1.6 This is yet another area where discussion of the arts and the thoughts and feelings they convey, lacks the precision of science.  It may well be that Wordsworth’s happy thought occurred to many people at many times before – it is just that there is no fossil record of this - the printed word.  It is the artists who express these thoughts and feelings, and carve their features clearly into solid form for generations to come.  They create the hard evidence of evanescent thought and feeling, which survives long after their soft bodies have decayed,  and in so  doing enable these thoughts and feelings to spread into the public domain, become popular, enter into the historical record and so,  in our case, become part of the environmental movement.

1.7  Part 1 discussed how five centuries ago people’s understanding of  their relationship to Nature was informed by a number of basic assumptions, each of which came to be overturned by science.  From an emotional perspective, some basic attitudes shaped how people felt about Nature, which, again, in due course came to be overturned, partly by the great tides of history – not least the mass migration of humanity from the land into the cities - but also by the work of individual explorers, philosophers, poets, painters, writers, architects and designers, ethologists, and campaigners.

1.8 Of course for the majority of people the countryside was their home, and their emotional attachment, loyalty, pride, nostalgia, affection and so forth were to that specific part of nature which happened to be their home, rather than Nature in general.  Konrad Lorentz expresses it well, “Now imagine this queerly mixed strip of river landscape as being bordered by vine-covered hills, brothers to those flanking the Rhine, from whose crests the two early mediaeval castles of Greifenstein and Kreuzenstein look down with serious mien over the vast expanse of wild forest and water.  Then you have before you the landscape which is the setting of this story book, the landscape which I consider the most beautiful on earth, as every man should consider his own home country”.  It is not with these thoughts and feelings that this history is concerned.

1.9 These basic attitudes to Nature in general could be summarized as follows.

Nature was a cruel master – for the majority of people eking a bare existence from the land. Hobbes epithet is well known, “Nasty, brutish, short..”  Less well known is Marsh’s recollection of life in rural France in the 18th century pre-revolutionary times ………  For the well to do few Nature was a charming possession – vast areas of land were a trapping of wealth for the private enjoyment of the owner. Nature was commonplace and dull – it was where you were born, grew up, married and died and from whose confines you rarely travelled.  Quote from Graham Robb about church bell.  It was not a place to inspire the imagination. Interminable periods of boredom punctuated by moments of catastrophe. Dr Johnson put it thus “The idiocy of rural life” Nature was commonplace and plain – your little corner of nature was well known and as ugly as it was functional - beauty was not sought or found there. Man was above Nature and treated living nature almost as inanimate objects.  Animals did not feel pain – vivisections were regularly practiced and it would have been ridiculous to think they had feelings in any way comparable to humans.   The countryside was not a place of recreation. It was the place you escaped from, if you were lucky, to the entertainment of the city.

1.10 By the middle of the 20th century Dr Servettaz thought and felt quite differently about Nature.  He saw Nature neither as cruel master nor charming possession, but  as a bountiful resource whose beauty should be accessible to all.  For him Lake Annecy was a source of continual intellectual stimulation and full of beautiful forms of life.  The beauty he saw in the complexity and variety of Nature was a source of constant wonder.

1.11 He saw the intimate connection of man with nature. Finally Lake Annecy was a place of recreation both mental and physical.  These elements of emotion came together in him and inspired him to campaign for so long, and with such passion and evident effectiveness.  He wanted to preserve the beauty of the lake for all visitors and future generations. He cared for the lake as for another person, and could feel how fragile was the web of life around the lake, how easily it could be damaged, and how it needed the protection and cooperation of local people to flourish. Dr Servettaz devoted the larger part of his professional life to safeguarding Lake Annecy.  He had a medical training and taught himself the science of limnology.   Using this scientific understanding he created one of the first ever successful major environmental campaigns to save the lake.  But what motivated him?  What drove him with such determination and focus for over more than thirty years?

1.12 From his accounts of saving the lake, the strength of his passion seems to derive from four distinct sources.  In each of these he embodies cultural currents which had evolved comparatively recently - during the previous two centuries.  These currents of thought and feeling, combined into a radical transformation of the way humanity viewed its natural environment

1.13 The depths of his beloved lake Annecy were a place of exploration for his favourite pastime, diving. Dr Servettaz was to be president of the French Diving Association and his first publication was not about saving Lake Annecy but about health and safety protocols for divers. The beauty of Annecy inspired him if not to poetry then to poetical sentiments. The dramatic combination of sky, lake and mountains inspired him to philosophical speculation, searching to understand how Nature works and what is humanity’s place in it and sensing in it feelings of the sublime. The sight of its beautiful scenery refreshed his soul each day with the same kind inspiration that led great artists to create the art of landscape painting. He drew spiritual refreshment and peace from his favourite recreation -diving in the lake’s water. And in his respect from the whole biosphere of the lake, not least the noble fish so keenly sought after by local fishermen, he reflected the sentiments of latest thinking of ethology – the closeness between man and animals of all description.

1.14 He was not jealous in his love of the lake. He loved the great variety of ways (walking, cycling, sailing, swimming, running, waterskiing and many more) in which Annecy allowed its fortunate citizens and visitors to engage actively with this beautiful natural world – he saw that tourism was not simply important for the local economy but it was the best use of this wonderful natural resource.in the thriving local industry of tourism. All these streams of thoughts and feelings combine in Dr Servettaz into a powerful motivational force, sustained him through 30 long years of campaigning, dedicated reasoned persuasion, and sometimes seemingly endless political persuasion, and in particular during the first several years when he was more or less alone in his vision. This passion connected him directly with the early scientific and artistic founders of the environmental movement. This passion fused Art and Science. For want of a much better expression, it can be called a love of the Scientific Beauty of Nature which Lake Annecy inspired in him.

1.15 The following chapters take a brief look beneath the surface of the story of saving the lake to focus on the sources of inspiration for Dr Servettaz's original vision and sustained dedication over so many years. In whose cultural tradition did Dr Servettaz follow when he set out to save the lake?