Book Review: Environmental Justice as Social Work Practice.

Abstract

Environmental Justice as Social Work Practice is written to be a main textbook in a specialised course on social work and the environment. First published in 2018, the importance of a text- book covering environmental justice for social workers has arguably only grown in the inter- vening years as the effects of climate change become ever more pronounced and as environmental degradation and extreme weather events bring into being experiences of forced displacement and food insecurity affecting vulnerable persons globally and particularly in the majority world (see Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2022). Indeed, Erickson notes that social work can be accused of being a ‘latecomer’ with respect to concerns for environmental justice and so the development of a comprehensive textbook addressing the area is undoubtedly both timely and welcome. Accessible and well-written, the book starts by tracing the emergence of environmentalism generally and makes connections with key his- torical episodes. From here, the book explores foundational social work concepts, theoretical frameworks and ethics for environmental justice before moving to look at social work practice with groups and communities, policies and organisations and holistic practice; keeping one eye towards environmentalism throughout. This latter point arguably captures one of the core strengths of the book in that this is not a text that conveys its central message as social work theory with added environmentalism, rather it is made clear that environmental and ecological matters are integral to social work and not optional extras. Concerns for justice, Erickson tells us, have always been at the heart of social work, therefore, moving to more firmly include environmental justice, particularly in the face of the large level social pro- blems that are more and more arising from climate change and environmental degradation, is a natural corollary for social work. Moreover, given that social work as an activity has always been concerned with seeing people in their environment, broadly speaking, this does not seem forced in any way and in fact makes a great deal of sense as Erickson presents it.