Environmental Law and Sustainability

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Below is a list of recently published works that discuss and critique the history and development of environmental law and policy or that identify emerging issues and theories in the field. To see a complete list of materials available in the library related to environmental law and sustainability, search the ASU Library Catalog for subjects like Environmental Law, Environmental Law -- United States, or Environmental Policy -- United States -- History.

Environmental Justice: Legal Theory and Practice (Barry E. Hill, 2022)
In this book, published by the Environmental Law Institute, the author provides an exposition and review of the complex mixture of environmental laws and civil rights legal theories that are central to this still-evolving area of law. 

Environmental Law, Disrupted (Keith H. Hirokawa & Jessica Owley, eds., 2021)
Through a series of essays, this book argues that our current legal structure maintains a dangerous status quo and that it is time to unleash the potential of communities and the private sector to produce innovative solutions to climate challenges. 

Environmental Personhood: New Trajectories in Law (Francine Rochford, 2024, available on campus or remotely with ASURITE)
This book examines the increasingly widespread movement to recognise the environment as a legal person. Several countries have now recognised that nature, or parts of nature, have juristic personhood. In this book, the concept of legal personhood and its incidents are interrogated to determine whether this is, or could be, a positive contribution to modern environmental problems.

Fifty Years at the US Environmental Protection Agency:  Progress, Retrenchment, and Opportunities (A. James Barnes et al. eds., 2021)
This book brings together leading scholars and EPA veterans to provide a comprehensive assessment of the agency's key decisions and actions in the various areas of its responsibility. Themes across all chapters include the role of rulemaking, negotiation/compromise, partisan polarization, judicial impacts, relations with the White House and Congress, public opinion, interest-group pressures, environmental enforcement, environmental justice, risk assessment, and interagency conflict.

Indigenous Environmental Justice (Karen Jarratt-Snider & Marianne O. Nielsen eds., 2020)
This anthology introduces the field of indigenous environmental justice, which concerns fairness (or lack thereof) in environmental decisionmaking involving indigenous people, including disproportionate burdens of environmentally harmful activities. The authors provide perspectives on topics including environmental racism and constraints on religious freedom, as well as the responses of indigenous people to promote fairness.

The Making of Environmental Law (Richard J. Lazarus, 2023)
Drawing on many years of experience on the frontlines of legal and policy battles, the author provides a theoretical overview of the challenges that environmental protection poses for lawmaking, which relate both to the spatial and temporal dimensions of ecological change and to the distinctive features of US lawmaking institutions.

Next Generation Compliance (Cynthia J. Giles, 2022)
In this book, the author argues that serious violations of environmental regulations are widespread, and that the regulations' structures are the most important driver of compliance results. The author further argues that well-designed regulations deploying creative strategies to make compliance the default can achieve excellent implementation outcomes. This title is also available as an e-book (available on campus or remotely with ASURITE).

Non-Doctrinal Research Methods in Environmental Law (Paul Martin et al., eds., 2023)
This book explores the innovative non-doctrinal methods currently being used in environmental law research., providing insight on how creative approaches to research can improve understanding of law and policy, which will lead to more effective legal protection for the environment. The book also examines the scholarly philosophy of environmental law research, determining how and why it differs from other areas of research.

The Psychology of Environmental Law (Arden Rowell, Kenworthy Bilz, Linda J. Demaine, 2021)
This book provides key insights regarding how psychology can inform, explain, and improve how environmental law operates. It offers concrete analyses of the theoretical and practical payoffs in pollution control, ecosystem management, and climate change law and policy when psychological insights are taken into account

Rethinking Environmental Law: Why Environmental Laws Should Conform to the Laws of Nature (Jan Laitos, 2021)
In this work, the author challenges historic assumptions about human relationships with nature and proposes new models that recognize the interconnectedness of humans and the environment and that provide positive legal rights to the social-ecological system.

Who Really Makes Environmental Policy?: Creating and Implementing Environmental Rules and Regulations (Sara R. Rinfret ed., 2021)
Congress has mostly delegated its task of environmental policymaking to the experts at administrative agencies, and this anthology explores the issues associated with that scheme, including whether environmental rulemaking is effectively off the public record, rule finalization, how states govern environmental issues and interact with the EPA, and the future of environmental policy.