Nineteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

By engaging in outdoor sports and activities, people develop communities of practice that imbue landscapes with cultural meanings. Communities of practice that engage in winter sports, such as Nordic skiing, are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change as winters grow shorter and warmer. Social distancing in response to COVID-19 decentered community engagement with cultural landscapes as many cross country ski events created virtual options for participating in novel forms of citizen races. Examples include skiing at alternative venues, or substituting another activity (e.g., running, cycling, swimming) in place of skiing. An anonymous survey of 1300 cross country skiers provides multifaceted data on how virtual participation in otherwise in-person events affected perceptions of culture and community at various social and geographic scales. This research evaluates an adaptive local solution for dealing with global climate change. While dispersed virtual events may provide local solutions to lack of snow, they may also disrupt the connection between human behavior, cultural landscapes, and meaning. Adapting to shorter and warmer winters by relying on virtual participation in ski events creates the added danger of masking the effects of climate change by allowing the culturally sanctioned substitution of one appropriate “skiscape” for another.