Switzerland Today
Hello from toasty Bern,
It’s officially hot in Switzerland. Temperatures are expected to reach 35°C in many places in the country today, after June was already the fifth-warmest nationwide since measurements began. Switzerland is far from the only place to experience extreme heat right now. How do you stay cool where you are? Do you jump in a river? Take an afternoon nap? Or are you more of the air conditioning type?
More on the heat in today’s briefing.
In the News: warnings about fake drugs, toxic chemicals trade, and challenging testosterone rules in track and field.
- Swissmedic warned against buying drugs from unreliable sources, particularly from abroad, after reports of hospitalisations in connection with falsified injectables of Ozempic. The medicine, which is approved to treat type 2 diabetes, has been touted as a weight-loss drug on social media.
- A joint research team from Switzerland and China has found that nearly half of the total trade volume of hazardous chemicals subject to an international convention crosses national borders illegally.
- The South African runner and two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya won an appeal against track and field’s testosterone rules. Semenya was appealing against a Swiss court which upheld regulations that forced her to artificially reduce her naturally high testosterone levels in order to compete in women’s races.
- Switzerland has seen cases of syphilis almost double in the last decade. After being nearly eliminated, the oldest known sexually transmitted disease is making a comeback in many countries.
Would you rather be a cow or a bird in the heat? Your burning question answered.
If you head to the Alps today, there’s a good chance you won’t find many cows grazing in the open air. If I were a cow, I’d be looking for some shade, water, and a place to take a nice snooze.
Apparently, cows have a very low tolerance for heat. They can experience heat stress at about 24°C. But how do we know this? Their breathing, writes Keystone-SDA. The normal breathing frequency is 20-30 times a minute but when it gets hot, cows start panting up to 100 times a minute, which is a lot of work and makes them thirsty. Cows drink on average 80 to 140 liters of water a day but this increases to 180 liters and more when it’s hot.
What about the other farm animals? Pigs are also likely to be hiding out today. They don’t sweat except through their skin and between their toes. This isn’t enough to cool them down so they need a cool surface to lie on.
The situation is even worse for sheep. Under their wool, temperatures as low as 25°C can be fatal. They drink four to five times more water when the temperature gets above 25°C. Even chickens get stressed with the heat.
So who is left on the farm? Wild birds. They are well-equipped to withstand temperatures up to 46°C. As if flying wasn’t cool enough.
To air condition or not to air condition, the Swiss warm up to the idea.
There’s one way the Swiss know how to cool down their houses – keep the shutters closed. That’s the mantra in our house right now. But for those who don’t want to live without sunlight in the middle of the day, there’s also the option of an air conditioner. It’s rarely found in houses in the country, and there’s definitely not one in our offices here in Bern.
Apparently though air conditioners are increasingly being installed in the country. But is this the answer? Should we fight heat waves, that are worsening with climate change, with more energy consumption and use of GHG-emitting coolants? According to a story by public broadcaster SRF, a compromise is coming in the form of a more environmentally friendly air conditioning solution.
Even if the price is a bit higher, it may be worth it just to get some sleep. As SRF reported todayExternal link, one study showed that very warm nights above 30°C led to around 14 minutes less sleep compared to nights with the lowest temperatures. If we don’t cut emissions, researchers expect we’ll lose 50 to 58 hours of sleep a year by the end of the century!
The heat isn’t keeping expats away from Switzerland but they aren’t as hot on the country as they once were.
That’s the result of the latest global expat survey that saw Switzerland drop three spots to 23rd out of 53 countries as a place for expats to live and work.
As expected, Switzerland does well when it comes to quality of life and salaries.
However, as seen last year, Switzerland didn’t do as well when it came to settling in, where it placed 47th – ouch! About 20% of those surveyed indicated the Swiss are unfriendly, and about half said it’s hard to make friends with locals, and a quarter felt unwelcome in the country.
So, where’s the best place if you’re an expat? Mexico, Spain and Panama according to the survey. Apparently, high temperatures aren’t a deal-breaker.
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