I have recently overheard people commenting on the lack of visionaries in Icelandic governments. "Where is our Obama?" has become a common question. While Obama is making monumental decisions changing the American way of life (closing Guantanamo in a year's time, lifting the ban on funding for abortion clinics, and pushing for the Environmental Protection Agency to grant states waivers to allow them to implement stricter clean air laws), so are every day citizens.Yes, it would be ideal for Iceland to have its own political messiah, but I suggest you don't hold your breath. Change has to come first within the population and from the common will a way is born. Iceland is full of creative and brilliant people with ideas bubbling to the surface like the erupting hot spring Stokkur.
Great visionaries aren't just politicos. Look at the forward initiatives that are bursting from the local operatic sprite, Björk. She's using her global fame as a singer-songwriter and unbridled imagination to promote a venture capital fund aimed at rebuilding her beloved island. Amid Iceland's economic crisis, Björk has made it her mission to build a sustainable Iceland through a new venture capital fund.
The Björk Fund, unveiled last month, is managed by Audur Capital, a financial services provider that wants to incorporate female values into the world of finance. They have contributed ISK 100 million (USD 867,000, EUR 614,000) to start the fund that will invest in socially and environmentally sustainable companies that tap Iceland's highly educated population and extensive water and green energy resources.
Björk also wants to delve into the wellness tourism industry by focusing on spas and the curable abilities of Iceland's minerals and geothermal waters. This is naturally a perfect niche that Iceland should explore. After all, Iceland is the second longest-living nation.
All talk and rhetoric without any action doesn't solve a thing. That is why Björk participated in creating this fund: to make the dream of a sustainable Iceland a reality and to leave the country in better shape for future generations. Ideas are plentiful. They just need to be realized and financially backed.
Also consensus by Icelanders on the phrase, "We've survived worse," speaks to the country's (for the most part) optimistic moral. This attitude will help Iceland in any new direction it decides to take since optimism is a cure for the downturn.
It is only with a sense of optimism, preferably accompanied by a sense of energy and laughter, that Iceland (or any country for that matter) will be able to pick itself up. Pessimism has the unfortunate habit of being a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So maybe Iceland hasn't found its Obama, but it has stirred up a nation desperate and willing to take power into their own hands and actually do something themselves. Even if it's just optimistic thinking, every idea is a seed longing to secure its roots and flourish. Iceland's seedling might just be a birch tree by the name of Björk.
Alexandra Hertell – alexandrahertell@gmail.com