"In 19th century Iceland, reframing aggressive nature as a source of belonging shaped a myth that built a more resilient future. We can do the same."
"Abilities to proactively, and equitably, adapt are shaped by stories of whose security and safety is deemed important, what safe and secure conditions look like, and how much control is required to make them real.
"As 19th century Icelanders showed, shifting those stories of security and change is possible. Collective myths spur and shape collective action. Fiction and imagination are extraordinary shared tools, ones that allow us to craft new identities and ideas about what we value most. Regardless of age or size, all nations, cities, and communities are the product of shared fictions. Those fictions are both constantly re-written and fundamentally shape the directions we choose to take. Challenging ideas of identity and land can be a powerful means of telling new stories about the paths we want to take moving forward.
"For some, the trail to the Fagradalsfjall fissure offers a version of what those new stories could be. Getting close to the lava makes many hikers cry. Groups stand with mouths agape, hands pressed against their cheeks. They sit, sometimes for hours, mesmerized as the lava unfurls. Maybe it’s the force of the planet revealing itself that sparks their awe. Maybe the magma pulses remind them of the bigger geological picture, that human life exists on thin crusts of rock and soil floating on molten metals burning nearly as hot as the sun. People cling to each other as they watch, reaching out as the earth flames and shifts before them, making itself anew, building its future from its past." - Johanna Hoffman
Article: Mythmaking for Burning Ground