Sport and the Environment Webinar Series - Dr. Michelle Rutty
This event was organized in partnership with the Brock University Centre for Sport Capacity and The University of British Columbia’s Centre for Sport and Sustainability and took place on Friday, October 7th, 10:00am PST (1pm EST). See above for a recording of the event.
Topic: Climate change is, and will continue, to have profound implications for mountain and snow sports tourism. Highly dependent on climate-sensitive natural resources and landscapes, activities such as skiing, snowmobiling and mountaineering face challenges, as observed temperature change (mean and extremes) in North America are projected to continue warming, along with strong declines in glaciers and snow cover. This presentation will highlight the results from several Canadian and US research projects that have used downscaled climate change scenarios and stakeholder surveys (tourists, athletes, coaches) to explore the differential climate risks and opportunities for key winter sports markets, including the Olympic Winter Games. Important knowledge gaps and research priorities will be offered to help advance climate action and aid the transition to a net-zero future.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Michelle Rutty holds a Canada Research Chair in Tourism, Environment and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo. Her research is motivated by the incompatibility between sustainability and the rapid growth of the global tourism sector, with key interests including understanding the behavioural response of tourists to environmental change (past, present, future), as well as the climatic risks and emerging opportunities for tourism operators and destinations. She is a contributing author to the Sixth Assessment Report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) North American chapter, a Lead Expert on the Tourism Panel on Climate Change, and co-chair of the International Society of Biometeorology Commission on Climate, Tourism and Recreation.