Was wäre, wenn?
1816 - The Year Without Summer: The eruption of the Tambora volcano in 1815 had huge effects globally, particularly in eastern Switzerland. Low temperatures, high rainfall, bad harvests, poverty, death, and emigration. "Was wäre, wenn?", "What if?" asks a blog by WFSC Chair Nina Buchmann, published within an event series about this special year.
In her blog post, Nina Buchmann discusses the effects of the 1815 Tambora eruption had it happened in 2015 instead. She argues that although agricultural production will always depend on weather and climate, the consequences of such a devastating volcanic eruption would be less severe in Switzerland nowadays. Compared to 200 years ago, Switzerland is much less self-sufficient and imports freely across cantonal and national boarders. In addition, the proportion of income spent on food has decreased considerably over the last 200 years, leaving more flexibility when it comes to switching to other products or paying higher prices for food.
Read full blog post external pagehere (in German).