Environmental Social Work

Divided into three parts, this field-defining work explores what environmental social work is, and how it can be put into practice. It focuses on theory, discussing ecological and social justice, as well as sustainability, spirituality and human rights.

Social work is the profession that claims to intervene to enhance people's well-being. However, social workers have played a low-key role in environmental issues that increasingly impact on people's well-being, both locally and globally. This compelling new contribution confronts this topic head-on, examining environmental issues from a social work perspective. Lena Dominelli draws attention to the important voice of practitioners working on the ground in the aftermath of environmental disasters, whether these are caused by climate change, industrial accidents or human conflict. The author explores the concept of ‘green social work' and its role in using environmental crises to address poverty and other forms of structural inequalities, to obtain more equitable allocations of limited natural resources and to tackle global socio-political forces that have a damaging impact upon the quality of life of poor and marginalized populations at local levels. The resolution of these matters is linked to community initiatives that social workers can engage in to ensure that the quality of life of poor people can be enhanced without costing the Earth. This important book will appeal to those in the fields of social work, social policy, sociology and human geography. It powerfully reveals how environmental issues are an integral part of social work's remit if it is to retain its currency in the modern world and emphasize its relevance to the social issues that societies have to resolve in the twenty-first century.

How does climate change affect social work and social development? What actions are needed to integrate the three pillars of economic development, environmental development and social protection? This informative and incisively written edited collection brings together experts from around the world to analyse the person-in-environment concept and to find measures for its implementation. Through the presentation of theoretical and practical platforms for environmental social work or ‘green social work’, the editors hope to bring about a new paradigmatic shift in our attitude to the concept of person-in- environment.

This innovative text is the first to introduce practical techniques social workers can use to incorporate social, economic, and environmental justice into their practice. The book emphasizes the role of justice in social work practice across the micro-macro spectrum. By assessing common human needs in relation to human rights, justice, and practice aimed at promoting fairness, students will learn how to incorporate theories and practical perspectives in social work practice with individuals, families, communities, and organizations. With its unique approach, this text focuses on structural oppression and inequities connected to clients' engagement in systems and structures. The impact of disparities on accessing and utilizing resources, and subsequently achieving successful outcomes, is examined through the justice lens. Beginning with an overview of key concepts and theoretical underpinnings that provide foundational knowledge, the text then examines each of the three justice foci --social, economic, and environmental--in detail through specific systems. These systems include criminal justice, education, food security, natural disasters and climate change, health, mental health, housing, and income disparities Throughout the book, readers are asked to reflect on their own perceptions to enhance understanding of the influence of justice on practice. Case studies, diagrams, boxed information, student learning outcomes, chapter summaries, and review questions enhance understanding and application of content. Purchase includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers. Key Features: Emphasizes the role of social, economic, and environmental justice in social work practice Examines the science and theory behind justice as it relates to social work Teaches practical methods for implementing justice-oriented social work practice Authored by prominent instructors actively engaged in co-curricular justice-related content Offers student learning outcomes and summaries in each chapter Presents abundant diagrams and boxes to enhance application of content Provides multiple experiential learning opportunities including case examples and reflective and knowledge-based review questions Offers practical examples of justice-informed social work Includes Instructor's Manual with sample syllabus, PowerPoints, exam questions, and media resources

"This book places environmental justice as central to social work practice. Using the phases of practice; theory, ethics, and values are integrated with distinct chapters on micro, mezzo and macro practice. Stories, case studies, and boxed sections highlight organizations and people who bridge the human and environmental justice divide. Critical thinking and learning activities provide direction for course assignments and activities"--

The rapid trend of globalization has brought with it a variety of sustainability challenges, including global climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty, and social inequalities, which are problems with unclear boundaries, complicated interrelated components, undefined parameters, contradictory values, and no single solution. Social work has a long-standing tradition of emphasizing the interaction of people and their environment. For this reason, the field of social work is one of the best-placed academic disciplines for studying the impact of environmental change on social systems, and should play an important role in developing strategies for mitigating and adapting to these environmental challenges. However, traditional social work tends to lack sustaining work and neglect globally interconnected social problems. Combining case studies and country reports from around Asia with a theoretical framework for understanding sustainability concerns, this book aims to show how social work can play a valuable role in mitigating and adapting to environmental challenges and social sustainability. For social work to develop a meaningful and viable profession that addresses contemporary sustainability issues, it requires changes and transformation in paradigm, theories, strategies, social policy and social services that will facilitate a sustainable future for all mankind.

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

This ground-breaking new work provides a detailed and extensive comparison of how the physical environment has been conceptualized in social work and other professions, and offers a new and attractive foundational metaphor for social work. The author acknowledges the need for greater awareness and action regarding environmental impacts and the book promotes more comprehensive notions of responsibility, identity, and stewardship that lead to a dynamic metaphor of people as place as the foundation for relevant social work practice in the early 21st century. Why is that a profession with a declared focus on ""person-in-environment"" has been so silent on the environmental crisis? Mainstream social work theory has narrowed the understanding of environment to include merely the social environment, but this approach is no longer sufficient for participation in multi-disciplinary efforts to tackle urgent environmental issues. Transformative notions of responsibility, identity, and stewardship have been developed on the fringes of our professional community: rural/remote social workers, Aboriginal social workers, and international and spiritual social workers. They must now move to the core of the profession.