soil conservation is a significant problem. Stands of trees have been planted, but grow slowly. The traveler is more likely to see a forest of rock piles with a sign that advises visitors to add another for good luck. A culture of independence and self-sufficiency has supported a strong literary tradition of epic stories called sagas, and a claim that ten percent of the people today will publish a book (Wilcox and Latif, Cultures of the World: Iceland, 2007: 61).

In the past, survival meant understanding, not controlling, this challenging environment. Today, appreciating the landscape means yielding to the quiet, the endless light in the summer and darkness in the winter, and the visual complexity of dynamic geology while knowing the land neither loves human occupiers nor acknowledges our presence. For people to love this powerful nature, one must accept our insignificance.