I work at the intersection of environmental and economic geography. My primary research interests span political economy, political ecology, environmental studies, STS, and digital geographies. I am currently focusing on a new research project on the implications of digital technologies for environmental governance. My latest book, The Sounds of Life, explores how digital technologies are transforming our ability to listen to nature’s sounds and decode non-human communication. As a Guggenheim Fellow (2022) I will be further developing my research on digital transformation and sustainability, examining how applications of AI and biodigital technologies are being mobilized to respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene, from climate change to biodiversity.

In 2022/23, I will be on sabbatical leave at the Martina S. Horner Distinguished Visiting Professor and Fellow of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, focusing on my Smart Earth project which explores the relationship between digital innovation and environmental sustainability.

2021

Bridge, G. and K. Bakker. 2021. Material Worlds Redux. In Handbook of Critical Resource Geography, edited by M. Himley, E. Havice, and G. Valdivia, 43-56. London: Routledge.

Robb, D., J. Baka, C. Harrison, and K. Bakker. 2021. Visualizing water-energy nexus landscapes. WIRES Water 8(3). doi: http://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1548

Ritts, M. and K. Bakker. 2021. Conservation acoustics: Animal sounds, audible natures, cheap nature. Geoforum 124(1): 144-155. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.04.022

BAKKER, K. and RITTS, M. 2021. Smart Earth: A meta-review and implications for environmental governance. In Nost, E., and J. Goldstein (eds.) The Nature of Data, University of Nebraska Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.011

BRIDGE, G. and BAKKER, K. Material Worlds Redux. 2021. In Eds. Himley, M., Havice, E., and Valdivia, G. Handbook of Critical Resource Geography. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429434136-4/material-worlds-redux-karen-bakker-gavin-bridge

RITTS, M.  and BAKKER, K. 2021. “Conservation acoustics: Animal sounds, audible natures, cheap nature.” Geoforum 124: 144-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.04.022

2020

Bakker, Karen, Rosemary Knight, Jim Leape, Alan K. Mackworth, Ray Tze Thim Ng and Max Ritts. “Digital Technologies and Dynamic Resource Management.” 2020 IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing (SMARTCOMP) (2020): 368-373. doi: 10.1109/SMARTCOMP50058.2020.00079.

Baka, Jennifer, Arielle Hesse, Kate J. Neville, Erika Weinthal, and Karen Bakker. 2020. “Disclosing Influence: Hydraulic fracturing, interest groups, and state policy processes in the United States.” Energy Research & Social Science 70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101734.

Bakker, Karen and Courtenay Crane. Water Teachings. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 2020. Available online here: https://www.waterteachings.com/

2019

RITTS, M. and BAKKER, K. 2019 ‘New forms: Anthropocene Festivals and experimental environmental governance’ Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, special issue: Politics of Environmental Data 0(0), 1-21.  https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619886974

DEMARIA, F., KALLIS, G. and BAKKER, K. 2019 ‘Geographies of degrowth: Nowtopias, resurgences and the decolonization of imaginaries and places’ Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 2(3), 431-450.  https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619869689

DIVER, S., AHRENS, D., ARBIT, T. and BAKKER, K. 2019 ‘Engaging Colonial Entanglements: “Treatment as a State” Policy for Indigenous Water Co-Governance’ Global Environmental Politics 19(3), 33-56.  https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00517

BEHN, C. and BAKKER, K. 2019 ‘Rendering Technical, Rendering Sacred: The Politics of Hydroelectric Development on British Columbia’s Saaghii Naachii/Peace River’ Global Environmental Politics 19(3), 98-119.  https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00518

BAKA, J., HESSE, A., WEINTHAL, E. and BAKKER, K. 2019 ‘Environmental Knowledge Cartographies: Evaluating Competing Discourses in U.S. Hydraulic Fracturing Rule-Making’ Annals of the American Association of Geographers 0(0), 1-20.  https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2019.1574549

BAKKER, K. and HENDRIKS, R. 2019 ‘Contested Knowledges in Hydroelectric Project Assessment: The Case of Canada’s Site C Project’.  Special issue on “Contested Knowledges: Water Conflicts on Large Dams and Mega-Hydraulic Development”.  Water 11(3), 406.  https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030406

2018

NEVILLE, K., COOK, J., BAKA, J., BAKKER, K. and WEINTHAL, E. 2018  ‘Can shareholder advocacy shape energy governance? The case of the US antifracking movement’ Review of International Political Economy 26(1), 104-133.  https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2018.1488757

BAKKER, K. and RITTS, M. 2018 ‘Smart Earth: A meta-review and implications for environmental governance’ Global Environmental Change 52, 201-211   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.011

BAKA, J., K. NEVILLE, E. WEINTHAL and BAKKER, K. 2018. ‘Policy Mobilities and Agenda-Setting at the Energy-Water Nexus: Constructing and Maintaining a Policy Monopoly in US Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation’ Review of Policy Research. DOI: 10.1111/ropr.12287.

2017

DUNN, G., BROWN,  R., BOS, J. and BAKKER, K. 2017. ‘The Role of the Science-Policy Interface in Sustainable Urban Water Transitions: Lessons from Rotterdam’ Environmental Science & Policy. 73: 71-79.

NEVILLE, K., BAKA, J., GAMPER-RABINDRAN, S., BAKKER, K., ANDREASSON, S., VENGOSH, A., LIN, A., NEM SINGH J., and WEINTHAL, E. 2017. ‘Debating unconventional energy: Social, political and economic implications’ Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 42: 241-266.

Karen Bakker has been awarded awarded a Harvard Radcliffe Fellowship. https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news-and-ideas/harvard-radcliffe-institute-announces-2022-2023-fellows