La Vallée de l’Arve à l’épreuve de la santé environnementale : entre imaginaire thérapeutique et éco-anxiété

This article contrasts two periods of time in the Arve Valley, during which particular attention was paid to the links between human health and the environment, but with diametrically opposed perceptions. Historically, the Plateau d'Assy in the Arve Valley was a major healthcare destination, pa...

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Main Author: Alexandre Savioz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut de Géographie Alpine 2023-03-01
Series:Revue de Géographie Alpine
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rga/11155
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author Alexandre Savioz
author_facet Alexandre Savioz
author_sort Alexandre Savioz
collection DOAJ
description This article contrasts two periods of time in the Arve Valley, during which particular attention was paid to the links between human health and the environment, but with diametrically opposed perceptions. Historically, the Plateau d'Assy in the Arve Valley was a major healthcare destination, particularly specializing in the treatment of tuberculosis between the 1920s and 1970s. From the 19th century onwards, a collective imagination emerged around the myth of clean air of the mountains. Alpine regions broadly benefited from being considered particularly sanitary, and this was the engine of local tourism until the 1970s. Though the therapeutic characteristics of the mountains still exist today, scientific analyses carried out from the 1990s have underlined the great vulnerability of the Alpine valleys to atmospheric pollution. This is the case of the Arve Valley which, over the past two decades, has become infamous in the media for its poor air quality. Now understood to be a significant public health issue, air pollution in this region has become a major source of fear and anxiety for part of the local population. Though this contrasts sharply with past therapeutic representations of the mountains as mentioned above, current fears around air quality in the Arve Valley find themselves echoed in broader societal debates around environmental health and eco-anxiety.
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spelling doaj-art-d7a94439f78f4df0a1341f50cdcaa9cc2025-01-10T15:54:59ZengInstitut de Géographie AlpineRevue de Géographie Alpine0035-11211760-74262023-03-01110310.4000/rga.11155La Vallée de l’Arve à l’épreuve de la santé environnementale : entre imaginaire thérapeutique et éco-anxiétéAlexandre SaviozThis article contrasts two periods of time in the Arve Valley, during which particular attention was paid to the links between human health and the environment, but with diametrically opposed perceptions. Historically, the Plateau d'Assy in the Arve Valley was a major healthcare destination, particularly specializing in the treatment of tuberculosis between the 1920s and 1970s. From the 19th century onwards, a collective imagination emerged around the myth of clean air of the mountains. Alpine regions broadly benefited from being considered particularly sanitary, and this was the engine of local tourism until the 1970s. Though the therapeutic characteristics of the mountains still exist today, scientific analyses carried out from the 1990s have underlined the great vulnerability of the Alpine valleys to atmospheric pollution. This is the case of the Arve Valley which, over the past two decades, has become infamous in the media for its poor air quality. Now understood to be a significant public health issue, air pollution in this region has become a major source of fear and anxiety for part of the local population. Though this contrasts sharply with past therapeutic representations of the mountains as mentioned above, current fears around air quality in the Arve Valley find themselves echoed in broader societal debates around environmental health and eco-anxiety.https://journals.openedition.org/rga/11155air pollutionhealthcare tourismenvironmental healtheco-anxiety
spellingShingle Alexandre Savioz
La Vallée de l’Arve à l’épreuve de la santé environnementale : entre imaginaire thérapeutique et éco-anxiété
Revue de Géographie Alpine
air pollution
healthcare tourism
environmental health
eco-anxiety
title La Vallée de l’Arve à l’épreuve de la santé environnementale : entre imaginaire thérapeutique et éco-anxiété
title_full La Vallée de l’Arve à l’épreuve de la santé environnementale : entre imaginaire thérapeutique et éco-anxiété
title_fullStr La Vallée de l’Arve à l’épreuve de la santé environnementale : entre imaginaire thérapeutique et éco-anxiété
title_full_unstemmed La Vallée de l’Arve à l’épreuve de la santé environnementale : entre imaginaire thérapeutique et éco-anxiété
title_short La Vallée de l’Arve à l’épreuve de la santé environnementale : entre imaginaire thérapeutique et éco-anxiété
title_sort la vallee de l arve a l epreuve de la sante environnementale entre imaginaire therapeutique et eco anxiete
topic air pollution
healthcare tourism
environmental health
eco-anxiety
url https://journals.openedition.org/rga/11155
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