Learning Green Social Work in Global Disaster Contexts: A Case Study Approach

Abstract

Green social work (GSW) is a nascent framework within the social work field that provides insights regarding social workers’ engagement in disaster settings. Although this framework has recently garnered more attention, it remains under-researched and underdeveloped within the context of social work research, education, and practice in Canada and internationally. To further develop GSW in social work education and professional training, we considered how social work students and practitioners can use a learning framework to understand the impact and build their capacities to serve vulnerable and marginalized populations in diverse disaster settings. To do this, we developed a four-step case study approach, as follows: (1) provide detailed background information on the cases, (2) describe how each case is relevant to social work, (3) discuss how each case informs social work practice from a GSW perspective, and (4) provide recommendations for social work practitioners and students using GSW in future disaster-specific efforts. This case study approach centers on natural, technological, and intentional/willful hazards that examine current GSW research–practice engagement in Canada and internationally. Applying this four-step case study approach to three extreme events in Canada and internationally (a natural hazard, a technological hazard, and an intentional/willful hazard) illustrates it as a potential method for social work students and professionals to build their GSW capacities. This will assist in building the resilience of Canadian and international communities—especially those who have been historically marginalized. This article sheds light on how current social work education and professional training should develop new approaches to incorporate the GSW framework into the social work curriculum at large in order to prepare for future extreme events while incorporating environmental and social justice into research and practice.

College Students and Environmental Disasters: A Review of the Literature

“…Climate change and climate-induced disasters severely impact all areas of society (Breen et al 2023;Hamideh et al 2023;Lai et al 2019;Lowe et al 2021;Peek et al 2020;Wu and Etienne 2021;Wu et al 2023). The changing climate and associated disasters disproportionately impact populations like racial and ethnic minorities (Breen 2022;Fitzpatrick and Spialek 2021), gender and sexual minorities (Goldsmith et al 2022;Whitley and Bowers 2023), older adults (Wu 2020), children and young people (Gordon-Hollingsworth et al 2016;Lai et al 2018), among other populations who have historically been marginalized.…”

Propuesta de enfoque metodológico para pedagogías creativas en temas de desarrollo sostenible

“…Esta visión se presentó en el contexto de la transición de la educación para el desarrollo sostenible. Esta educación debe realizarse en su forma más avanzada y holística, que, en su sentido más general, equivale al método de educación ontológico-evolutivo (Breen et al, 2023;Razali & Jamil, 2023). Como resultado, la formación de un individuo, cuando se realiza con educación para la sostenibilidad, se incorporará a la ontología del proceso de transición al desarrollo sostenible de una manera más integral (Bolmsten & Kitada, 2020;Melik-Pashaev, 2013).…”