A single Bitcoin transaction consumes about the same amount of electricity as a household does in 1.5 months. The Greens now want to regulate Bitcoin more closely. The industry is fighting back.

• Bitcoin consumes more electricity per year than countries like Belgium, Chile, and the Philippines.

• The Greens are calling for Switzerland to regulate this “energy guzzler” more closely finally.

• The Swiss Blockchain Federation counters that a ban on

Bitcoin would not help at all.

The high energy and electricity prices have consequences: Italian pizza is becoming more expensive, hotels require a surcharge and companies are asking for help from the federal government. Federal Councilor Simonetta Sommaruga also called for energy saving. At the same time, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin consume massive amounts of electricity.

Reader M.B.* is annoyed: “We should limit ourselves to washing, showering, and cooking, but cryptos are forgotten.” A single transaction “with these pie-in-the-sky currencies” consumes about the same amount of electricity as an average household in 1.5 months. “The austerity appeals are contradictory as long as you can produce and trade cryptocurrencies without restrictions,” says the reader.

Calls for a ban are loud

According to the University of Cambridge, the Bitcoin network currently consumes around 94.8 terawatt hours of electricity per year. The whole of Finland will need less electricity in twelve months. Paul Niggli, ex-crisis manager at the electricity network operator Swissgrid, called for a ban on Bitcoin in an interview with CH Media.

Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Ghana have already banned bitcoin. Does Switzerland have to do that too? “That wouldn’t do any good,” says SVP politician Heinz Tännler, President of the Swiss Blockchain Federation, when asked. Energy is mainly needed for mining (see box) – and in Switzerland, almost nobody mines Bitcoin. It is particularly important that mining takes place in countries where energy costs are low.

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That’s why Bitcoin needs so much electricity

Bitcoin payments are not confirmed by banks and financial service providers but by a computer network distributed around the world. This so-called mining requires a lot of computing power. The size of the Bitcoin network also ensures high power consumption: According to “Coinmarketcap”, Bitcoin is the world’s largest cryptocurrency with a current market share of around 39 percent.

Last year, 3471 people found themselves in an emergency in the Swiss Alps and had to be rescued.
That is more than ever before. 112 people had fatal accidents while hiking in the mountains, as the Swiss Alpine Club announced on Wednesday, March 10th.
With the relaxation of the Corona measures from mid-March 2020, the activities and thus the emergency and accident numbers increase

Of the 3471 mountaineers. 1172 those in dire straits or decrepit could be rescued in healthy conditions or with minor injuries.

A total of 180 deaths

A total of 180 people lost their lives in the mountains, 47 of them as a result of illness, mostly due to a cardiovascular problem. 21 more people trotting in sports such as delta and paragliding, base jumping, and the use of mountain bikes. In mountaineering, in the narrower sense, where no transport device was used, 112 mountaineers had fatal accidents.

What is striking is the significantly lower proportion of foreign victims compared to previous years. While this proportion was mostly well over 40 percent, it was 27 percent last year with 30 fatal accidents. According to the Swiss Alpine Club, the decrease is largely due to travel restrictions.

A total of 1627 people

were in dire straits while hiking. According to the Swiss Alpine Club, especially in spring and early summer as well as in autumn, it became clear that even simple mountain hiking trails become dangerous when shady sections of the trail are snow-covered or icy.
In 2020 there were particularly many accidents on such sections of the route, six of them fatal.

See the. Swiss Rega website here

as quoted in the Urner Wochenblatt, March 13, 2021

When you google it, it may say that Corippo, in Tessin, the Italian part of Switzerland, is the smallest municipality, however, the village Zumdorf, in the canton of Uri is definitely the smallest with 3 people! It’s so small they forgot about it!

Village of Zumdorf

In 1851 Zumdorf had 50 inhabitants but then was buried by a huge avalanche. Zumdorf is currently (2017) inhabited all year round by a single family consisting of three people and has been officially declared the “smallest village in Switzerland”. The father with his two sons is now running the restaurant, which is visited very frequently by hikers and bikers.

Nostalgic and mysterious

Between Hospental and Realp, in the Central Switzerland Canton of URI, politically part of the municipality of Hospental was once and still is the “smallest village in Switzerland”. Zumdorf is a designated Walser foundation and used to be an independent curate-chaplain with a chapel and school. Badly affected by avalanches, Zumdorf united with Hospental. In March 1851 the hamlet was completely buried by an avalanche, however, it was still able to survive. In 1869 the hamlet still had 13 souls living there. Today there are two temporarily inhabited houses in Zumdorf and the much-visited Restaurant Zum Dörfli, whose host family lives in Zumdorf all year round. But the gem of Zumdorf is the one dedicated to St. Niklaus Baroque Chapel,

St Peters and Paul in Andermatt

It was built in 1720 by the Ursen architect Bartholomäus Schmid and was restored in 1971 professionally and stylishly. This chapel harbors a very special gem: the rosary altar, created by Jodok Ritz in 1728, which is surrounded by 10 round reverse glass pictures that refer to the legend of St. Nicholas and several views of Zumdorf.

Architect Bartholomäus Schmid

Bartholomäus Schmid

belonged to the Schmid family, which can be traced back to Hospental in the 17th century. Bartholomäus was born on August 25, 1660, and was adopted as Talmann von Ursern in 1693. In Bartholomäus Schmid, the country of Uri grew up as its most important Baroque architect. Bartholomäus’ grandfather was already a well-known master builder and built the parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Andermatt, which his grandson later enlarged. It took 200 years until the fifth generation of Schmid, namely Bartholomäus with his father and son, was accepted into the citizenship of the Ursine. Son Johann Sebastian served the valley as a long-time village notary and headed it from 1747-49 as Thalmann. A characteristic feature of Bartholomäus Schmid’s architectural style is the attachment of arched panels, the effect of which is enhanced by pilasters placed in front of them. This blind arch can also be found in the chapel in Zumdorf. Various other buildings by Bartholomäus Schmid, some in the Ursenertal, such as the church and chapel of St. Karl in Hospental, should also be mentioned. Bartholomäus Schmid died in 1738, but his wonderful works are still important.

Visit the website of the smallest city in Switzerland

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On 6 February 2021, across parts of Switzerland, people awoke to a strange yellowish light and brown skies.

The strange light and brown sky are caused by sand from the Sahara desert. It is a well-known meteorological phenomenon that occurs around three times a year in Switzerland, according to SRF Meteo.

Areas currently most affected by it are in western Switzerland and include Geneva, Vaud, Valais, and Fribourg.

According to SRF Meteo, the sand came mainly from the northwest of Africa, a region containing Mauritania, Mali, and Algeria. Most of the sand is floating airborne between 2km and 5km from the ground, according to the weather service. It takes between a week and two days for the dust to travel from the desert to Europe. The largest particles land on the ground while the smallest remain airborne and continue their journey northward.

At the measuring station on the A2 motorway in Erstfeld, where we live, up to 140 micrograms of fine dust per cubic meter were measured. In Altdorf, the next large city, even a peak value of 214. That is about ten to twenty times more than under normal circumstances. But the absolute front runner was the measuring station on amazing Jungfrau Joch. This measuring station is located very high, 11,350 feet above sea level, and therefore measures practically no particulate matter under normal circumstances. On February 6th, however, she was in the middle of a cloud of dust. On Saturday afternoon, fine dust pollution of 768 micrograms per cubic meter was measured!

No health effects to be expected

The health effects of this short but high level of fine dust pollution are likely to be minor. Saharan dust can also act as a fertilizer. Especially in rainforests and partly in oceans it can be observed that nutrients get into the environment through regular input of Saharan dust.

The phenomenon accompanies a warm air weather system known as the Foehn.

I urge you to watch this film on Netflix, it will put things in perspective about this beautiful planet of ours, full of miracles! Click on the box below to see a trailer.

One strange Rock – Hosted by Will Smith on Netflix

Jeder, der aus einem anderen Land in die USA fliegt, muss einen negativen Test für das COVID-19-Virus nachweisen. Die Zentren für die Kontrolle und Prävention von Krankheiten haben in den letzten Tagen die neue Regelung angekündigt, da neue Fälle und Todesfälle aufgrund der Pandemie im ganzen Land weiter zunehmen.

Mehr als 24 Millionen Fälle wurden gemeldet.

Mehr als 500.000 Menschenleben wurden gefordert. Der Katalysator für das neue Protokoll ist die Entwicklung eines Stammes des tödlichen Virus (Delta), von dem angenommen wird, dass er sich leichter ausbreitet. Diese Wendung hätte nicht nötig sein müssen, um eine solche vernünftige Maßnahme zu veranlassen, die sowohl für US-Bürger als auch für ausländische Reisende gilt.

Sie tritt am 26. Januar in Kraft.

Nach den neuen Beschränkungen müssen Fluggäste innerhalb von drei Tagen nach ihrem Flug nach Amerika einen COVID-19-Test erhalten und einen schriftlichen Nachweis des Tests vorlegen, ohne dass dokumentiert ist, dass sie den Virus bereits hatten. Das neue Protokoll wird die Sicherheit erhöhen und möglicherweise das internationale Reisen anregen. Staaten im ganzen Land sollten diesem Beispiel folgen und diese vernünftige Maßnahme ergreifen. Etwa die Hälfte der Staaten des Landes verfügt über einige Maßnahmen: eine Anforderung für einen negativen Test, ein Versprechen zur Selbstquarantäne. Alaska gehört zu den fleißigsten in seinen Beschränkungen. Alle nicht-alaskischen Einwohner, die in den Staat einreisen, müssen eine Reiseerklärung und einen Selbstisolationsplan einreichen. Darüber hinaus müssen Reisende den Nachweis eines qualifizierenden negativen COVID-19-Tests haben oder 250 USD für einen COVID-19-Test und die Selbstquarantäne zahlen, bis die Ergebnisse vorliegen. Und die Kosten gehen zu ihren Lasten. Dies ist ein Beispiel für einen Staat, der die Pandemie ernst nimmt. Die Ermahnungen, aus nicht wesentlichen Gründen auf Flugreisen zu verzichten, sind eindeutig unbeachtet geblieben, wie der Anstieg der Flüge in den Ferien zeigt.

Angesichts dieser Realität sollte das reisende Publikum – innerhalb und außerhalb der USA – nachweisen müssen, dass es keine tödliche Krankheit von einem Land in ein anderes oder von einem Staat in einen anderen mit sich führt.