Environmental Geography and Law: Toward a Synthesis.

This article introduces Environmental Geography and Law as a new interdisciplinary field that integrates ecology, social science, and law to better understand how environmental and natural resources laws are shaped by and shape specific places, climates, ecosystems, histories, and political economies. Through three case studies—climate migration, energy grid transformation, and water equity in California's Central Valley—the authors demonstrate how this approach centers vulnerability, fairness, and resource distribution, revealing entrenched problems and potential new solutions. The field emphasizes the mutually constitutive relationship between law and place, advocating for a grounded, prescriptive framework that combines legal analysis with geographic insights to address complex environmental challenges. This synthesis aims to improve scholarship, teaching, and policy by incorporating spatial, temporal, and power dynamics often overlooked in traditional legal or geographic studies alone.