Iceland has a reputation for clean energy, and is usually the textbook example of clean, green geothermal energy. But recently, aluminium corporations ALCOA, RioTinto-Alcan and Century Aluminium are pushing for large scale, intensive geothermal development to power new smelters on the subartic island, destroying large tracts of silent, empty, undeveloped wilderness. And this is not enough. If all the heavy industry plans are executed, all major glacial rivers would also be dammed.

Saving Iceland is holding it's fourth direct action camp in the Icelandic wilderness. Over the last weeks, work on the Century Aluminum Helguvik smelter construction site was stopped for a day. Century's existing smelter as well as a steel factory were blockaded, holding up a shift change for several hours. A Reykjavik Energy geothermal drill site at Hellisheidi, being built for Century, was completely shut down for a day as activists locked to machines, climbed the drill and occupied the power control room. The national power company Landsvirkjun had it's office invaded, and it's CEO Fridrik Sophusson had his home visited. Saving Iceland nailed an eviction notice to his door. Landsvirkjun want to remove farmers from the Thjorsa river valley to build a number of dams to provide energy to a Rio Tinto Alcan smelter. In the north of Iceland, they are deep drilling geothermal boreholes for an ALCOA smelter in the north, affecting large tracts of wilderness. Outside Iceland, there were demonstrations at Icelandic embassies and consulates and the Glencore, ALCOA and Impregilo headquarters in Switzerland and Italy.

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Aluminium is used for packing, construction, car and plain manufacturing but it's largest consumer is the arms industry, producing tanks, missiles, small-arms and jets used on a large scale in every modern war. The industry is highly profitable while demand for 'lighter, faster and stronger' (ALCOA's slogan) equipment is soaring. Ironically, aluminium cars are sold as 'eco-friendly': lighter, so more fuel-efficient. The reality is that bauxite mining destroys rainforests in the Caribbean and displaces tribal people in India, while smelting produces large amounts of greenhouse gases. Large dams for electricity generation is threatening to destroy not only Iceland's highland wilderness but also the central African rainforest in Congo and large tracts of the Amazon.

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