Theses and Dissertations Collection

This interdisciplinary dissertation engages in sociolegal studies to analyze the ethical and legal obligations of the United States federal government with respect to its honoring of intergenerational climate justice. With that, this dissertation accomplishes three broad objectives. First, it engages in sociological theory to extend environmental justice scholarship by framing rising and future generations as a voiceless and oppressed faction of society and placing them within the long environmental justice history in the United States. Next, it integrates this unique perspective and ethical recognition with legal analysis, by examining some of the most prominent legal efforts striving to compel the federal government to mitigate the impending and disproportionate impacts of climate change. The combined sociolegal studies make clear that the intent, purpose, and function of the tripartite federal government system—and the social institution of law as a whole—work in tandem to prevent intergenerational climate injustices from occurring by ensuring the protection of the interests of rising and future generations from the exploitative actions of the federal government of this present generation. Last, this dissertation uses resilience thinking to synthesize the findings from the sociolegal studies and to advance practical solutions for the development of climate adaptation law in the United States.