About us: We are a small, interdisciplinary research group doing work along multiple axes of resource extraction/development in western Canada (environmental, cultural, economic, political). Our goal is to produce credible, independent work that speaks to the broader conversations about contentious subjects including IPPs, shale gas and LNG development, and public engagement in and resistance to these developments in BC and beyond.
Our research breaks down into specific but complementary studies. These include case studies and case comparisons focusing on particular resource developments and policy processes. Conducting this constellation of related studies allows us to better examine relationships between different forms of resource extraction. For example, we are using the framing of energy systems to situate shale gas, LNG, IPPs and renewable energy generation in relation to one another. We are interested in how historical legacies shape decision-making, and how decisions undertaken today build path dependency towards the future of our economy and energy system.
We’re working to situate these topics in global context, and are engaged in bigger-picture conceptual work on the politics of transformation of energy systems and politics of resistance. We are interested in energy justice, energy democracy, public engagement, and in the creative work of resistance movements. Our work has placed particular emphasis on Indigenous self-determination, the causes and nature of resistance, and the nascent possibilities for more just and democratic energy systems that are embedded in contemporary resistance movements.
Karena Shaw 