GO Blog

I found Icelanders to be not only well-educated, but also conscientious and helpful, which was very refreshing in our interactions. For instance, on my last day in Iceland, when the bus to the terminal was late picking me up, the hotel manager offered to drive me to the airport himself, saying “if the bus doesn’t come in 10 more minutes, you let me know, and I will get my car and personally drive you there.” Of course the bus did come, but my point is that a generous offer such as this, from a busy hotel manager no less, would never happen in the United States! Icelanders feel a tremendous responsibility to equality and justice, and are very concerned about making things right. This is demonstrated in their commitment to developing alternative and sustainable energy sources as a means of improving the environmental conditions that affect human health.

I was impressed to see that Newsweek just published an article on alternative energy in Iceland entitled “Iceland has power to burn.” The article covered many of the same things that we saw firsthand on our tour. It is clear that the Icelanders place a great value on public health, and are also interested and well-informed about what goes on elsewhere in the world. This is remarkable for such a small and isolated country that could so easily look inward and not be concerned about other parts of the world. Although the United States is a large and expansive country with a heterogeneous and competitive population, which is very different from Iceland, there is much that we can learn from the Icelanders. One of the Icelandic professors in the globalization class said that education is the key to good public health. I think that both education and community are essential for improving global health - because without individual knowledge and the ability to see the connectedness between people, it is very difficult to better the health of populations. But with education and great sensitivity the possibility of moving forward is much enhanced.

Jenny Ostergren