Mountains bear the imprint of human activity. Scars from logging and surface mining sit alongside national parks and ski lodges. Although the environmental effects of extractive industries are well known, skiing is more likely to bring to mind images of luxury, wealth, and health.

In Making Meaning out of Mountains, Mark Stoddart draws on interviews, field observations, and media analysis to reveal the multiple, often conflicting meanings attached to skiing in British Columbia. Corporate leaders promote the industry as sustainable development, while environmentalists and some First Nations argue that skiing sacrifices wildlife habitats and traditional lands to tourism and corporate gain. Skiers themselves appreciate the opportunity to commune with nature but are concerned about skiing’s environmental impact.

This multilayered analysis not only challenges us to reflect more seriously on skiing’s negative effects, it also brings to light how certain groups came to be viewed as the “natural” inhabitants and legitimate managers of mountain environments.

Mark C.J. Stoddart is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Memorial University, with research interests in environmental sociology, social movements, and communications and culture. He is the author, with Alice Mattoni and John McLevey, of Industrial Development and Eco-Tourisms: Can Oil Extraction and Nature Conservation Co-Exist? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). His work appears in a range of international journals, including Global Environmental Change, Energy Research & Social Science, Organization & Environment, Environmental Politics, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Environmental Communication, Mobilities, and Social Movement Studies.

Mark C.J. Stoddart's profile page

• Winner, Early Investigator Award, Canadian Sociological Association

Stoddart provides an insightful examination of skiing from the perspective of ecopolitics...a unique study. Recommended.

CHOICE, Vol. 50 No. 03