Sustainable Social Work: An Environmental Justice Framework for Social Work Education

Environmental degradation is not experienced by all populations equally; hazardous and toxic waste sites, resource contamination (e.g., exposure to pesticides), air pollution, and numerous other forms of environmental degradation disproportionately affect low income and minority communities. The communities most affected by environmental injustices are often the same communities where social workers are entrenched in service provision at the individual, family, and community level. In this article, we use a global social work paradigm to describe practical ways in which environmental justice content can be infused in the training and education of social workers across contexts in order to prepare professionals with the skills to respond to ever-increasing global environmental degradation. We discuss ways for social work educators to integrate and frame environmental concerns and their consequences for vulnerable populations using existing social work models and perspectives to improve the social work profession\u27s ability to respond to environmental injustices. There are significant social work implications; social workers need to adapt and respond to contexts that shape our practice, including environmental concerns that impact the vulnerable and oppressed populations that we serve

Early-Life Air Pollution Exposure, Neighborhood Poverty, and Childhood Asthma in the United States, 1990⁻2014.

Ambient air pollution is a well-known risk factor of various asthma-related outcomes, however, past research has often focused on acute exacerbations rather than asthma development. This study draws on a population-based, multigenerational panel dataset from the United States to assess the association of childhood asthma risk with census block-level, annual-average air pollution exposure measured during the prenatal and early postnatal periods, as well as effect modification by neighborhood poverty. Findings suggest that early-life exposures to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), a marker of traffic-related pollution, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a mixture of industrial and other pollutants, are positively associated with subsequent childhood asthma diagnosis (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.10⁻1.41 and OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.06⁻1.46, respectively, per interquartile range (IQR) increase in each pollutant (NO₂ IQR = 8.51 ppb and PM2.5 IQR = 4.43 µ/m³)). These effects are modified by early-life neighborhood poverty exposure, with no or weaker effects in moderate- and low- (versus high-) poverty areas. This work underscores the importance of a holistic, developmental approach to elucidating the interplay of social and environmental contexts that may create conditions for racial-ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in childhood asthma risk

The Future of Environmental Social Work: Looking to Community Initiatives for Models of Prevention

Social work responses to environmental degradation have sought to mitigate harm that has already occurred and create strategies to respond or adapt to environmental hazards. Despite a good deal of literature suggesting the promise of prevention-focused models, social workers have less frequently considered prevention models to address environmental issues. In this manuscript, we consider how communities engaged in environmentally-based prevention work might inform the development of ecosocial work practice. We describe how a prevention-focused agenda, in partnership with communities, can be a promising avenue for ecosocial work practice to address the root causes of environmental degradation and its social impacts

“It seems like no one cares”: Youth Perspectives on Housing Abandonment and Urban Blight

A large body of research suggests that environmental health hazards, specifically, abandoned properties, are a growing problem that disproportionately affects low-income communities of color. Youth in affected neighborhoods are at particularly high risk for exposure to outdoor hazards due to their increased likelihood to use active means of travel in their daily activities. Living in a community characterized by housing abandonment has been associated with myriad negative physical and mental health outcomes among youth. Though there is a large body of work demonstrating that various features of neighborhoods have salient effects on outcomes for youth, fewer studies have documented how youth experience abandoned properties in neighborhoods. The purpose of this study was to address this gap by learning what meaning youth ascribe to abandoned properties in a community with high levels of vacancy. I used a mixed methods community based participatory research approach that included participatory photo mapping, a method that combines photography, youth-led neighborhood tours, and advocacy; in depth interviews with youth; and spatial analysis. The study aimed to extend existing theory, specifically broken windows theory, from the perspective of youth in a neighborhood with high levels of housing vacancy. Youth described their own version of broken windows theory, a process through which abandoned properties exert their impact on young people and their community. This multi-step process includes: 1) unrepaired signs of incivility signal that no one cares; 2) residents withdraw, become more fearful; 3) untended property becomes “fair game” leading to more crime and incivilities; and finally, 4) a breakdown of community control and individual and community vulnerability. This study suggests that abandoned properties are a visual cue that no one cares about the neighborhood. Youth reported that vacant properties facilitate delinquency and play a role in a complex web of community decline. They also conveyed that the solution may rest in the hands of youth and described making meaningful changes through small efforts like community beautification. These findings provide the impetus for a number of social work practice, research, and policy implications and suggest the need for future youth-engaged intervention research

Social Action Meets Social Media: Environmental Justice in West Virginia

This article presents a case study of a community organizing effort known as Citizens Actively Protecting the Environment (CAPE). Led by rural West Virginians in response to the Elk River chemical spill of 2013, this environmental justice movement was novel in that it harnessed social media, specifically Facebook, to catalyze advocacy and change efforts in a rural area. The literature on environmental health disparities and environmental justice in rural communities is reviewed. Then authors describe how resident-led organizing in rural areas was effective in promoting environmental justice. Details of the CAPE project are presented, as well as ways social media can catalyze and augment environmental justice organizing efforts in rural communities. Implications for social work researchers and practitioners are presented

Environmental drivers of benthic communities: the importance of landscape metrics

The distribution of aquatic communities is dependent on processes that act at multiplescales. This study comprised 270 samples distributed over 2 years and used a nested sampling design to estimate the variance associated with three spatial scales: basin, site and microhabitat. Habitat assessment was made using River Habitat Survey. The derived Habitat Quality Indices and the benthic composition were crossed with landscape metrics and types of soil use, obtained from GIS data, using multiple non-parametric regressions and distance-based redundancy analysis. Invertebrate variation was mainly linked with intermediate scale (site) and landscape metrics were the main drivers determining local characteristics. The aquatic community exhibited a stronger relationship with landscape metrics, especially patch size and shape complexity of the dominant uses, than with habitat quality, suggesting that instream habitat improvement is a short-term solution and that stream rehabilitation must address the influence of components at higher spatial scales

Policy Recommendations for Meeting the Grand Challenge to Create Social Responses to a Changing Environment

This brief was created forSocial Innovation for America’s Renewal, a policy conference organized by the Center for Social Development in collaboration with the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare, which is leading theGrand Challenges for Social Work initiative to champion social progress. The conference site includes links to speeches, presentations, and a full list of the policy briefs

Environmental drivers of benthic communities: the importance of landscape metrics

The distribution of aquatic communities is dependent on processes that act at multiplescales. This study comprised 270 samples distributed over 2 years and used a nested sampling design to estimate the variance associated with three spatial scales: basin, site and microhabitat. Habitat assessment was made using River Habitat Survey. The derived Habitat Quality Indices and the benthic composition were crossed with landscape metrics and types of soil use, obtained from GIS data, using multiple non-parametric regressions and distance-based redundancy analysis. Invertebrate variation was mainly linked with intermediate scale (site) and landscape metrics were the main drivers determining local characteristics. The aquatic community exhibited a stronger relationship with landscape metrics, especially patch size and shape complexity of the dominant uses, than with habitat quality, suggesting that instream habitat improvement is a short-term solution and that stream rehabilitation must address the influence of components at higher spatial scales

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