Gregory Fulkerson received his M.A in Sociology from Western Michigan University in 2000, taught two years at Lansing Community College, and earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from North Carolina State University in 2006. He is interested in issues related to globalization, rurality, community, agriculture, and the environment. His current research investigates the local and global processes leading to environmental degradation and the social response to these problems, particularly in relation to urban-rural processes. He is the author of several conference presentations, journal articles, book chapters, and book, Critical Rural Theory (co-authored). He recently co-edited a volume, Studies in Urbanormativity, and served as the program chair for the Rural Sociological Society.
Demographers project that by 2050, the world will be 70 percent urban—it is now about 50 percent. Urban life carries an inherent dependency on distant rural people and lands for primary resources like food.