Marshaling Social Responses to Environmental Changes

Abstract

At the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) 2016 conference, the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) will officially announce the 12 Grand Challenges for Social Work (GCSW). AASWSW did a soft rollout of a preliminary set of Grand Challenges at the SSWR 2015 conference. After the 2015 preliminary rollout, additional adjustments were conducted and additional feedback was incorporated in preparation for the official announcement. The introduction of GCSW has the potential to be a watershed event for social work. I previously discussed them in an editorial on the unification and defining of the profession (Williams, 2015). GCSW are committed to developing a scientific base for our profession that supports social resolutions for positive change in several important areas of need (AASWSW, n.d.). Recently, the United Nations (UN) released its goals for 2030 in Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015). In reviewing the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development, the reader will notice that many of the UN goals overlap with GCSW (AASWSW, n.d.). This would suggest that the profession is on the right path in developing a comprehensive set of challenges where social work can focus its fiscal and intellectual resources to transform our systems. In this editorial, I would like to highlight one of the GCSW—creating social responses to a changing environment (AASWSW, n.d.). There are three goals in the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development directly related to this challenge: (1) take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts; (2) conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development; and (3) protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems; sustainably manage forests; combat desertification; and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015). Climate change, sustainable use of ecosystems, and biodiversity loss are not generally considered to be areas in which social workers have the skills, knowledge, and abilities to make a significant impact. However, there is a growing literature in social work and social science on sustainable development, biodiversity, and the environment ( Jones & Williams, 2011; Kemp et al., 2015; Kumssa, Jones, & Williams, 2009; Kumssa, Williams, Jones, & Des Marais, 2014; Miller & Hayward, 2014; Peeters, 2012; Swim, Clayton, & Howard, 2011). Creating social responses to environmental changes is one area in which social work can make tremendous impact.