Green social work espouses a holistic approach to all peoples and other living things – plants and animals, and the physical ecosystem; emphasises the relational nature of all its constituent parts; and redefines the duty to care for and about others as one that includes the duty to care for and about planet earth.
By acknowledging the interdependency of all living things it allows for the inclusion of all systems and institutions in its remit, including both (hu)man-made and natural disasters arising from the (hu)made ones of poverty to chemical pollution of the earth’s land, waters and soils and climate change, to the natural hazards like earthquakes and volcanoes which turn to disasters through human (in)action. Green social work’s value system is also one that favours equality, social inclusion, the equitable distribution of resources, and a rights-based approach to meeting people’s needs to live in an ethical and sustainable manner. Responding to these issues is one of the biggest challenges facing social workers in the twenty-first century which this Handbook is intended to address.
Through providing the theories, practices, policies, knowledge and skills required to act responsibly in responding to the diverse disasters that threaten to endanger all living things and planet earth itself, this green social work handbook will be required reading for all social work students, academics and professionals, as well as those working in the fields of community development and disaster management.
List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Foreword: Green Social Work, a New Direction for Social Work (Lena Dominelli); Introduction: Why Green Social Work (Lena Dominelli, Bala Raju Nikki and Hok Bun Ku); Part I. Green Social Work Theory; Scene Setting Section; Chapter 1: Green Social Work: Reconfiguring the Environmental Landscape in Social Work as a Transdisciplinary Endeavour (Lena Dominelli); Chapter 2: Transdisciplinary Collaboration between Physical and Social Scientists: Drawing on the Experiences of an Advisor to Earthquakes without Frontiers (EwF) (Peter Sammonds); Chapter 3: Disasters, Health Impacts and the Value of Implementing the ‘Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015–2030’ (Virginia Murray, Lorcan Clarke and Rishma Maini); Theory into Practice Section; Chapter 4: Work in Disasters: Experiences in the United Kingdom (David N Jones); Chapter 5: Rebuilding Lives Post-Disaster: Innovative Community Practices for Sustainable Development (Julie Drolet, Haorui Wu, Robin Ersing, Margaret Alston, Desley Hargreaves, Yenyi Huang, Chao Hsing Huang and Golam Mathbor); Chapter 6: Green Social Work for Environmental Justice: Implications for International Social Workers (Meredith C.F. Powers, Jennifer Willett, John Mathias, and Anna Hayward); Part II. Natural Disasters; Chapter 7: Promoting Public Interest Design: The transformative change toward green social work during post-Ya’an earthquake reconstruction and recovery in Sichuan China (Haorui Wu); Chapter 8: Developing Community Solidarity in the Context of an Earthquake Disaster; (Rosemary A. Barbera); Chapter 9: A Social Work Response to Himalayan Disasters: Insights from Green Social; (Bala Raju Nikku); Chapter 10: Dissecting a Himalayan Disaster, Finding Pathways (Adusumalli Malathi and Soumya Dutta); Chapter 11: A Post-Morakot Environmentally-Friendly Reconstruction Solution: Reflections from a Green Social Work Perspective (Yen Yi Huang, Chiau Hong Chen, Shu Ching Chang and Shu Yuan Hsiao); Chapter 12: Dominica - Tropical Storm Erika and its Impacts (Letnie Rock and Debra D. Joseph with Ayodele Harper); Part III: Green Agricultural Practices; Chapter 13: Negotiating Resilient Communities: Para-Social Work Practice in a Participatory Small Watershed Management Programme in China’s Tourism City (Luk Tak Chuen); Chapter 14: Reflections on a Tribal Kitchen Project: A Case Study about Green Social Work in Taiwan (Ying-Hao Huang); Chapter 15: Community Gardening: The Nexus for Community, Social Work and University Collaboration (Robin Mama); Part IV. Food (In)Security; Chapter 16: Food Insecurity: Where Social Injustice Meets Environmental Exploitation; (Cheryl Molle); Chapter 17: Food Security Crisis and CAS Movement in China: a Case Study in Yunnan Province, PRC (Hok Bun Ku and Hairong Yan) Part V. (Hu)man-Made Disasters; Chapter 18: Environmental Issues and Controversies in Latin America: A Challenge to Social Work (Nilsa Burgos Ortiz); Climate Change Driven Disasters Section; Chapter 19: Green Social Work requires a Green Politics or Climate Change is Capital Change (Carolyn Noble); Chapter 20: Green Social Work within Integrated Coastal Zone Management: Mauritius and Barbados (Komalsingh Rambaree and Letnie Rock); Chapter 21: Social Protection Options for Farmers in the Face of Climate Change: A case study of women farmers and agriculture in Goromonzi, Zimbabwe (Mildred T. Mushunje, Vishanthie Sewpaul); Chapter 22: Climate Change, Vulnerability and Just Adaptation: Re-imagining Social Work Practice in the Indian Context (Sunil D. Santha, Sowmya Balasubramaniam, Anup Shenai, Asha Banu Soletti, Sharvan Verma, Jaydip Solanki, Rupali Gaikawad); Part VI. Extreme Weather Events; Chapter 23: The 2015 Chennai Flood: Green Social Work, an Emerging Model for Practice in India (Miriam Samuel, Prince Annadurai and Sowndarya Sankarakrishnan); Chapter 24: Mitigating the Impact of Drought in Namibia: Implications for Social Work Policy, Education and Practice (Peggie Chiwara and Antoinette Lombard); Part VII. Disaster Driven Migration; Chapter 25: Understanding Poverty through the Experiences of Women who are Forced Migrants: Considerations for a Social Work Response (Mehmoona Moosa-Mitha, Feinula Bhanji and Fariyal Ross-Sheriff); Chapter 26: Positioning Social Workers Without Borders Within Green Social Work: Ethical Considerations for Social Work as Social Justice Work (Luren Wroe, Bridget Ng’andu, Mathew Doyle and Lynn King); Part VIII. Health Disasters; Chapter 27: Intersectionality in Health Pandemics (Susan A. Taylor); Chapter 28: The Arrival of Chikungunya on the Caribbean Island of Curaçao: The Important Roles of Social Workers (Odette van Brummen-Girigori and Auronette Girigori); Chapter 29: The Challenge of Maintaining Continuity in Health and Social Care During Extreme Weather Events: Cross Sectoral and Transdisciplinary Approaches (Sarah Curtis, Lena Dominelli, Katie J. Oven, Jonathan Wistow); Part IX. Industrial and Urban Issues; Chapter 30: Sowing Seeds: Introducing Green Social Work in Sri Lanka (Yasmin Perera); Chapter 31: Ecological Hazards of Nuclear Waste Disposal between Aspiration and Economic Prosperity and Community Sustainability: Lessons for social work in a small Croatian municipality (Nino Žganec and Ana Miljenovič Opačič); Chapter 32: Integrating Green Social Work and the U.S. Environmental Justice Movement: An Introduction to Community Benefits Agreements (Amy Krings and Hillary Thomas); Part X. Practicing Green Social Work; Chapter 33: Historical Trends in Calls to Action: Climate Change, Pro-Environmental Behaviours and Green Social Work (Erin Kennedy); Chapter 34: Community resistance and resilience following an environmental disaster in Aotearoa/New Zealand (Sonya Hunt, Kelly Smith, Rebecca Sargisson, and Heather Hamerton); Chapter 35: Human-made Disasters and Social Work: A Ukrainian Prospective (Tetyana Semigina); Chapter 36: Strategies Used by Activists in Israeli Environmental Struggles: Implications for the Future Green Social Worker (Ariella Cwikel and Edith Blit-Cohen); Chapter 37: Working with Children in Disasters (Ines Danao); Chapter 38: Persons with Disabilities and the Great East Japan Earthquake (Shigeo Tatsuki); Chapter 39: Social Work and Terrorism: Voices of Experience (Marilyn Callahan); Chapter 40: Personal Reflections on the Prevent Programme (Neil Denton and Kate Cochrane); Chapter 41: Reflecting on the Earthquake, Tread Carefully (Hanna Ruszczyk); Part XI. Education; Chapter 42: Making Connections with Survivors of a Catastrophic Flood in West Virginia: A Green Social Work Approach to Climate Change Adaptation (Willette F. Stinson and Larry D. Williams); Chapter 43: Towards a Curriculum in Disaster Risk Reduction from a Sustainability Perspective (Carin Caudra and Guðný Björk Eydal); Chapter 44: Greening Social Work Education in Aotearoa/New Zealand (Lynsey Ellis, Ksenija Napan and Kieran O’Donoghue); Chapter 45: Greening Australian Social Work Practice and Education (Sharlene Nipperess and Jennifer Boddy); Chapter 46: Greening Social Work Education: Transforming the Curriculum in Pursuit of Eco-social Justice(Peter Jones); Conclusion: Towards a Green Society and Mainstreaming Green Social Work in Social Work Education and Practice (Lena Dominelli, Balaraju Nikku and Hok Bun Ku); Index
Lena Dominelli holds a Chair in Applied Social Sciences in the School of Applied Social Sciences and is Co-Director at the Institute of Hazards, Risk and Resilience Research at Durham University where she has particular responsibility for work on vulnerability and resilience. She has held major large projects including those funded by the United Kingdom Research Councils – the ESRC (‘Internationalising Institutional and Professional Practices’), EPSRC (‘Climate Change, the Built Infrastructure and Health and Social Care Provisions for Older People’), and NERC (Earthquakes without Frontiers); and DfID (Department of International Development) and Wellcome Trust (Health Interventions during Volcanic Eruptions).
Reviews for The Routledge Handbook of Green Social Work
'In a world more and more affected by natural and hu(man)-made disasters, this volume provides not only a theoretical framework on green social work , but also comprehensive and truly international examples of social work interventions in degraded environments. Teachers, students, professionals, environmental activists and politicians will find much to stimulate their thinking upon reading this book. Its breadth and scope features existing actions in prominent environmental issues and community sustainability that those engaged in the social work profession are concerned about. These inspirational examples offer hope and practical ways forward for addressing some of the world's most intractable problems. Dominelli's edited Handbook is a must read for students, scholars, practitioners, politicians, environmentalists and communities. It is organized so that they can focus on their particular interests, a chapter at a time.' Annamaria Campanini, President, the International Association of Schools of Social Work, Professor in Social Work, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University Milano Bicocca, Italy
