
Research Summary
Energy geographer interested in understanding the interconnected political and biophysical processes shaping and shaped by systems of energy provision. Motivated by growing up in the former coal region of northeast Pennsylvania, my main research objective is to evaluate the distribution of costs and benefits resulting from energy provision and to design strategies for reducing the all too often unequal distribution of these flows. Long an advocate of interdisciplinary research and mixed method approaches, my research draws upon and helps to advance the fields of political ecology, resource geography, environmental governance, energy studies and industrial ecology. Along with collaborators Dr. Joshua Newell and Joshua Cousins, I’m currently working to establish the field of political-industrial ecology, a sub-field of nature-society geography that seeks to better evaluate the social, political and ecological processes sustaining industrial society. This work is empirically motivated by nearly a decade of research examining the social and environmental impacts of biofuel promotion in India and more recent work evaluating the multi-scalar governance processes of hydraulic fracturing in the US.
In the News
Research Keywords
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Projects
Recent Publications
Influence in the right-of-way: Assessing landownersâ risk decision-making in negotiating oil and gas pipeline easements
Jalbert, K., Dickinson, K. L., Baka, J. & Florence, N., Jun 2023, In: Extractive Industries and Society. 14, 101276.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
Mining, loss, and despair: Exploring energy transitions and opioid use in an Appalachian coal community
Young, T., Baka, J., He, Z., Bhattacharyya, S. & Lei, Z., May 2023, In: Energy Research and Social Science. 99, 103046.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
Unruly Mountains: Hydropower assemblages and geological surprises in the Indian Himalayas
Vaishnava, S. & Baka, J., Sep 2022, In: Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. 5, 3, p. 1123-1145 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
Visualizing water-energy nexus landscapes
Robb, D., Cole, H., Baka, J. & Bakker, K., Nov 1 2021, In: Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water. 8, 6, e1548.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Review article ⺠peer-review
Disclosing Influence: Hydraulic fracturing, interest groups, and state policy processes in the United States
Baka, J., Hesse, A., Neville, K. J., Weinthal, E. & Bakker, K., Dec 2020, In: Energy Research and Social Science. 70, 101734.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
The evolving borderland of energy geographies
Baka, J. & Vaishnava, S., Jul 1 2020, In: Geography Compass. 14, 7, e12493.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
Environmental Knowledge Cartographies: Evaluating Competing Discourses in U.S. Hydraulic Fracturing Rule-Making
Baka, J., Hesse, A., Weinthal, E. & Bakker, K., Nov 2 2019, In: Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 109, 6, p. 1941-1960 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
Can shareholder advocacy shape energy governance? The case of the US antifracking movement
Neville, K. J., Cook, J., Baka, J., Bakker, K. & Weinthal, E. S., Jan 2 2019, In: Review of International Political Economy. 26, 1, p. 104-133 30 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
Agenda-Setting at the Energy-Water Nexus: Constructing and Maintaining a Policy Monopoly in U.S. Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation
Baka, J., Neville, K. J., Weinthal, E. & Bakker, K., May 2018, In: Review of Policy Research. 35, 3, p. 439-465 27 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
Making Space for Energy: Wasteland Development, Enclosures, and Energy Dispossessions
Baka, J., Sep 2017, In: Antipode. 49, 4, p. 977-996 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
Geographical perspectives on sociotechnical transitions and emerging bio-economies: introduction to a special issue
Calvert, K. E., Kedron, P., Baka, J. & Birch, K., May 28 2017, In: Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. 29, 5, p. 477-485 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Editorial ⺠peer-review
Debating Unconventional Energy: Social, Political, and Economic Implications
Neville, K. J., Baka, J., Gamper-Rabindran, S., Bakker, K., Andreasson, S., Vengosh, A., Lin, A., Singh, J. N. & Weinthal, E., Oct 17 2017, In: Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 42, p. 241-266 26 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Review article ⺠peer-review
Political-industrial ecology: An introduction
Newell, J. P., Cousins, J. J. & Baka, J., Oct 2017, In: Geoforum. 85, p. 319-323 5 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Editorial ⺠peer-review
Wasteland energy-scapes: A comparative energy flow analysis of India's biofuel and biomass economies
Baka, J. & Bailis, R., Dec 1 2014, In: Ecological Economics. 108, p. 8-17 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review
What wastelands? A critique of biofuel policy discourse in South India
Baka, J., Jul 2014, In: Geoforum. 54, p. 315-323 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal ⺠Article ⺠peer-review