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

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. 

Chappell, E.N., J.R. Parkins, K. Sherren. 2021. Those who support wind development in view of their home take responsibility for their energy use and that of others: evidence from a multi-scale analysis. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 23(4): 510-527.

Sherren, K., Parkins, J. R., Owen, T., Terashima, M. 2019. Does noticing energy infrastructure influence public support for energy development? Evidence from a national survey in Canada. Energy Research & Social Science, 51, 176-186.

Parkins, J.R., C. Rollins, S. Anders, L. Comeau. 2018. Predicting intention to adopt solar technology in Canada: The role of knowledge, public engagement, and visibility. Energy Policy, 114: 114-122.

Public Participation

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.

Nenko, A., J.R. Parkins, M.G. Reed, A.J. Sinclair. 2019. Rethinking effective public engagement in sustainable forest governance. Society & Natural Resources, 32 (12), 1383-1398

Nenko, A. J.R. Parkins, M.G. Reed. 2019. Indigenous experiences with public advisory committees in Canadian forest management. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 49: 331–338.

Huddart Kennedy, E. J. Johnston and J.R. Parkins. 2018. Small-p Politics: Pleasurable, Convivial, and Pragmatic Civic Engagement in the Eat-Local Movement. British Journal of Sociology 69 (3):670-690.

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

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.

da Silva, G. D. P., Parkins, J. R., & Sherren, K. 2021. Using news coverage and community-based impact assessments to understand and track social effects using the perspectives of affected people and decisionmakers. Journal of Environmental Management, 298, 113467.

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.

Major Projects

Imagination, expectation and deliberation: Pathways to wind energy landscape transitions in AlbertaSocial Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Insight Grant, $199,730 (2017 – 2021). Collaborators: Anders (Alberta), Sherren (Dalhousie), Davidson (Alberta).

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

   Research Gate: Energy Transitions in Canada

Future Energy Systems

Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Energy Transitions

Socio-­economic Roadmaps to Commercial Geothermal Energy Production in W. Canada


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 515 - Quantitative Social Research Methods

Principles and practice of social research within environmental and natural resource sociology. Topics include survey research, evaluation research, data collection, multi-variable analysis, and report writing. Prerequisite: SOC 315 or equivalent.


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

Hanna, K.S. and J.R. Parkins

Environmental Impact Assessment: Practice and Participation. 2016 January; Third Edition


Parkins, J.R. and R.E. Mitchell

Environmental Impact Assessment: Practice and Participation. 2016 January; Third Edition


Njuki, J., J. Parkins and A. Kaler. (eds.)

Routledge. 2016 January;


Comeau, L. A., Parkins, J. R., Stedman, R. C., & Beckley, T. M.

Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology. 2015 January; Project Report #15-01


Mason, R.F., P. Ndlovu, J.R. Parkins and M.K. Luckert

Agriculture and Human Values. 2015 January; 32


Kaler, A. and J.R. Parkins

Sociology of Development. 2015 January; 1 (3):400-416


Davidson, D.J., K.E. Jones and J.R. Parkins

Agriculture and Human Values. 2015 January;


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

Environmental Sociology. 2015 January;


Parkins, J.R. and B.L. McFarlane

Human Ecology Review,. 2015 January; 21 (1):133-153


McFarlane, B.L., D.O.T. Watson and J.R. Parkins

Information Report NOR-X-423. 2015 January;


Trefry, A., J.R. Parkins and G. Cundill

Food Security. 2014 January; 6 (4):555-565


Parkins. J.R. and M.G. Reed. (Editors)

2013 January;


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