Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism

Given the Anthropocene's converging socio-ecological crises, particularly the dire issue of climate change, social movements are increasingly approaching the courts to advance intersecting struggles for social, environmental, and climate justice. Transformative constitutional regimes in South Africa and elsewhere that incorporate environmental and human rights protections offer potentially powerful legal norms to advance the struggles of these movements. Grappling with such norms and with problematic trends in adjudication, Prof. Melanie Jean Murcott develops a legal theory of Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism as a novel framework within which courts could adjudicate environmental law disputes, developing law for the Anthropocene’s global struggles.