Whether it’s picnicking, camping or hiking (with or without clothes), the Swiss love the great outdoors. In the sixth of an eight-part weekly series on the Swiss identity, we take a light-hearted look at the Swiss love of lakes, forests and mountains (of money).
The Swiss Miracle, presented by Martina Chyba, takes a humorous stroll through the archives of Swiss public television, RTS. The eight issues under the microscope are fashion, love, tranquillity, cleanliness, food, nature, humour and money.
Switzerland, “which must be the only country to have flowerbed contests with real judges”, is naturally very beautiful. No one denies that. However, Swiss ecologists have often had a tough time persuading people that this beauty can’t be taken for granted. Witness the slapstick arrest of environmentalist Franz Weber in 1987.
The Swiss haven’t been slow to monetise their landscape, especially the Matterhorn, but archive clips show that quality of life – and the environment – was already a concern 60 years ago. As one 12-year-old said, “if we continue like this, the future will be very bad and may not even be worth living. But if people start to become aware, and take action, we will have a greater chance at having a liveable future”.
(Subtitles translated from French to English by SWISS TXT)
More
Wealth is not all: how gentrification in Zurich has led to housing shortage
More
How a top Swiss university is screening Chinese students
More
Switzerland, the promised land of coats of arms
More
How Swiss festive bad boy Schmutzli cleaned up his act
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.