John Parkins

Professor, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sci - Resource Economics & Environmental Sociology
Chair, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sci - Resource Economics & Environmental Sociology

Pronouns: he, him

Contact

Professor, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sci - Resource Economics & Environmental Sociology
Email
jparkins@ualberta.ca
Phone
(780) 492-3610
Address
515 General Services Building
9007 - 116 St NW
Edmonton AB
T6G 2H1

Chair, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sci - Resource Economics & Environmental Sociology
Email
jparkins@ualberta.ca

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

social context of resource development renewable and community energy public deliberation and environmental politics sociology of food and agriculture


About

Academic Disciplines

Rural Sociology, Environmental Sociology, Sociology of Agriculture

Websites / Social Media Content

Academic Profile: Research Gate

Follow me on Twitter: @jrparkins

Project website: Energy Transitions in Canada

Project website: Dairy Goats & Root Crops (Tanzania) - legacy website (project ended in 2014)


Research

Major Responsibilities / Research Interests  

energy and society; gender and food security; sustainable agriculture; public engagement; social impact assessment; natural resource management

Energy Transition

Holowach, M. and J.R. Parkins. 2023. Unraveling the Link between Political Polarization and Wind Energy Perspectives: Insights from a Survey of Agricultural Landowners in Alberta, Canada. Energy & Environment. 1-18.

Chewinski, M, S. Anders and J.R. Parkins. 2023. Agricultural Landowner Perspectives on Wind Energy Development in Alberta, Canada: Insights from the Lens of Energy Justice and Democracy. Environmental Sociology.

Patel, S. and J.R. Parkins. 2023. Assessing motivations and barriers to renewable energy development: Insights from a survey of municipal decision-makers in Alberta, Canada. Energy Reports, (9), 5788-5798.

Miller, A. and J.R. Parkins. 2023. Contending with equity ownership in Indigenous renewable energy projects. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 18(2), 44–64.

Parkins, J.R., Anders, S., Meyerhoff, J., Holowach, M. 2022. Landowner acceptance of wind turbines on their land: Insights from a factorial survey experiment. Land Economics, 98(4): 674–689. 

Public Participation

Parkins, J.R., Sinclair, A.J. 2023. Public participation at a crossroads: Manipulation or meaningful engagement in the Boreal region. Book chapter in Boreal Forests in the Face of Climate Change (Miguel Montoro Girona, et al. editors). Ch. 23, p. 575-587. 

Egunyu, F., Reed, M., Sinclair, A. J., Parkins, J. R., & Robson, J. P. 2020. Public engagement in forest governance in Canada: Whose values are being represented anyway?. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, online first.

Sustainable Agriculture

Bassi, E., J.R. Parkins, K. Caine. 2019. Situating emotions in social practices: Empirical insights from animal husbandry in the cow-calf industry. Sociologia Ruralis 59 (2): 275-293.

Kessler, A., J.R. Parkins, and E. Huddart-Kennedy. 2016. Contested discourses of sustainability in the beef industry: Understanding narratives of environmental stewardship in the face of climate change. Rural Sociology 81 (2), 172-193.

Davidson, D.J., K.E. Jones and J.R. Parkins. 2016. Food safety risks, disruptive events and alternative beef production: a case study of agricultural transition in Alberta. Agriculture and Human Values, 33: 359-371.

International Development

Kaler, A. and J.R. Parkins. 2018. Talking about time: temporality, causality and motivation for international faith-based humanitarian actors in South Sudan. British Journal of Sociology 69(4):1313-1336.

Chechina, M., Y. Neveuxa. J.R. Parkins and A. Hamann. 2018. Balancing Conservation and Livelihoods: A Study of Forest-dependent Communities in the Philippines. Conservation and Society 16 (4), 420-430.

Njuki, J., J.R. Parkins and A. Kaler (Editors). 2016. Transforming gender and food security in the Global South. New York: Routledge (11 Chapters).

Social Impact Assessment

Sinclair. A.J., Diduck, A. and Parkins, J.R. 2022. Innovative approaches to achieving meaningful public participation in next generation impact assessment (Ch. 14, 239-258), In (K. Hanna, ed.). Routledge Handbook of Environmental Impact Assessment. 

da Silva, G. D. P., Parkins, J. R., & Sherren, K. 2021. Do methods used in social impact assessment adequately capture impacts? An exploration of the research-practice gap using hydroelectricity in Canada. Energy Research & Social Science, 79, 102188.

Hanna, K., E. McGuigan, B. Noble, J. Parkins. 2019. An analysis of the state of impact assessment knowledge for alternative power production. Energy Research & Social Sciences. 50, 116-128.

Major Projects

Pathways to energy democracy in Canada. Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Insight Grant, $338,000 (2023 – 2027). PI: Parkins (Alberta). Co-applicants: MacArthur (Royal Roads), Boucher and Pigeon (Saskatchewan), Marcoul and Banack (Alberta). 

   Project site: Energy Transitions in Canada: Exploring the social, cultural and ethical dimensions of changing energy landscapes

 Future Energy Systems

Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Energy Transitions

Courses

EXERM 4287 - Engaging Community for Renewable Energy Project Success

Develop an understanding of wide-ranging social issues, with a focus on lessons learned from renewable project development in other parts of Canada, ways to enhance local Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholder engagement in project development, opportunities for community and local ownership of renewable projects.


R SOC 375 - Public Participation and Conflict Resolution

The anatomy of environmental and resource management conflict is examined through a lens of critical sociological theory and deliberative democracy. Focusing on contemporary case studies of conflict in energy production, forestry, conservation and protected areas management, social practices and strategies for conflict resolution are explored. Prerequisite: *54 or consent of instructor.


R SOC 675 - Public Participation and Conflict Resolution

The anatomy of environmental and resource management conflict is examined through a lens of critical sociological theory and deliberative democracy. Focusing on contemporary case studies of conflict in energy production, forestry, conservation and protected areas management, social practices and strategies for conflict resolution are explored. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Not to be taken if credit received for R SOC 375.


Browse more courses taught by John Parkins

Featured Publications

Miller, A. and J.R. Parkins.

Journal of Rural and Community Development. 2023 June; 18 (2):44-64


Parkins, J.R., Anders, S., Meyerhoff, J., Holowach, M.

Land Economics. 2022 August; 98( (4):674–689 10.3368/le.98.4.012521-0008R1


Parkins, J.R., C. Hempel, T.M. Beckley, K. Sherren and R.C. Stedman

Environmental Sociology. 2015 January;


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