https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_in_Switzerland
"The 26 cantons that make up Switzerland set their public holidays independently[...]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Switzerland
Re: birthrates
This whole rant is very oversimplified, but... There is in general an inverse relationship between income and birthrates. The global North has vastly profited from the global South through colonialism, slave trade etc., leaving it in many places impoverished and destabilized. This goes on to this day under a different form, through neocolonialism and "Western" interference, puppet governments, and economic exploitation. And now that some try to flee north and get a new beginning, fascism rears its ugly head again in Europe and America and instigates hate against them so that we may continue to be the only ones who profit from this parasitic situation.
I don't see how extraterrestrial settlement would solve any of this, on the contrary. Think of this:
who will be going to those new shiny colonies in space? I predict this would only serve to exacerbate those issues, not solve them. A bit like the movie Elysium, but in real life (insert any other sci-fi/dystopian book/movie/etc. that comes to mind). Given our current situation this is where we would be headed. Leave the exploited labour swimming in the toxic industrial waste while Musk is building his private holiday resort on Mars.
Re: climate change and greenhouse gases
Basically the same thing as above, but also this: to do this, we would have to be able to capture all those greenhouse gases first, and A) we currently can't
*, B) transporting them through space would be incredibly wasteful and impractical, C) if we could capture enough of those gases to make an impact, there would literally be no need to send them away since we could then use them for other things, and D) even that doesn't solve the problem. The problem are the emissions we're producing, and capturing atmospheric greenhouse gases without cutting emissions is a fool's errand. Space colonies won't solve anything; the problem is here on Earth, so we have to solve it here. And we have the means to do just that. We even have the means to provide enough food and shelter for every single human being on this planet. The reason we don't, is because it's not profitable. Poverty, inequality, pollution; it's a feature, not a bug. It exists because it's profitable to some, and those have enough power and influence on the political spheres to guarantee their interests. It sounds bleak, but that's how it's been for a while now. Luckily we can change this, we just need enough people to start developing a political conscience and act. And I'm saying this as someone who's been politically uninterested for most of my life
*The only way that currently seems to show some promise is capturing emissions right at the plant/factory where they're generated. This can limit our emissions, but does nothing for all the gases that are already in the atmosphere. Those fanciful hyped-up "carbon capture" turbines are, as far as I know, currently utterly useless. Like trying to dry out a lake with a spoon, only you're sweating more water than you're taking out in the process.
