August 11, 2010

Even though I have been too busy, or maybe too lazy, to write anything during the summer doesn't mean that I haven't been around enjoying Zürich in some of the endless ways that it has to offer in the summer.

Cooling down with a swim in the Limmat at Ober Letten.

Another swim in the Limmat at the charming Unter Letten.

A relaxing walk in the forest on Hönggerberg with a coffee at Grünwald.

Enjoying the view over Zürich from polyterasse in from of the ETH.

Just because I have been lazy this summer doesn't mean that everyone has been. Entire Switzerland seems to be a huge "baustelle".

The Prime Tower, still under construction but just passed the limit of becoming the highest building in Switzerland.

Switzerland has always been a rather liberal country when it comes to drugs and even though the consumption is not yet legal, report after report by experts in federal commissions keep on insisting that all drug consumption should be legal. Not to encourage the consumption but to better be able to fight against the dependencies. Although the experts seem to be united on the topic the public isn't, a couple of years ago there was a vote for the legalization of cannabis that was rejected. To the big disappointment of the cannabis grower Bernard Rappaz, who until very recently was in prison for drug dealing. To protest against his punishment and to favor the legalization of cannabis Rappaz went on a thirst strike this summer and the authorities got confronted with the choice of letting him die or to force feed him. In the end they went for the second option and Rappaz could serve the rest of his punishment at home with a personal guard. Is he a hero standing up for his beliefs or is he a junkie? People are of different opinions but most people are not so happy about using their tax money to pay for him being guarded at home. Anyway, Rappaz is now comfortably at home and can start thinking about on how to reorient his business towards pharmacies, to where he can sell his weed legally for medical purposes from 2011.

Pakistan is being washed away by rains and landslides and Russia is burning due to an extreme heat. Is this another effect of the global warming caused by humans? Probably. Will it make us change? Probably not. We are indeed very resistant to changing our habits by choice even though we are constantly forced to change for adapting to a changing world. According to the famous physicist Stephen Hawkings we have less than 200 years to spread into space to save the human race. Well, throughout the history of mankind we have always believed that we are doomed in one way or the other, through the wrath of God, through the atomic bombs, through the swine flu etc. We have always been very innovative in predicting ways to our extinction. We should definitely do our best to keep our planet clean but I think that there are more urgent reasons for doing so than fear of Armageddon, such as for instance the luxury of clean air and clean oceans.