Iceland has the cleanest and cheapest energy in the form of geo-thermal heat, but this doesn’t necessarily mean the most sustainable ecology or the most secure financial system. Here author, Andri Snær Magnason, tells the story of the rise and fall of Iceland: Rethinking Dreamland. It is a tale about how Iceland, due to their lack of money, in record time established an infrastructure based on clean energy, which, on the top of the ‘ice cake’, made them wealthy through the big corporations from the aluminum industry, claiming to make ‘clean aluminum’. However, the other side of aluminum coin presented problems: the very same geo-thermal energy that promised Iceland a rich, sustainable and clean life ended up leading to a very CO2 unfriendly lifestyle on the island in north and has some very sad, ecological, devastating effects around the world.

“We are suddenly not an island anymore - we have been connected to huge global conveyor belt - giving us huge responsibility of corporate business ethics. So again - the energy utopia in Iceland – had become a dystopia in the hands of our leaders. The beautiful nature having the potential of becoming a resource curse.” (Magnason)

Magnason starts his tale by illustrating how Iceland is an interesting phenomenon to look at when trying to understand bigger mechanisms and developments in the world. Because Iceland is so distinct and isolated from the rest of the world, it can be seen as a microcosmos representing the macrocosmos. “what happens in Iceland on a small scale can reflect far bigger forces in this world.” (Magnason).

Iceland is often being enhanced as pioneers in the crusade towards a CO2 neutral future, but the question is if we, in this case, can learn something from Iceland—and if Iceland can learn something from their own history? How do we make sure, that we build a society and a culture, where we get the best out of our clean and renewable energy sources so these doesn’t turn out to have serious drawbacks?