Environmental economic geography: A sympathetic critique

In this article I examine the objectives and substantive claims of a body of work that has come to be known as ‘environmental economic geography’ (EEG). I characterize this loose grouping of research activities as a topical contrivance: often what unites EEG researchers is simply a desire to apply the theories and methods of economic geography to environmental issues. The article explores an alternative rationale for doing EEG: the development of a distinctive intellectual project out of the encounter between economic geography and environment. Such a project extends beyond an assessment of the environmental impacts of economic activity, to examine the ways in which many ‘economic’ processes are environmentally constituted.