Article by Michaela Anang-Hadjicostandi, Sophia Borgias, Karrigan Bork, Ann M. Eisenberg, Guadalupe M. Franco, Cinnamon Carlarne Hirokawa, Keith H. Hirokawa, Jonathan London, Melinda Morgan, Jessica Owley, Shannon Roesler, & Sonya Ziaja
This Article introduces the new interdisciplinary field of Environmental Geography and Law, which has deep roots in ecology, social science, and law. Environmental and natural resources laws are situated in specific times and places--where the climate, ecosystems, history, and political economy influence both the land and the law. These places drive and constrain the way law develops. In turn, the law shapes places, from the dispossession and forced migration of Indigenous groups, to land development via railroad land grants, to patterns of resource extraction and infrastructure development. Past efforts to integrate law and geography have focused more on critical theory approaches and less on interactions between the human and physical environment, but Environmental Geography and Law takes a more grounded and prescriptive approach. Through three case studies on climate migration, energy grid transformation, and water equity and environmental issues in California's Central Valley, we demonstrate the promise of the field to interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching. These three case studies share a mindfulness of vulnerability, fairness, and distribution of resources, and together illustrate that coordinated attention to environment, place, and law exposes old problems in a different light, illuminating potential new solutions.
About the Authors
Michaela Anang-Hadjicostandi is pursuing a J.D./Ph.D. at UC Davis.
Sophia Borgias (Ph.D., Geography, Arizona) is an Assistant Professor in Interdisciplinary Programs (Environmental, Global, and Urban Studies) at Boise State University.
UC Davis School of Law Professor Karrigan Bork (J.D., Stanford; Ph.D., Ecology, UC Davis) is the Director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
West Virginia University Professor of Law Ann M. Eisenberg (J.D., Cornell; LL.M., West Virginia) is the Research Director of the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development.
Guadalupe M. Franco (M.S., Environmental Studies, San Jose State) is pursuing a Ph.D. in Geography at UC Davis.
Cinnamon Carlarne Hirokawa (J.D., UC Berkeley; M.S., Environmental Change and Management, Oxford) is the Dean of Albany Law School.
Keith H. Hirokawa (M.A., Philosophy, University of Connecticut; LL.M., Lewis & Clark; J.D., University of Connecticut) is a Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law School.
UC Davis Professor of Human Ecology Jonathan London (Ph.D., Rural Sociology and Geography, M.C.P., City and Regional Planning, UC Berkeley) directs the UC Davis Community and Regional Development program.
Melinda Morgan (J.D., University of Idaho) is a Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of New Mexico.
Jessica Owley (J.D., Ph.D. & M.S., Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, M.L.A. in Environmental Planning, UC Berkeley) is a Professor of Law and of Environmental Science and Policy and the Environmental Law Program Director at the University of Miami.
Shannon Roesler (LL.M., Georgetown; J.D., University of Kansas) is the Charlotte and Frederick Hubbell Professor of Environmental and Natural Resources Law and the Faculty Director of the Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative at the University of Iowa.
Sonya Ziaja (J.D., UC Law, San Francisco; M.S., Water Science, Policy, and Management, Oxford; Ph.D., Geography, Arizona) is a University of Baltimore Assistant Professor of Law.
Citation
99 Tul. L. Rev. 811