Environmental Justice and Social Work: A Call to Expand the Social Work Profession to Include Environmental Justice

Abstract

Concern for environmental justice has increased in recent decades. Although the environmental justice field is closely linked to social justice, the social work profession has yet to gain a substantive involvement in environmental justice efforts. This article is a call to action for the social work profession and explains why the profession is ideally suited to address issues of environmental justice. It examines how issues of environmental injustice, such as the location of industrial waste facilities in predominantly minority communities, often affect those people who are most afflicted by other forms of injustice. A review of recent literature explains how the social work profession can shift its framework and make important connections to environmental justice. This article also discusses three recommendations for the social work profession to become involved in environmental justice.

Keywords

• Social work
• Social service
• Environmental justice
• Social justice
• Environment