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Contribution to Book
Responses to Environmental Change
Encyclopedia of Social Work
  • Lisa Reyes Mason, University of Denver
  • Susan P Kemp, University of Washington, University of Auckland
  • Lawrence A Palinkas, University of Southern California
  • Amy Krings, Loyola University Chicago
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-22-2021
Publisher Name
NASW Press and Oxford University Press
Abstract

Communities worldwide are facing environmental crises such as air pollution, water shortages, climate change, and other forms of environmental change and degradation. While technical solutions for environmental change are essential, so too are solutions that consider social acceptability, value cultural relevance, and prioritize equity and social justice. Social work has a critical and urgent role in creating and implementing macrolevel social responses to environmental change. The key concepts of environmental change, environmental and ecological justice, social vulnerability, and social responses are discussed. A description of the roles and skills unique to macro social workers for this effort is given, followed by examples of macrolevel strategies and interventions. Opportunities and directions for future social work responses to a changing environment are identified.

Comments

Author Posting. © The Author, 2021. The definitive version was published in Encyclopedia of Social Work (22 December 2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.1431

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Citation Information
Lisa Reyes Mason, Susan P Kemp, Lawrence A Palinkas and Amy Krings. "Responses to Environmental Change" Encyclopedia of Social Work (2021)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/amy-krings/47/