Offshore Oil, Eco-Tourisms, and Social Futures: Building Social-Ecological Wellbeing in Coastal Communities
Global Friday Presents
Dr. Mark C.J. Stoddart
Professor, Department of Sociology
Memorial University
ABSTRACT: How can coastal societies navigate the relationships between extractive development (offshore oil) and attractive development (nature-based tourism) in ways that contribute to social-ecological wellbeing? To answer this question, first, we share key lessons about creating social-ecological wellbeing in coastal communities based on our multi-sited research carried out in Denmark, Iceland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Norway, and Scotland. Second, we discuss the theoretical generalizability of our results beyond the oil-tourism interface and the North Atlantic regional context. We also speak to how our analysis advances our understanding of the ways in which culture, governance and contentious politics are connected – or disconnected – in the environmental field. We argue for approaches to environmental governance, collective action, and discourse that are holistic and integrative. Third, and finally, we focus on the tensions and conflicts between different development pathways in a carbon constrained world that requires significant movement towards low-carbon transitions.
Co-authors: Alice Mattoni, University of Bologna; John McLevey, University of Waterloo.
BIO: 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 of the book, Making Meaning out of Mountains: The Political Ecology of Skiing (UBC Press). His work has appeared in a wide range of international and Canadian Sociology and interdisciplinary journals, including Global Environmental Change, Energy Research & Social Science, Organization & Environment, Environmental Politics, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Environmental Communication, Mobilities, and Social Movement Studies.
Also available via Livestream
Global Friday gratefully acknowledges funding from the Dean of CASHS.
