Documenting the transition to mid-mountain outdoor recreation

After two projects hatched in 2021 on climate change in the Isère Alps(Micro-climat then Dégel), students at the Grenoble School of Journalism will be documenting the environmental impact of mid-mountain sports and leisure activities and the various issues involved. Trekking and hiking, trail running, cycling, climbing, caving and canyoning, paragliding: these are just some of the “nature-loving” activities whose environmental cost needs to be better understood.

The project will take place in two stages:

1) In March and April 2023, a theoretical framework will be drawn up, highlighting the main issues (economic, social, cultural, political and, of course, ecological) at stake in this transition, and proposing initial illustrations of how it is playing out in practice for certain players in the Alpine arc. A major documentation project will be carried out, enriched by the contributions of specialists in the field. At the same time, the students will be working with us to monitor the latest news on this issue, from which they will produce content for the journalismes-info.ejdg.fr website and other specific networks, in the form of 2-3 minute video clips.

2) In May 2023, fieldwork will be launched on the Vercors and Chartreuse massifs, culminating in a chaptered production of video pastilles, podcasts and multimedia publications, broadcast on a dedicated website. The aim will be to provide a narrative account of the issues identified around this diversification of mid-mountain sports and leisure activities, through factual data that will help us to grasp its contours, and by recounting the singular stories of players who embody the subject.