Would You Like to Be Where I Am?

Posted by Lisa at 12:00 PM, June 25, 2005
This is me halfway up a mountain working on my laptop and that is not a fag in my mouth it's a lolipop! If you look closely you can see the Arctic Sunrise in the background at the docks. Look for the green hull on the left with some white writing on it.

Isafjordur doesn't look like much when you arrive at the docks but once you climb halfway up a mountain and look out over the fjord it's pretty fantastic! If you're reading this while sat at a desk pretending to be working but secretly reading Greenpeace blogs while the boss is not looking. This is the kind of place I bet you wish you were at right now. I bet you're feeling quite jealous, seeing this picture of me here and wondering how on earth I managed to go from sitting behind my own boring desk surfing Greenpeace websites to half way up in mountain in Iceland!

But don't sit there turning green trying to find some reason to hate me (I know what you're thinking!). If you want to do this kind of thing....volunteer for Greenpeace, get on a ship, climb mountains, save the planet and all that good stuff, but don't quite know where to start, my advice would be to start right HERE. I became a cyberactivist and banged on the virtual doors of Greenpeace until they heard me. So make your time surfing the web useful! Register today and don't stop looking for your way in. You should also try to volunteer at your local Greenpeace office if you have one. That's how Stefan and Johanna made it onto the ships.

While in this beautiful town, I had the pleasure of meeting the man who chased the Esperanza in small boat last year in an attempt to mimic their "stupid way" of stopping whaling. He's actually a really interesting man who supports Greenpeace for the work they do on toxics and climate change etc. He just disagrees with their stance on the whaling issue. However, the fact that this man is willing is to spend time talking to Greenpeace staff is a real achievement for the environment in Iceland. Previously, people would not only refuse to talk to Greenpeace about whales, but they would refuse to talk to Greenpeace about anything.

The ship left for Greenland today and I was very sad to see it go, with all these great people on board, which I had only just become acquainted with. Isha stood on deck waving manically at me for as long as I could see her, alongside Andrew who gave me a very laid back farewell sort of arm movement. Andrew was an awesome person to have show me the ropes of being a webbie on a ship. I'd sit next to him while we were working and ask him a load of questions and winge about things I found difficult and he would always nod understandingly and offer advice with the utmost of patience. He was always really busy with his own work but never said he didn't have time for me and never once gave me that impression yet I am sure that by the time we parted company he was relieved to have some peace and quiet!

Just before the ship pulled away, Thomas threw me his Greenpeace Norway T-shirt and said I could keep it (I'd made a comment about it earlier on the trip that it would go very nicely with my bright green flares). This nearly set me off in a pile of tears because Thomas had been quite standoffish and sarcastic with me at the start of the trip but he warmed up to me in the end and I know he's one of the people from this trip that I am going to miss the most.

I left Isafjordur at lunchtime with Frode, Martin, Stefan and Johanna, We drove back to Reykjavik and had to put up with Frode who went a bit loopy in the car due to stress and started meowing a lot. We got back very late and are just about to go out to celebrate the end of the Iceland tour. Although it is the end of the official tour it is not the end for Stefan, Johanna and myself who plan to visit Husavik in the north (where Abbi lives) and make sure there ARE still whales in Iceland! More soon.....

L.