The case for an environmental labor geography: The role of organized labor in the climate crisis.

The article proposes the establishment of an environmental labor geography, a unified geographic field that centers on organized labor's role in addressing climate change by drawing on labor geography's theoretical framework. It argues that organized worker agency—collective and intentional actions by unions, worker centers, and similar groups—is crucial for advancing just transition demands and confronting the climate crisis, distinguishing this from individual worker responses. The article reviews existing interdisciplinary labor-environment research, highlights the contested nature of just transition, and examines historical and contemporary cases of worker-led industrial conversion efforts aimed at socially and environmentally sustainable production. It concludes that focusing on organized labor's strategic power can enhance geographic research's political relevance and support emancipatory climate solutions.