DESTINATION ICELAND - Tourism Booming, But...

"Tourism in Iceland is booming — but that may not be all good news" PBS NewsHour 8/30/2016

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SUMMARY:  As war, terrorism and uncertainty pervade the globe, travelers are flocking to Iceland -- regarded as one of the safest nations on the planet.  Fishing used to be the country's most profitable industry, but in recent years, tourism has claimed the top spot.  Still, the buzz and the economic benefits it delivers are accompanied by challenges.  Malcolm Brabant reports Iceland's tourism 'growing pains.'

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  The tourist season in Europe is winding down, and at least one nation hopes it will stay that way.

Iceland was one of this year's “It” destinations for vacationers, but people there are learning the downside of that boom.  More tourist money can also mean more problems.

Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant has our story.

MALCOLM BRABANT (NewsHour):  With its volcanic underbelly and unspoiled prehistoric landscape, Iceland has suddenly become one of the hottest destinations.

OLOF YRR ATLADOTTIR, Director General, Icelandic Tourist Board:  My name is Olof Yrr Atladottir.  And I'm the director general of the Icelandic Tourist Board.

For me, Iceland is the possibility of enjoying solitude in spectacular wide-open spaces.

MALCOLM BRABANT:  Iceland is certainly spectacular.  The Gullfoss Waterfall, part of the so-called Golden Circle of attractions not far from the capital, is said by some to rival Niagara Falls.

And it's not surrounded by high-rise hotels.  But can you get solitude?  That's debatable.  Iceland is a location for “Game of Thrones.”  And fans of the hit series are partly responsible for the island's new popularity, so much so, that it's difficult to grab a shot of pure nature without getting photo-bombed by people taking selfies.

MARK HEASMAN, CEO, Ormiston Families London:  My name is Mark Heasman.  I run a children's charity in London.  It's a delightful country.  So far, we have been in Reykjavik.  But we're now just about to go out on a three-week expedition around the interior, so we can't wait to get away from the people.

MALCOLM BRABANT:  We met Heasman in the Thingvellir National Park, another destination on the Golden Circle route.  It's a World Heritage Site and place of great national importance to Icelanders as a legendary meeting point throughout the centuries.

MARK HEASMAN:  This particular point seems really crowded, actually, for somewhere that's so special and so unique.  It's actually a bit disappointing to see it full of tourists.  But then people need to see it, I guess.

STONE COLD - CO2 to Rock

"To combat climate change, these scientists are turning CO₂ into rock" PBS NewsHour 8/23/2016

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SUMMARY:  Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a major contributor to global warming.  But what if there were a way to turn that gas into rock and store it safely, thousands of feet underground?  One power plant in Iceland is attempting to do just that, through a process called “Carbfix.”  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports, in the first of his “Breakthrough” series.

MALCOLM BRABANT, Special correspondent:  I'm standing about 1,000 feet up a volcano that last erupted about 2,000 years ago.  The temperature underground here is about 620 degrees Fahrenheit.  According to geologists, this volcano could blow at any time.  But that could be any time within the next 1,000 years.

The process of turning carbon dioxide into rock is happening about 6,000 feet below my feet silently.  But up here, you can really sense the visceral power of Mother Nature.  The only sensation I can compare it to is being rather close to the launch of a space shuttle.

WOMAN:  This is Hellisheidi geothermal power plant.  The thermal energy is transported towards Reykjavik, where we heat our houses and take showers and so forth.

EDDA ARADOTTIR, CarbFix Project Director:  So, as a byproduct of the ongoing energy production, geothermal gases like CO₂ are emitted to the atmosphere.  But we have been working towards reducing these emissions, capturing them and reinjecting them into the ground and turning them into rock.

MALCOLM BRABANT:  The techniques pioneered here are said to be safer than the alternative of storing CO₂ as a gas underground, with its expense and potential for leaks.

Under the right conditions, nature takes hundreds of years to transform CO₂ into stone.  What the scientists have done is to accelerate the process exponentially.

EDDA ARADOTTIR:  This represents methods that can be used for fighting global warming and climate change.  And to that respect, it's a powerful box.

So, this is calcium carbonate.  And this is what the CO₂ injected into the basalt turns into after the chemical reactions have occurred.  This one is not representative of what we would see if we were to drill a core or dig a hole into the bedrock where we are injecting the CO₂.  Rather, we would see something like this, where we have the calcium carbonate in smaller particles.