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National Geographic
24-06-2025
- Politics
- National Geographic
No polls, no machines, just hands in the air—here's how one Swiss town votes
Each spring, citizens of Glarus, Switzerland gather to vote by a show of hands in the Landsgemeinde, one of the last remaining public assemblies of its kind in the world. Photograph by Davide Monteleone Photographs by Davide Monteleone For most of the year, big crowds are unusual in the Swiss town of Glarus. At the base of a dramatic point in the Alps called the Glärnisch ridge, the hamlet is tranquil, largely undisturbed by the tourists who descend on the region's picturesque areas. But every year there is one day—usually the first Sunday in May—where citizens of the canton gather en masse in the town square for a tradition that's over 700 years old. Questions are boomed over the loudspeakers and thousands of people raise their hands in response. This is the Landsgemeinde—one of the world's oldest forms of direct democracy still in practice. Meaning 'cantonal community assembly' in German, the Landsgemeinde dates back to medieval times. Glarus, with its population of around 41,000 people, is one of only two Swiss cantons left with the voting system. It's the forum wherein canton citizens decide on local laws—not by voting booth or mail-in ballot but a show of hands. From the wooden podium, the chief magistrate, known as the Landammann, visually assesses how many people are supporting each proposal and whether the measure has passed. Prior to voting, the townspeople of Glarus gather at the start of the day to enjoy a parade. This May, thousands of eligible voters were undeterred by scattered patches of heavy rain as they gathered in the square. Under low clouds that misted beneath the mountains, they voted on 10 items, including amendments to the police act, setting the tax rate, and limitation of road traffic. 'It's really nice that your opinion counts and that you have the choice to speak on certain topics, that you have the chance to be heard,' says Matteo Tamborino, a 24-year-old bank clerk who voted at the Landsgemeinde for the first time this year. 'It feels great to have an option to vote. If you don't want to, you don't have to show up, it's not mandatory.' (How to take the ultimate Swiss road trip ) Beat Mahler, director of the Glarus National Archive, inspects old photographs and documents about the Landsgemeinde. The chance to submit an initiative—or 'memorial motion'—to the canton is the right of every citizen of Glarus eligible to vote. So long as the motion doesn't violate the law, the cantonal parliament will discuss the idea, and if at least 10 out of 60 parliament members think the topic is worth further debate, they prepare a proposal for the next Landsgemeinde. While most democracies in the world allow voters' ballot decisions to remain private, the Landsgemeinde offers total transparency, with citizens voting openly: their raised hands are visible for all to see. 'It's OK if people know how I'm voting, because I want to be respected the way I am,' says 28-year-old Eva-Marie Kreis, a member of the Gemeinde Glarus council and vice-president of the Green Party. 'And that's the DNA of our political and democratic system, that everyone is respected the way he or she is.' Kreis considers Glarus' voting system to be key to why the town has become a center of progressive politics. 'When people know what you're doing,' she says, 'they vote more in favor of what works for everyone.' Peter Schätti, an usher for the voting process. Diana Domenici Lehmann, voter Time lapse of voting at Glarus' main square. In 2007, citizens of Glarus voted at the Landsgemeinde to lower the voting age from 18 to 16, making it the only canton in Switzerland that allows citizens to vote before the age of 18. In 2021, the cantonal parliament tightened the Energy Act, banning the installation of fossil-fuel heating systems in new buildings and making the canton's energy law one of the most progressive in Switzerland. But while it might be tempting to tie Glarus' unique voting style to progressive politics, it's perhaps not so simple: Appenzell Innerrhoden, the only other place where the Landsgemeinde is practiced, has a more conservative political bent. In 1991, a full 20 years after Switzerland granted women the federal right to vote, Appenzell Innerrhoden finally allowed women to vote in cantonal elections—and only after a federal court ruling forced the town to comply. (Glarus granted women cantonal voting rights in 1971, along with most of the rest of the country.) Appenzell Innerrhode was also the canton with the lowest support (50.8 percent) in the 2021 Swiss same-sex marriage referendum, which passed federally. Women gained the right to participate in 1971—over six centuries after the first assemblies—the Landsgemeinde continues to evolve, balancing historical ritual with democratic innovation. Glarus is the only Swiss canton where 16-year-olds can vote, and where citizens may introduce or amend legislation directly. (The essential travel guide to Switzerland) The art of compromise For Kaspar Becker, the Landammann of Glarus who administers the Landsgemeinde, direct democracy is less about what is decided so much as how it fosters tolerance and the centrality of compromise in society. 'This system is very special, but it's in our culture, and I think in this culture we've accepted that you might have your opinion and can vote for your opinion and you won't have a war with someone else,' he says. 'We stand for our opinion, show them, and this is accepted.' Yet no democracy is perfect, and the Landsgemeinde has its limitations. The visual counting of raised hands theoretically leaves room for error in close votes. And less than 20 percent of the canton is estimated to participate in the vote. Perhaps most significantly, not everyone who speaks has enough time to get their point across. At the Landsgemeinde this year, Nils Landolt, a 36-year-old educator at the Schulwandel Foundation who lives in the municipality of Filzbach, experienced both the power and limitations of the forum. Speaking in favor of the creation of education vouchers, he was interrupted before finishing for being over time. The amendment was ultimately voted down. With origins in the 13th century, this form of direct democracy once defined many Swiss rural cantons but now survives only in Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden. "It was an incredible feeling to be in front of all these people, standing for what's important to you. But then I was interrupted. It felt ridiculing, in a way,' he recalls. "Though speaking today was an incredible feeling because the issue was so important to me. This kind of voting system is a great chance that people can accomplish something.' (A practical guide to visiting the Alps) On the day of Landsgemeinde, festivities fill the center of town and markets selling everything from hammocks to cheap toys for children spring up around the assembly. The day before, there is a flea market where locals sell treasures like old wooden furniture and watches. The evening of the vote, people gather in bars and restaurants, discussing politics and the day's events. It's a convivial atmosphere that dignifies the idea of democracy as communal, even fun. And yet, there is little thought among Glarus' citizens that such a system as the Landsgemeinde could be exported abroad, just as there is widespread recognition that it works precisely because of its small scale. 'It's a culture that has gone through hundreds of years,' says Becker. 'The only thing people can learn is to be more open to finding solutions that are a little bit OK for everyone and a little bit not OK with everyone. We have to look for compromise, and this should be the first step.'
National Geographic
30-05-2025
- Automotive
- National Geographic
This Harley-Davidson took the world's first motorcycle ride powered by solar fuel
On May 4, Aldo Steinfeld of ETH Zurich rode through the Swiss Alps on the world's first motorcycle journey powered entirely by solar gasoline. The fuel, developed by Synhelion and produced at the DAWN plant in Germany, is created by using concentrated solar heat to convert water and carbon dioxide into synthetic gasoline. Video by Davide Monteleone and Manuel Montesano The bike motored along the shores of Switzerland's Lake Zurich thanks to a new type of sustainable energy. Photographs by Davide Monteleone On May 4, on a quiet street in Herrliberg, Switzerland, along the shores of Lake Zurich, Aldo Steinfeld went for a ride on his Harley-Davidson. The day was warm and sunny, with stunning panoramic views of the Swiss mountains, and Steinfeld was making the first motorcycle ride powered by fuel created by the sun. The fuel was manufactured at the DAWN plant in Julich, Germany, which is owned and operated by Synhelion, a company that Steinfeld co-founded to research ways to replace petroleum products with sustainable, synthetic fuels. The plant, located outside Dusseldorf, features an acre of mirrors that concentrate sunlight on a 'receiver' that sits atop a 66-foot tower. Biomass (mostly agricultural waste) and water are fed into a reactor in the tower, which uses the sunlight to drive a chemical reaction that creates a synthesized gas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. A series of chemical reactions then liquefies this 'syngas' into liquid hydrocarbons. Captured in a temporary studio using high-speed flash and macro photography, these images explore the physical texture and movement of Synhelion's solar gasoline. Aldo Steinfeld fills up his motorcycle with solar fuel. Scientists say one major advantage to the energy source is that it can easily replace currently used liquid fuels like gasoline. Solar fuel's drawback is that it remains expensive to produce, but scientists working at Synhelion say technological advances will allow them to commericially produce the fuel by around 2040. The idea, explains Synhelion co-founder and co-CEO Philipp Furler, is to produce 'renewable fuels, such as solar jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline, which can directly replace fossil fuels and are fully compatible with conventional internal combustion engines, aircraft engines, and existing global fuel infrastructure.' Fossil fuels, he points out, release carbon dioxide not only during their use, but also during their production. In contrast, he says, 'We take water and carbon dioxide, and we revert it back with renewable energy into a synthetic fuel, thereby closing the carbon cycle.' According to Synhelion's calculations, he continues, 'Our renewable solar fuels are nearly carbon dioxide-neutral, emitting only as much carbon dioxide as was used to produce them.' A life cycle assessment performed by Synhelion and the university ETZ Zurich, shows a net carbon emissions reduction of at least 80 percent—potentially up to 99 percent with further process improvements—compared to conventional kerosene. Furler also says solar gasoline 'delivers the same range and engine performance as fossil gasoline.' The emissions from the fuel are equal to the amount of carbon dioxide captured during its production, making it fully carbon neutral. This ride marks a symbolic milestone in sustainable mobility, showing that solar fuels can seamlessly power conventional engines—without fossil fuels. All of which sounds fine on paper. But the proof is in the pudding, and while DAWN has been operational since late last summer and Synhelion has contracts to develop fuels for clients including the Lufthansa Group and Zurich Airport, nothing beats real-world testing. By late 2024, Synhelion was ready to take its fuel for a spin. Which is where Aldo Steinfeld and his Harley-Davidson came in. Steinfeld, professor at the department of mechanical and process engineering at ETH Zurich, was Furler's doctoral advisor, during which time the two men began to develop their concept of solar fuel production. In 2014, under Steinfeld's guidance, Furler and his fellow PhD students demonstrated the feasibility of making solar fuels on a very small scale when they produced a test tube in the lab using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. 'A huge effort and probably the most expensive kerosene ever,' Furler joked to National Geographic last year. Two years later, Furler, Steinfeld, and Gianluca Ambrosetti founded Synhelion, and in 2019, they produced carbon-neutral fuels from a small-scale demonstration project in the center of Zurich. Their goal is to produce 110,000 tons of fuel a year by 2030 and roughly a million tons by 2033. That's significantly less than the approximately 385 million tons of jet fuel alone that is currently consumed annually, but Synhelion aims to contribute roughly half of Europe's synthetic aviation fuel demand by 2040. (Several other companies are also at various stages of developing synthetic fuels.) "This historic demonstration marks a significant milestone, showcasing the first-ever industrial-scale production of sustainable fuels from water and carbon dioxide," says Jonathan Scheffe, a mechanical engineer at the University of Florida who's not involved with this solar fuel research. He says the unique advantage of solar fuel is that it can easily replace traditional fuels without major retrofits to machines. "This breakthrough has far-reaching implications, with potential applications not only in the light-duty transportation sector, such as the Harley-Davidson showcased here, but also in the heavy-duty shipping and aviation sectors, which will require highly energy-dense liquid fuels for the foreseeable future," says Scheffe. As with any industry, ramping up production of a new technology takes time, which makes public demonstrations of progress invaluable, both to satisfy investors and show the public that synthetic fuels are a reality. Which is why, on a Sunday morning, Steinfeld clambered on his beloved motorcycle and went for a ride. Transportation produces about 20 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. More sustainable fuel options can help reduce those planet-warming gasses. 'The ride was smooth and uneventful in the best sense—the Harley-Davidson performed as usual, powered by our solar gasoline,' says Synhelion spokesperson Carmen Murer. She added that, 'the moment when the engine roared to life with solar fuel for the very first time was very emotional.' Steinfeld himself said simply that the ride was 'a dream come true.' Over the coming months and years, Synhelion plans to fuel different types of vehicles in other public demonstrations. According to Furler, such showcases show that there is 'a viable pathway for de-fossilizing transportation that is available today.' Steinfeld's ride will always be the first, of course. 'It wasn't about proving that the fuel works—we already know it does as it is fully compliant with national and international gasoline standards,' says Furler. 'It's about creating a truly special moment. We wanted to enjoy this milestone, celebrate Aldo's lifelong dedication to science, and see him have fun riding his motorcycle powered by the very technology he helped pioneer.'
