ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects upon the role of critical resource geographers beyond academia by focusing on my own history of involvement with debates and controversies surrounding the development of solar power in Kittitas County, Washington. It explores the ways in which county residents debate the siting of large-scale solar projects in prime irrigated agricultural land proposed by private firms in Seattle. The chapter offers my perspectives regarding the opportunities, challenges, and lessons learned from engaging in local issues in and around where I live and work. I argue that critical resource geographers are well equipped to engage in academic praxis beyond academia and apply critical social theory to shed light on resource issues affecting the communities where they live. However, doing so requires institutional support and an open space that promotes communication between that faculty and her/his department to articulate the importance of academic praxis and community engagement for the department, the university, and the community. I find that the nature of community engagement shifts when it happens where one lives and works rather than in a distant place where it may be contained within the spaces and time frames of fieldwork from which one returns when done.
