Kai Bosworth is a human geographer and is Associate Professor of International Studies in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research examines how environmental “protectors of the subsurface” intertwine data collection and environmental imaginaries to highlight the effects of oil and gas on underground spaces like aquifers and caves, thus inventing new cultures of conservation practice.

His book, Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the 21st Century, examines the possibilities and limitations of pipeline opposition movements in the central United States and their effects on the popular politics of climate justice.