Collapsing Blue Giants

The Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon was arguably one of my most anticipated destinations. I remember watching Hebe Tien’s music video for her song Insignificance, which was shot here in 2013. She managed to capture an incredible pool full of ice (According to my research, she did not film during an Icelandic winter), but what I saw was a depressing lagoon with way less floating icebergs. I was in Iceland during early Summer, but I believe that the major lack of ice was not fully justified by the season. I was upset, knowing that this could very well be due to global warming and the greenhouse effect again. However, the sight of the beautiful lagoon was spectacular regardless, with ice giants laying across it lazily, and so I snapped out of my madness quickly. I did, without a doubt, feel insignificant and humble standing in front of them. One of them even collapsed right in front of my eyes, breaking apart like agreeing with my realisation that global warming across the years was nothing but a true story.

Image from Hebe Tien’s ‘Insignificance’ Music Video, taken from Google.

I got on a guided boat tour to explore the lagoon. The guide this time was a sarcastic young man whose humour I appreciated. One extremely important thing he mentioned was the fact that the lagoon on which we sailed was where the glacier initially was. It had shifted further inland throughout the years and the shift had been picking up quite some speed due to a change in climate and rise in global temperature. Would the whole area be just a pool of water in the future? I wonder. The guide continued with the stories of lagoon formation, and even explained that the lagoon is a fun zone for wild seals, but they had moved for mating season. And I just sat on the amphibian boat, taking in the sight with full admiration while contemplating if comparison videos and personal stories like this one I’m writing can get out there, would more people be aware of the adverse impact the environment has suffered from? And what can we do to help? Less CO2 emission! Less carbon footprints! Less unnecessary production and consumption!

Photo by Ler Wei Jun.

By, Euan Thum.

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