Cities / Geneva
Switzerland · Environmental history
Geneva: A lake, a glacier scientist, a summer that never came and a city that cleaned its water.
Geneva’s environmental history is written on its lake. A historian walks the shore where Saussure planned the first scientific ascent of Mont Blanc, the villa where the “year without a summer” of 1816 produced Frankenstein, the outfalls that poisoned the lake in the 1960s and the treaty between Switzerland and France that brought it back. Calvin and the Red Cross on request.
The timeline the walk follows
The Geneva naturalist reaches the summit of Mont Blanc; Alpine science begins.
Tambora’s ash, a cold June on the lake, Frankenstein at the Villa Diodati.
Dunant’s committee; international Geneva.
Switzerland and France agree to protect a lake turning green.
Detergents change; Lake Geneva starts to recover.
Themes
Choose one, or name your own.
Two hours covers one theme well. Three hours links two.
- The lake: from sewage to recovery, 1960 to today
- Ice, science and the Alps: Saussure to the shrinking glaciers
- 1816: the year without a summer
- Calvin’s Geneva
- Red Cross and international Geneva
Private walk
Your group only, your questions, your pace.
Group walk
Schools, companies, cruise and coach groups. Larger groups split.
Your theme
A period, a person, a family story. We find the historian who knows it.
Led by
A historian from Geneva, from LocalBini’s vetted network
Meeting point
Central, confirmed in your booking email
Not included
Entry tickets to monuments and museums
Questions
About Geneva.
What is an environmental history walk?
A walk about how people and the lake, the river and the mountains have changed each other: water, ice, pollution, science and the decisions behind them. Led by a historian of the environment, not a naturalist.
Can we combine Geneva with Lausanne or Annecy?
Yes. The three lake walks share a historian in some cases; ask in the form.
Cancellation?
Free cancellation up to 7 days before the walk. Within 7 days the walk is non refundable, since the historian has reserved the time. We reschedule for severe weather at no cost.
Walk Geneva with a historian.
Date, time, length and theme. We reply within a day and confirm your historian within two to three.