The Bieber Impact

At this point, through my description of Icelanders, you probably already have an idea of how proud they are of their country. Now let’s talk about the Bieber impact, and their government's action to protect their nature and environment.

Image taken from Google featuring Bieber.

When Canadian pop star, Justin Bieber, decided to take advantage of the Icelandic majestic landscapes and shot the music video for his song, I’ll Show You, there in 2015, he brought to life a trend to visit the isolated country. Hordes of Bieber fans then flocked to the nation to track his filming locations, including this particular canyon known as the Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, which was placed in the international spotlight thanks to the singer. Yet, in the video, Bieber notoriously set foot on living grass, trespassing dangerous sites where no footpaths were available. These became bad examples which fans naively followed- leading to a months-long government travel ban to that canyon only a few years after Bieber’s music video release. The Environmental Agency of Iceland then built proper footpaths to ensure both visitors’ safety and also fences as a preventive effort of tourists destroying the local fragile vegetation.

I got the chance to visit this canyon now that it has reopened to the public after the safety measures were in place. The canyon remained a tourists’ hotspot after half a decade Bieber’s music video was released. The valley walls stood at around 100m in height and were covered in beautiful moss. The valley saw a river running, with water gushing down from a waterfall close to the end of the canyon footpaths- all of which had been properly installed. The place looked magnificent on its own and deserved the over-tourism, with or without Bieber’s involvement.

Now, let’s think! Bieber most probably had no malicious intention of hurting the environment when he stepped on the cliffside vegetation. He certainly did not expect his supporters to do the same too. There must be countless examples of unintended actions in our daily life that may pose detrimental threats to our environment. Can you name some of them, and share how you solve or avoid committing such ‘crimes’?

By,
Euan Thum.

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