Green Social Work Research Articles

Promoting environmental justice through green social work practice: A key challenge for practitioners and educators

Environmental crises associated with disasters exacerbate existing socio-economic and cultural inequalities. This article argues for the inclusion of environmental justice in contemporary social work practice as one way of promoting inclusionary social work that meets some of the challenges of the 21st century. It does so by exploring the implications of environmental degradation and its reinforcement of structural inequalities in Sri Lanka following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and draws on a three-year research project funded by the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council in the UK that led to the development of a multidisciplinary approach to disasters that is described in the author’s recent book Green Social Work.

Green social work: From environmental crises to environmental justice, Lena Dominelli

Green social work: From environmental crises to environmental justice, <i>Lena Dominelli</i>

Environmental justice at the heart of social work practice: Greening the profession

Social workers face many contemporary challenges. Alongside the difficulties of upholding human rights, social justice and active citizenship, are those of affirming environmental justice and care for planet earth in and through social work practice and addressing climate change and other disasters. I call for social workers to take action that addresses these issues as a strong, united profession that works alongside dispossessed and marginalised people who do not get their share of global resources, despite their limited ecological footprint. I suggest a new paradigm for practice rooted in environmental justice that enhances the well‐being of people, the flora, fauna and the ecosystem that sustains and supports us all – green social work, for practitioners supporting life in one interdependent world.

Book Review: Lena Dominelli (2012) Green Social Work – From Environmental Crises to Environmental Justice

Book Review: Lena Dominelli (2012) <i>Green Social Work – From Environmental Crises to Environmental Justice</i>

Green social work: from environmental crises to environmental justice

Green social work: from environmental crises to environmental justice

Green Social Work: From Environmental Crises to Environmental Justice

[Extract] As the world becomes increasingly attuned to the nature and extent of the global environmental crisis, we are beginning to appreciate the impacts that environmental problems ranging from pollution to anthropogenic climate change will have, indeed are already having, on human well-being. With this appreciation comes the realisation that the worst negative impacts of such issues are falling disproportionately on the individuals, communities and societies who are already amongst the most marginalised and disadvantaged around the globe. In this sense, it has become very clear that the environmental crisis is also a crisis for social justice.