Today I met Andri Snær Magnason.
Prior to meeting him, we were asked to do some quick research. To look at his books, to see what he has done and what he is currently working on—to get an idea of who Andri Magnason was. But this twenty minutes of research could have never prepared me for the man I met today.
I came to Iceland seeking a catalyst to continue my studies as an environmental scientist. I had built all my interest in the subject with hands on field work in high school, with teachers who built close relationships with their students. However, college is decidedly more interested in hypothetical scenarios in sheltered class rooms and much less so about inspiration and hands on intergration. I had become greatly disconnected with my original love for the field—it was still there mind you, I was just beginning to lose the physical connection I had established through field work, and the emotional or mental connection I had established through my close knitted and inspirational teachers. I came to Iceland seeking this physical and emotional connection that I felt was beginning to wane.
The physical has been easy enough. Any of the hikes I’ve gone on, alone or in a group have fed the physical connection I was seeking. It is easy to be entranced by the mountains and low lying clouds here, to feel wholly encompassed by the atmosphere is provides. However I had yet to find the emotional, more mental half I was seeking. It was three weeks in, and I was getting worried. The universe must have heard my worries, because they were answered.
We left at an early 7:45 AM this morning to meet Magnason, who is now stationed in a coal fired power plant he has retrofitted into space for the young and talented. Settling down in the old control room of the plant, he eagerly jumped right into his talk. At once he was animated but also truly sincere in the way he spoke. He moved through the chapters of his adult life, and the transition from authorship to environmentalist was nimble and natural. As he started talking about his role as an environmentalist, the books he had written, the things he was fighting for, I was taken aback by the incredible way he worded them—in a second language none the less. I would try to recreate them here, but there is no way I could say them as well as he had. He spoke in ingenious metaphors, ones that would really strike a connection, that would make you think “yes, exactly!” He spoke on how in the upcoming years he hopes a class room full of environmental carelessness will seem as bizarre as a whole class room of school age kids smoking. Again, I can’t do it justice. I promise in person though, you could have easily envisioned it. It felt ludicrous that it wasn’t the case already.
Beyond just talking directly about environmentalism, he spoke on the impact of one person. Never had anyone made two centuries feel like something you can touch. He talked about the 200 years between your grandparents and your grandchildren, and how these are both people who you will be intimately connected with. I became empowered with my ability to do, to be concretely connected to just under 200 years of humanity. I felt like I had just been told an epic story. I was enthralled, I was excited, I was eager. I was mentally and emotionally inspired.
Today,
(as tacky as this sounds)
I found a new hero to look up to.
