Swiss Review 2/2019

Swiss Review / March 2019 / No.2 5 Mailbag The CO 2 vacuum cleaner pioneers from Zurich-Oerlikon Interesting! All industrial processes generatewaste heat, so in industry the filter-regeneration phase comes for free. The problem arises when with best intentions industry tries to dis- pose of the resulting pure CO 2 gas (which will have to be compressed for delivery – another ener- gy-consuming process). Makers of carbonated drinks are in- deed possible customers, but in their place I would want to be the driver of the project, and this turns around the marketing process logic. The other applications appear to be years in the future. ERIC WINKLER, GREAT BRITAIN I also think that we humans should try to be as environmen- tally friendly as possible. This is why I support all measures to reduce CO 2 levels in the atmosphere. The best proven method is “terrestrial carbon dioxide removal” through reforestation. New forests absorb vast amounts of CO 2 . However, it is now clear that there is little interest in this effective and inexpen- sive alternative, simply because it is not a moneymaker. I am certain that the motives behind all this CO 2 -related hysteria are mainly economic. Instead of planting a few trees, busi- nesses like the one in the article prefer to make huge amounts of money developing gigantic and environmentally harmful CO 2 vacuum cleaners. RETO DERUNGS, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Drought in “Europe’s water reservoir” My suggestion to solve the problemandmany other climate-re- lated issues: fewer cows. Of course, this not only applies to Swit- zerland but even more to the European Union. Why not give some of our countryside back to Mother Nature? HANS M. HILBER, LEINFELDEN, GERMANY Julien Wanders: an African running style Thank you for your wonderful article on this budding athlete, who is as young as he is prom- ising. Above all, he seems highly motivated in his lifestyle choices, which entail immense sac- rifices.We are all rooting for him, hoping hewill succeed and reach the top! PHILIPPE DEROLLAND, FRANCE The legitimate banknote and the famous counterfeiter Muy bien hecho Valaisans! This is just the safety net that “small fish” need to protect themselves from the excesses of that mon- strosity called globalisation – both today and in the future. In my opinion, David Cret- tenand and his friends should be awarded the Nobel Prize for Antiglobalisation. WALTER LIEBER, COLOMBIA The forerunner of the Swiss Economic Circle (WIR) originated in the Austrian state of Tyrol, where, based on Silvio Gesell’s Freigeld theory, themunicipality ofWörgl issued “stamp scrip” – a local currency designed to be circulated and not hoarded. They used one-, five- and ten-schilling banknotes that lost one per cent of their value eachmonth, hence these banknoteswere spentmuch quicker. One of the secrets of “money” is the speed at which it circulates. Stamp scrip helped to increase the speed of circulation, and this led to widespread prosperity. Many businesses and residents took part in the scheme, not least be- cause they were able to use the new currency to pay their mu- nicipal taxes. Valais must therefore be doing something right. ALFRED SCHMITTER, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS Vacant churches: rent, sell, demolish? As a practising Christian, the letter to the editor from Chris- topher Egli (USA), published in the January edition of Swiss Review really hurt and shockedme. Mr Egli wrote that he was happy to see the number of religious people in Switzerland declining and wished that this was the case everywhere. I vehemently object to his state- ment and find it degrading. The reality is dif- ferent in my experience. For example, life in our parish near Hamburg is built on faith, tol- erance and forgiveness. Is Mr Egli advocating that we all become atheists or that we start fol- lowing some sort of substitute religion? If he is, then he is forgetting the other side of the coin, the sad fact of the ongoing persecution of Christians in countries like Iran, China, Pakistan and North Korea, where Christians not only end up in prison but sometimes also end up dead. HANS JÜRGEN SIEGENTHALER, ITZSEDT, GERMANY