Traditional judicial methods pay attention to the strict application of the law from the perspective of logical structure and formal rules, but they encounter difficulties in solving new types of environmental pollution tort cases, resulting in unsatisfactory trial results. On the premise of respecting the traditional normative research and logical reasoning methods, it is necessary for environmental judicial activities to learn from and use some sociological methods to judge the evidence and explain the law, so as to make the environmental law closer to the social reality. To be specific, macroscopically, we should draw lessons from Durkheim’s methodology of “explaining social facts with social facts”. Microscopically, when determining the facts, we should put environmental cases into the current social structure and social background, and find out the truth through necessary field investigations. When interpreting the law, we should combine experience with reason to make value judgments in specific situations, and strive to achieve the best social effect within the purposes and principles of the law.