Swiss Facts

Well after two rants about the Cubs, I decided to write a short post about what this blog is really about - my life in Switzerland.

As much as I miss home sometimes, I have to say that Switzerland is one of the most interesting and unique countries in the world (in my opinion). I found out two facts about my current home over the weekend that I thought were pretty cool and wanted to share.

1) Politics in Switzerland

Switzerland is the purest form of "direct democracy." My interpretation of this (feel free to make your own) based on reading up on Wikipedia is that this is total bad-ass democracy that really has the people directly involved, and also cuts out a lot of the garbage seen with officials who are just representative of the people but push their own agendas too. The U.S. is also a direct democracy, but not to the extent that Switzerland is (e.g., at the federal level).

-Any citizen can challenge a law that has been passed by Parliament after getting 50,000 signatures in 100 days;

- Any citizen can seek an amendment to the constitution after getting 100,000 signatures in 18 months.

These two things, while pretty cool, can also fall under the subheading "Things that will work in Switzerland and no where else in the world."

-The government is headed up by this federal council of 7 people. Anyone can be elected to it or run for it if they are eligible to be elected to the National Council (basically the Swiss Parliament/Senate). The council together makes decisions and serves as the executive branch and collective presidency. The council is elected collectively to a 4 year term, and the presidency and vice presidency (largely figureheads only), rotate each year. Right now the President of Switzerland is a woman, Micheline Calmy-Rey. Yeah!

2) Swissies and the Environment

Ok, I have become somewhat freakishly environmentally conscious over here. But it's so easy that you feel guilty if you don't. Recycling is a breeze and there are containers all over the place to recycle. They pick up paper and cardboard once a week. I also compost my food because they pick that up too; there is a compost bin outside right next to the trash bins. It's actually very easy and it makes your garbage not smell disgusting, so you only take out little bitty compost bags instead of huge ass garbage bags. Anyway, there is a big incentive to recycle. Why? Because it is free. Garbage on the other hand, I have to buy special bags for (supposedly they WILL go through your trash if it's not in one of those and can fine you up to CHF 1,000).

On average over 76% of things that can be recycled in Switzerland, are recycled.

Finally, Switzerland runs on roughly 40% nuclear power and 60% hydroelectric power...therefore producing carbon emissions of a big fat zero.