When one thinks of Iceland, in a strange way, Björk comes to mind. The singer has lived away from Iceland over the years – in London and New York and often on tour – but when she was away, she always felt, as she tells the Guardian, as if “she holds her breath».

In recent years, since her relationship with artist Matthew Barney ended in 2013, she has been living in Reykjavík, where she has witnessed a major increase in tourism to the island, which has risen from a few hundred thousand annual visitors 20 years ago. today to almost 2 million. That’s why when she lends her voice to any environmental campaign, it has an impact far beyond the North Atlantic.

He has been protesting for 30 years, as he explained, “but always in Iceland, where I know it can really make a difference, we have the largest virgin land in Europe and many of us feel like custodians of it, you know, in the way you are custodians of anything…“, says the artist smiling.

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Her current obsession is to try to stop the practice of intensive salmon farming in Iceland’s fjords, an industry that threatens not only the island’s historic wild salmon, she argues, but its entire ocean ecology. It refers to the part of fish farming, essentially factory farming.

It describes a practice, imported from Norway, of intensive salmon farming, in which the growth of the fish is accelerated. Diseases are, he claims, rife, showing photos of disfigured farmed fish as proof.

In Björk’s view this is not a simple battle between ecology and local economies, since only a few hundred people are employed in salmon farming operations. “They are like two Norwegian billionaires“, she says herself.

“They ruined everything in Norway. And now they came to Iceland. People say it’s like the banking crash. Some people get millions and the rest get nothing». The problem made headlines in August when thousands of farmed salmon escaped and swam across Iceland’s rivers.

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However, all these claims of disease and mistreatment are disputed by salmon farming companies. Speaking to the Guardian last month, a spokesman for Arctic Fish, the company responsible for the nets from which the farmed salmon escaped, said:We have systems in place to ensure that wild salmon are not endangered. Additionally, our licenses have an expiration date. If we do not behave properly, our licenses are not renewed». Also, a police investigation is underway into whether environmental legislation was violated.

The battle against the expansion of open net farming is now focused on a village called Seyðisfjörður in the east of the island. “Many bohemian artists live there“, says, “and are protesting in the streets about this particular issueBjörk points out.

The protesters have run out of money, so Björk releases a single to raise money. Björk and Rosalía have joined forces and collaborated for the first time, as Björk claims that large-scale farming “has devastating consequences for wildlife» in her country.

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If the new song represents direct environmental action, with her current tour she wants to achieve something more… The tour is a live version of her penultimate album ‘Utopia’, which takes place in a science fiction future: “Not post-apocalyptic“, she says, “but meta-optimistic». It features a monologue from Björk’s friend Greta Thunberg, “o which conflicts with the fantasy elements of animation».

“I’m still optimistic“, says. “I have many nieces and nephews and I see my daughter’s friends (Isadora is 21 – Björk also has a son, Sindri, who is 37). These kids are all at university studying how to manage a national park or how to sue fossil fuel companies. Basically, I think when they finally take over from the 80 year old men running the world, that’s when we’ll start to see real change“, ends up.

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