Environmental justice: A call for action for social workers

Abstract

As human beings, we are currently living in way that is completely unsustainable within the world we inhabit. In recent years, growing concerns for environmental and climate change, together with issues of poverty, increasing disparity between societies and the tensions brought by social inequalities have placed sustainable development under the spotlight. The survival of many societies and of the biological support systems of the planet are at risk (United Nations [UN], 2015). Considering environment protection and preservation a collective responsibility, we attempt to analyse the need and role of the social work profession to respond to this call for environmental protection through conceptual and practice engagements in alignment with the UN Global Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. Global environmental concerns The Earth's average land temperature has warmed by nearly 1°C in the past 50 years as a result of human activity. Global greenhouse gas emissions have risen by nearly 80 percent since 1970, and atmospheric concentrations of the major greenhouse gases are at their highest level in 800,000 years. We are already seeing and feeling the impacts of climate change, with weather events such as droughts and storms and other natural calamities increasing in frequency and intensity. This trend not only threatens the world's ecosystems and biodiversity, but also poses a serious risk for peace, security and sustainable development (UN Environment, 2016). Pollution affects our health through the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. Low-and middle-income countries bear much of the brunt of pollution-related illnesses, where the situation is coupled with poor health care and food insecurity. Capital intensive industrialisation, including mining and other natural resources-based industries, has not only created ecological imbalances, but also displaced people from their environments and pushed them into marginal spaces and livelihoods. High levels of consumption and production, fuelled by such industries, require larger inputs of energy and generate larger quantities of waste by-products (Orecchia and Zoppoli, 2007). With 990 pollution-related deaths per 100,000, 1 China has an astonishing number of air pollution fatalities (The Guardian, 2016). Pollution has a particularly disproportionate and negative effect on those who are poor, disadvantaged and marginalised. Although much fewer than China, Pakistan attributed 110,000 deaths in 2015 to pollution (58 per 100,000; 2 The Guardian, 2016), and a recent report by Greenpeace India cited pollution as a killer of 1.2 million Indians every year, costing the local economy an estimated 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) (Greenpeace, 2017). While increasing environmental pollution is one of the major contributors to the catastrophic environmental change being witnessed today, global population expansion is putting enormous strain on natural resources. Coupled with over-exploitation of natural resources and a growth in consumerism, the environme...

Worlds apart! Environmental injustices in Mauritius, Peru and Sweden

“…Industrial expansion is commonly seen as a necessity for job creation and economic growth; however, it appears to contribute to environmental injustices often driven by the requirements of maximisation of profits (Bell, 2014). In a similar manner, authors from different parts of the world, such as Shajahan and Sharma (2018), Philip and Reisch (2015), Dominelli and Ku (2017) and Coates and Gray (2012), have all argued that the roots of environmental injustices in various parts of the world can often be traced to global economic systems.…”

Embedding the developmental approach in social work education and practice to overcome poverty: The case of Southern Africa

“…As pointed out elsewhere, evidence about climate change impacts on marginalised people and awareness about the interrelationships between humans and the biosphere are antecedents compelling social workers to act environmentally (Shajahan and Sharma, 2018). In Zimbabwe, Mathende and Nhapi (2016) note sustainable environmental management and protection issues have always dominated the research agenda of some researchers and development practitioners.…”

“…It should, however, also be noted that economically and ecologically fragile communities experience less access to essential resources such as forests, minerals, food and water. As such, the logic of 'neoliberal capitalism', which precludes equitable resource sharing, has failed both the people and the planet (Shajahan and Sharma, 2018), thereby making it difficult for poor countries to escape from poverty. As noted by UN Environment (2018), given its geographical position and vulnerability, as well as limited adaptive capacity exacerbated by widespread poverty, no continent will be as severely affected by climate change as Africa.…”

Climate change in Alaska: Social workers’ attitudes, beliefs, and experiences

“…In addition to professional values and ethics that support the engagement of social workers in addressing climate change, the profession’s unique focus on the person‐in‐environment provides further evidence of the importance of social workers’ understanding the complex effects of climate change (Kahn & Scher, 2002; Norton, 2012). The traditional conception of person‐in‐environment has long been criticized for not including the natural environment (Besthorn & Canda, 2002; Coates & Gray, 2012; Jones, 2010; Norton, 2012; Peeters, 2012; Shajahan & Sharma, 2018), but it is clear that the social work profession cannot continue to do so. Because the person‐in‐environment perspective has excluded the natural environment, social workers have not been actively engaged in climate change advocacy, planning, and decision‐making (Alston, 2015; Shajahan & Sharma, 2018).…”