Mike Magee
The wisdom of the dictum above was confirmed on the final morning of a 10-data journey with my wife and 22 other travelers by rail throughout Switzerland with the travel company, RoadScholar. Formerly the Elderhostel, the company is known for its egalitarian approach to culture-sensitive travel and high quality continuous learning experiences.
All Americans, we had just completed a rigorous exposure to the country and her history, culture and people that included 19 different train rides, multiple trams and buses, two boat rides, and enough walking to challenge a much younger group. Most of us were approaching 80.
As we awaited a van to deliver us that morning to a train in Basel for the final leg to the Zurich airport, our lead guide approached me. She asked if I had seen her email the night before asking if I could provide her duct tape to repair a broken handle on her luggage. I apologized for missing the email, but said I’d be happy to dig it out of my just packed luggage. I did, and repaired her bag, and she was very grateful.
She and the rest of the group knew about the duct tape because I had shared a photo the night before of the miracle tape in action in our 4th floor attic room at this converted monastery. The tape was part of a response to the actuality of having to adjust to a decidedly non-American culture of mutual sacrifice and “stiff upper-lipism” brought on by a massive heat wave that has challenged all of Europe this summer. As part of the response, we had gotten along without air conditioning in every one of the hotels we stayed at as we traveled across 14 of the 26 cantons (states) throughout Switzerland.
We quickly learned to open our windows and use the small fans in most rooms. Our final accommodation was on the top floor in what had formally been the attic of the monastery. Our room was hot on entry, and there was only one small circular port hole window which pivoted open to 180 degrees but insisted on completing the cycle and shutting on its own with surprising force. I ultimately solved the problem (as seen above) with the help of duct tape.
Switzerland embraces three languages at once – German, French and Italian. But loyal commitment to a dominant language by most citizens is largely dependent on location, tradition and history. And so, to ensure that all can inter-communicate, almost all speak English as well.
Their commitment to public transportation, notably railway trains and trams, favors pedestrians and bicycles over cars. Health, vitality, and exercise are the norm, as are cleanliness, fastidious care of historic structures, and great pride in their water resources. In Zurich alone there are over 1200 public fountains, all of which serve a dual purpose as ornament and source of public dinking water. We visitors were encouraged to fill our drinking bottles directly from the public fountains. All of the above is supported by an average citizen tax rate of 40%.
The Swiss are pragmatic and transparent when it comes to policy and politics. There is no battle currently over freedom of the press or alternate facts. The Swiss Confederation president, Guy Parmelin, is not attempting to get Kristen Welker fired. And public dialogue and participation in the democratic process is robust.
For comparison, consider one current hot button issue – the construction of AI data centers. One year ago roughly half of Americans were OK with the country’s’s planned construction of nearly 1500 centers nationwide in their back yards. Now opposition is up to 75%, including 80% of independents and 83% of Democrats. $130 billion in projects have been put on hold. 500 jurisdictions have imposed moratoriums on building.
This backlash reflects a failure to address legitimate concerns in a politically constructive manner. The “broad distrust and distaste” for AI that has developed in the communications vacuum that includes concerns over rising electricity prices, the lack of environmental regulation of these projects, a lack of support for tech oligarchs, and competing visions for the future. If there has been a sales pitch by the Trump administration and his Tech allies, it feels like financial coercion – let us build near you and we’ll fund through property taxes the social service programs, schools, and community programs you’ve always dreamed having. But across the nation, few are buying the pitch. There is no reservoir of good will, and public trust is at historic lows. Americans appear to have chosen the build out of datacenters as the fight worth having to seize back control of their futures.
This contrasts with a near century old system of laying out complex public policy choices for citizen debate in Switzerland. In 1935, the Swiss Confederation launched SWI swissinfo.ch a now international online service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Their objective was, and remains clear: “to provide independent, in-depth reporting on global issues and Switzerland’s role in the world, and to represent Switzerland’s democratic values abroad as a ‘voice of freedom’.. . . we moderate intercultural dialogue and promote global understanding of different positions.”
Not only do they weigh in on complex controversial issues like AI data center build-out, but they also solicit citizen comment and generate survey data from their own citizens and other nations. For example, on the AI issue, they currently report out and solicit feedback in five areas. Here are their headlines:
1. Switzerland is already a data centre nation:
“Relative to its population, Switzerland ranks among the most densely equipped countries in the world, based on UN figures. The country has around 13 data centres per million people (compared to about 12 per million in the U.S.). This concentration is no coincidence. Data centres require reliable electricity supplies, high-speed connectivity and political stability. Switzerland offers all three. Operators also benefit from proximity to major European markets and an electricity mix that is both cheap and low in carbon emissions. Can Switzerland’s power grid keep up with its data centres?”
2. AI is driving electricity demand up to record levels.
“Global electricity demand from data centres grew by 17% in the last year, nearly six times more than overall demand, the IEA estimates. By 2030, data centres’ energy consumption could more than double today’s level. Artificial intelligence is one of the main drivers of this growth. According to the IEA, electricity consumption by AI servers alone is expected to triple by 2030. A single AI-optimised server rack can consume as much electricity as 65 households a year. Training and operating large language models requires vast computing power. Researchers estimate that GPT-4 required tens of gigawatt-hours of electricity during training. And a typical AI-assisted search is estimated to require around ten times more electricity than a conventional web search, the UN reports.”
3. Switzerland’s data centre boom is being driven by hyperscalers
New facilities are becoming larger, more power-intensive and increasingly concentrated. A recent commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) indicated that electricity demand from Swiss data centres has risen almost 20% since 2019. In 2024 data centres represented 3.6% of total electricity consumption – needs to power every train in Switzerland for a year. By the end of the decade, Swiss data centres could use more than 5% of the country’s electricity, according to the SFOE study – an increase equivalent to the annual consumption of around 180,000 households. Nearly all of this increase is expected to come from the largest facilities, the so-called “hyperscalers” operated by technology giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta. Their electricity use in Switzerland is expected to almost double by 2030, while smaller and specialised data centres remain broadly stable.
4. Water footprint of data centers in Switzerland is among the highest in the world powered by Usercentrics Consent Management Platform.
Data centres also have a significant water footprint, because facilities mostly use water for cooling and electricity generation often depends on water…Globally, data centre electricity consumption in 2025 was associated with an estimated water footprint of 4.5 trillion litres. By 2030, the sector’s global water footprint could more than double, reaching a scale comparable to the basic annual water needs of all 1.3 billion inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa. Communities around the world are already feeling the consequences of data centres’ need for water. In Mexico, a data centre boom promoted by the government has left residents facing water rationing and power cuts.
5. Switzerland’s data centres have lower emissions.
That isn’t true elsewhere. While data centres consume large amounts of energy, their climate impact depends heavily on how that electricity is produced. Here Switzerland stands out. It has one of the lowest carbon footprints due to its heavy reliance on hydropower and nuclear energy, neither of which emit CO2. Globally, however, the picture is different. Despite large investments in renewables and low-carbon energy sources, overall emissions associated with data centre electricity consumption could more than double by 2030. This means that the Swiss debate differs somewhat from discussions taking place in countries that still rely heavily on fossil fuels for power. In the US, diesel-powered data centre generators are associated with air pollution, respiratory symptoms and premature death, according to an analysis by the Washington Post. As data centres continue to expand, the debate over their impact on natural resources and public health will likely follow suit.
All of the above demonstrates that the Swiss have a firm understanding of participatory democracy in action. This seems in stark contrast to our democracy under siege which appears duct taped together and “hanging by a thread.”
