Iceland of Make-Believe

39,756 -- area of Iceland, in square miles¹

39,728 -- area of Kentucky, in square miles²

293,966 -- population of Iceland³

4,117,827 -- population of Kentucky²

10 -- percentage of Icelanders who believe elves "definitely" exist⁴

0 -- number of successful elf surveys conducted in Kentucky

11.5 -- percentage of Iceland that is covered by glaciers¹

3,240 -- square miles covered by the largest glacier, Vatnajökull¹

2 -- tectonic plates visible at Thingvellir National Park⁵

2.5 -- centimeters a year by which those tectonic plates separate⁵

1,075 -- years since the world's first parliament was held at Thingvellir⁶

70 -- percentage of national export income derived from fishing³

2 -- years since the government announced its intention to resume whaling for "scientific purposes," joining Norway and Japan in defiance of international opinion⁷

25 -- number of minke whales, out of a native population of 43,000, that Iceland's government planned to hunt in 2004 for such purposes⁸

65,563 -- signers of a Greenpeace petition who pledged to "seriously consider taking a vacation to Iceland" and "be willing to receive an email [about Icelandic tourism]" if the country would stop whaling⁹

67.3 -- percentage of Icelanders who support whaling, according to a 2004 Gallup poll¹⁰

22 -- size, in square miles, of the reservoir that will be created in Iceland's eastern highlands by a dam under construction to power an aluminum smelter owned by American-based Alcoa¹¹

22.7 -- size, in square miles, of Manhattan¹²

1 -- veto that Iceland's State Planning Agency put on the dam project in 2001 due to "environmental impact"¹³

1 -- State Planning veto overruled by the country's environment minister¹³

3 -- weeks that pop star Björk's mother fasted in 2002 to protest the project¹⁴

2,007 -- trees planted by Alcoa in the town of Reydarfjordur to signify the year its facility will start operations, as part of the company's international "Million Trees" project¹⁵

5 -- rank of Iceland in Yale and Columbia universities' 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index, out of 146¹⁶

45 -- rank of the U.S.¹⁶


Sources:
1. Country Information, Iceland Naturally.
2. Kentucky QuickFacts, U.S. Census Bureau.
3. The World Factbook: Iceland, Central Intelligence Agency.
4. "Spotting Elves in Iceland," Spirituality and Health, July/August 2004.
5. "This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics," U.S. Geological Survey.
6. Thingvellir, Icelandic Tourist Board.
7. "Whale of a Debate in Iceland," CBS News, 11 Jun 2003.
8. "Iceland Continues a Minimal Implementation of Its Research Plan for Minke Whales," Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries, 01 Jun 2004.
9. Iceland Whales Pledge, Greenpeace International.
10. "Hunting or Tourism? Iceland's Tough Whaling Choice," Agence France-Presse, 18 Jul 2004.
11. "Iceland Be Dammed," Smithsonian, June 2002.
12. Getting Around New York City on Foot, NYC & Company website (formerly the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau).
13. "Iceland, Environmentalists Clash," Associated Press, 23 Dec 2002.
14. "Björk's Mother Ends Hunger Strike," BBC, 30 Oct 2002.
15. "2007 Tree Seedlings Planted in the Alcoa Forest in Reydarfjordur, Iceland," Alcoa corporate website, 18 Jun 2003.
16. 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index [PDF], Yale University and Columbia University, 26 Jan 2005.