Fiona Mille: I developed three scenarios. The first predicts that the Games will indeed take place at the cost of catastrophic destruction.
The second scenario foresees that the events will be canceled at the last minute in the face of climatic, social and political emergencies.
Finally, the third, an optimistic scenario, envisages a year of festivities but also of commitment creating collective momentum in the service of the essential transition in the future.
For the moment, it is clear to me that we are not going to cancel these games. But the decision was taken from above, without consulting the local population concerned. Which is already a handicap. We are no longer in the era of Grenoble and Albertville.
Read also: Winter Olympics 2030: “A bad signal sent to the French mountains”
I observe that this prospect does not trigger any enthusiasm at the moment. On the contrary. We still see public money going up in smoke on an event which will have more negative than positive impacts. Especially since we don't know if we will have snow or not.
The message from the public authorities is therefore inconsistent. On the one hand, we must save and preserve and we have already indicated that we will do so in a sober manner. But, on the other hand, we will spend millions on a show that will have no impact other than negative.
On mobility for example, according to Anne Lassmann Trappier, president of France Nature Environnement Savoie, the Games will be harmful for the environment, for the roads and for water and will not allow for more trains in the stations of the Alps.
As for the road bypass like that of Gap, it will favor the car, which is not the expected goal. The Olympic Games also risk attracting new construction at a time when it is a question of stopping artificializing the floors of car parks and other accommodation, as well as in La Plagne of yesterday's ski lifts.
Of course, we will be able to impress the world, but this show will be reserved for high income people who may not even be attracted to the event.
In short, we will lack courage and once again spend money on a very short-term future project when we must rethink the destiny of all the massifs. And we should probably look for inspiration among the small massifs like the Vosges or the Pyrenees which anticipated the changes and took a turn adapted to the situation of a world where you know, we do not hesitate to entrust the organization of the Asian Winter Games to a country like Saudi Arabia.
Who is ready to incur colossal expenses on artificial snow, indoor skiing, air conditioning… Indifferent to climatic hazards!
Comments collected by Josette Sicsic
Lire : “Let’s reinvent the mountain: Alps 2030: another imagination is possible”. Fiona Mille. Editions du faubourg. 14 euros – www.editionsdufaubourg.fr
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