Natalie Knowles

University of Waterloo | UWaterloo · Department of Geography and Environmental Management (Environment)

As part of its 2050 net zero emission commitment, Canada has a mandate to transition to electric vehicles (EVs) to decarbonize transportation. While the EV charging infrastructure is expanding in urban areas, the infrastructure for inter-city and nature-based tourism has not been assessed. This study combined four metrics of feasibility and conveni...

Winter, snow, and mountains, epitomized by the world-renowned Rocky Mountain range, are an integral part of Canada’s sport-culture identity and international tourism brand, yet the climate change risk posed to this important ski tourism region remains uncertain. This study used the ski operations model SkiSim 2.0 to analyze the climate risk for the...

Outdoor winter sports sit on the frontlines of climate change, with athletes subject to increasingly unsafe, unfair and non-ideal competition and training conditions as a result. With athletes’ livelihoods and the future of winter sports on the line, this research investigates if and how winter athletes use their position as public figures, celebri...

Snowmaking has been an integral part of the multi-billion-dollar ski industry in most regional markets for more than 20 years and is one of the most visible and widespread forms of climate adaptation in the tourism sector. Under accelerating climate change, snowmaking is projected to increase at most destinations - some substantially. Snowmaking ha...

Climate change will have profound implications for North America's tourism industry, which is one of the largest tourism markets globally with respect to international tourism arrivals (146 million) and receipts (US$246 billion). This article provides a critical overview of regional tourism and climate change research published in academic journals...

Mountain landscapes and communities are highly sensitive and vulnerable to climate change. Tourism in mountain regions is highly dependent on natural resources and attractions which are very sensitive to climatic changes. This systematic review analyzing 276 papers, provides a comprehensive analysis of scientific literature dealing with climate cha...

The International Olympic Committee recognizes the risks climate change pose to the Games and its responsibility to lead on climate action. Winter is changing at the past Olympic Winter Games (OWG) locations and an important perspective to understand climate change risk is that of the athletes who put themselves at risk during these mega-sport even...

Climate change is an evolving business reality in the ski industry, with recent trends toward shorter ski seasons and emerging climate risk disclosure requirements. Climate change impacts under low- to high-emission futures are examined at 99 ski areas in the American Midwest market with snowmaking. Mid-century season losses range from −25% in a lo...

Decades of research and policy interventions on biodiversity have insufficiently addressed the dual issues of biodiversity degradation and social justice. New approaches are therefore needed. We devised a research and action agenda that calls for a collective task of revisiting biodiversity toward the goal of sustaining diverse and just futures for...

Life on Earth is facing severe challenges. Human action is leading to a deterioration in natural resources and ecosystems, and widespread declines in populations of wild species. This presents an existential threat to humanity by undermining the capacity of biodiversity to support human well-being. The Biodiversity Revisited research and action age...

Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) are global conservation units that aim to combat fragmentation, alteration, degradation, and loss of global forests. ILFs are typically recognized for their biodiversity, carbon storage, protection of hydroecological systems and other ecosystem services. However, IFLs are distinctive among other conservation efforts...

The multi-billion-dollar global ski tourism industry faces significant climate risks as evidenced by a significant body of literature. Despite this a wide gap persists between leading research, common media portrayals, and ski industry climate risk perceptions; and the global ski industry generally remains ill prepared for accelerating climate chan...

What has gone wrong with nature conservation and how do we bring about transformative change to create a more sustainable future? Which types of knowledge, ethics, principles and actions are needed to reverse the decline of biodiversity? And given the urgency to act, how can we harness them to sustain a just and diverse future for life on Earth? T...

Climate change has become a business planning reality in the ski industry, with differential impacts and adaptive capacity important for intra- and inter-regional market competitiveness. Potential climate change impacts are examined at 171 ski areas in Ontario, Québec and the US Northeast using the SkiSim2 model with regional parameterizations of s...

Sustainability is a dominant paradigm in tourism research yet a lack of research on alternative tourism sectors to deliver sustainable outcomes hinders sustainable tourism research, planning, implementation, policy and management. This research uses a political ecology lens, to dissect how destinations can harness adventure tourism to achieve relev...

As global temperatures increase, does accelerating climate change represent an existential crisis or a manageable challenge for the ski industry? Despite considerable evidence demonstrating the global ski industry is in the early stages of a climate-induced transition, global research on ski industry stakeholder perspectives shows varied levels of...