Introduction to “Arctic Circle Non-profit organisation” established 2013 by Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, former President of Iceland, former Alaska Dispatch Publisher Alice Rogoff, former Premier of Greenland Kuupik Kleist and other partners. Before that the 1996 The Ottawa Declaration was the founding document of Arctic Council, established by the eight countries that had direct interest in the Arctic area. The founders soon realised that major changes in the Arctic Circle would affect all life on Earth.
Mission; to facilitate dialogue and build relationships to address rapid changes in the Arctic and strengthen the decision making process by bringing together as many international partners as possible to interact under one large “open tent”.
The organization was established in response to issues facing the Arctic as a result of climate change and melting sea ice – such as oil and gas exploration, environmental concerns, national security and the effects on indigenous populations, as well as interest in the region. With the opening of shipping lanes and other economic activity in the Arctic the organisation says the region is moving to centre stage and is playing a significant role in issues such as globalisation , economic development, energy exploration, environmental protection and international security.
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (Icelandic names are patronymic, last name is not a family name. Hereafter referred to by first names) is an Icelandic politician, the first Icelander to earn a PhD, doctor of political science in 1970 and became a professor of political science at University of Iceland in 1973.
Ólafur Ragnar was a controversial politician but in the year 1996 he was elected President of Iceland and enjoyed great respect during the 20 years in office, where he served for a longer period than any other President. He will be long remembered in this country for vetoing a bill from the Icelandic Government on the so called Icesave-law, put forward after the government giving up negotiating refund of money invested in Landsbanki’s high interest accounts in the Netherlands and the UK. The President’s veto was based on consultation with local lawyers, both University Professors and private practise lawyers.
The bill for the act was put forward in the year 2010 and early in 2011 it was put to a national referendum, where the people voted with the President, meaning that the public was not willing to take on refunding a debt of privately owned companies/banks. This changed the situation completely and negotiating position turned around.
Ólafur read the following statement in an interview with “The Grapevine magazine” in 2013.
“The Gordon Brown government decided, to its eternal shame, to put the Icelandic government on a list of terrorist states and terrorist phenomena. We were there together with al Qaeda and the Taliban on that list. We have not forgotten that in Iceland. Gordon Brown will be long remembered in my country for centuries to come, long after he has been completely forgotten in Britain.”
The negotiations were now between Landsbanki’s estate managers and the investors.
The Arctic Circle non-profit organisation’s first assembly was held the same autumn, 2013 and has been on every year since.
The 2024 Arctic Circle assembly will be held on 17-19 October 2024 with 700 speakers and 200 sessions at Harpa, Reykjavik. Harpa is the country’s concert- and conference hall, located at Reykjavik’s old harbour.
Let’s now have a look at the difference between “Arctic Circle” and “The Global Peace and Sustainable Living”, also a Non-profit foundation (GPS Foundation).
Both Foundations have same or similar items on their agenda. Arctic Circle is very much concentrating on Global Warming with the focus on the circle around the North Pole. Huge quantities of water are running like rivers under the Greenland glacier. This water could be slowly trying to brake out by braking through hindrances now keeping the water only entering the sea as an overflow. Nevertheless a considerable quantity is entering the sea every year. If there are hindrances in the way, which could brake one day they are likely to cause a tsunami and sudden long term higher sea-level. Same could apply around the South Pole but in much higher quantities.
Both could cause considerable damage and people having to move their homes to different areas or even countries. If something of this magnitude happens, sustainable living would have to be reached from a totally new angle. Life on Earth would have to be reorganized from zero.
Arctic Circle is gathering information, allowing speakers from different corners of the world to explain how global warming could cause different problems in their home country and all over the Globe.
GPS Foundation is however planning to prepare people for sustainable living under different circumstances and always be able to act quickly. The key obstacle before we can expect convincing results in the sustainable living education area is Global Peace. GPS Foundation will therefore put most of its efforts in the beginning on Peace talks and -negotiations, using the country’s location and qualities in its favour, see the “why Iceland” section of this website.
Conclusion; both foundations could benefit from working closely together, using information from each-other to decide on the most important items to focus on each time. Arctic Circle gathering new information regularly and GPS Foundation acting on it, constantly focusing on latest Arctic Circle information.
Arctic Circle will therefore keep gathering information to report on at each autumns assembly while GPS Foundation and organisations under its umbrella form the action unit taking the most important issues each time to immediate consideration and action.
(Main source of information, “Google.”)