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Green Social Work: From Environmental Crises to Environmental Justice

Article in British Journal of Social Work · December 2012

DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcs183

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1636 Book Reviews

Green Social Work: From Environmental Crises to Environmental Justice,

Lena Dominelli,
Cambridge, Polity Press, 2012, pp. xiv 1 244, ISBN 978 0 7456 5400 (pb), £15.99

As the world becomes increasingly attuned to the nature and extent of the
global environmental crisis, we are beginning to appreciate the impacts that en-
vironmental problems ranging from pollution to anthropogenic climate change
will have, indeed are already having, on human well-being. With this appreci-
ation comes the realisation that the worst negative impacts of such issues are
falling disproportionately on the individuals, communities and societies who
are already amongst the most marginalised and disadvantaged around the

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globe. In this sense, it has become very clear that the environmental crisis is
also a crisis for social justice.
Despite these clear links between the environmental and the social, social work
as a profession has been slow to engage in this area. Lena Dominelli’s new volume
on Green Social Work is therefore a very timely publication and makes a signifi-
cant contribution to the argument that the profession must begin to turn its atten-
tion to environmental issues and their impact on human well-being.
Dominelli’s stated aim with this book is to begin filling a gap in the profes-
sional literature, where there are very few publications that address environ-
mental issues from a social work perspective. The author reviews some of the
small body of writing that has attempted to explore this area, concluding that
one of the problems with this existing literature is the lack of a structural
power analysis. Readers familiar with Dominelli’s previous work will be unsur-
prised to learn that such a clear structural/political analysis is one of the
strengths of this book.
The first two chapters of the book set the scene, building an argument for the
development of a ‘green social work’ based on an understanding of the socio-
environmental crises unfolding around the globe and of the history of social
work as a profession. From this foundation, Dominelli then proceeds to
explore a range of more specific issues, with chapters devoted to, for
example: industrialisation and urbanisation; industrial pollution; climate
change; natural disasters; and inter-country conflicts. In all of these chapters,
the author brings her structural analysis to bear on the intersection of environ-
mental, social and economic issues. As well as this description and analysis,
chapters contain case study examples of social work practice, or situations in
which such practice would be relevant and appropriate. This is particularly
useful in grounding the book and in making the direct relevance to the profes-
sion clear and accessible.
The penultimate chapter focuses on reframing relationships to the environ-
ment and suggests that an important way of doing this is to re-value Indigenous
ways of knowing, which have traditionally retained a greater emphasis on the
centrality of the human –nature relationship. The concluding section of the
book presents a summary description of the model for green social work devel-
oped across the chapters and a description of the ambitious agenda that such a
model sets for the profession.
 Book Reviews 1637

Hopefully, the publication of Green Social Work, along with the appearance
of Gray et al.’s (2012) Environmental Social Work, will mark something of a
turning point in the social work discourse around environmental issues. It cer-
tainly makes a powerful argument for social work to pay greater attention to,
and engage with, environmental issues and to do so in a way that reflects a struc-
tural analysis of power and privilege.
There is an argument, however, that the profession needs to move even
further than this if it is going to remain relevant and make a meaningful contri-
bution to a post-carbon world. In such an argument, ecological, rather than en-
vironmental, considerations become paramount and issues of justice include
consideration of the rights of all elements of the non-human world. Recent

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developments in South America where the rights of ‘Mother Nature’ have
been legislatively enshrined in the Bolivian constitution and in New Zealand
where legal standing has been granted to a river highlight that such considera-
tions are already being enacted. There is certainly value in exploring the idea
that a truly ‘green’ social work will be one not where the environment is
added on as another issue to grapple with, but rather where the profession
itself is transformed and re-imagined through an ecological lens.
Lena Dominelli’s book is a very important and valuable argument for social
work’s engagement with environmental issues. It should make a significant con-
tribution to moving the profession forward to meet the great challenges of the
twenty-first century. Hopefully, it will also be seen as a step along the path to a
truly and deeply transformed social work.

Reference
Gray, M., Coates, J. and Hetherington, T. (eds) (2012) Environmental Social Work,
Abingdon, Routledge.

Peter Jones
Senior Lecturer and Curriculum Scholar,
Department of Social Work and Human Services, James Cook University,
Australia
doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcs183

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Aging: Challenges in Research,

Practice and Policy,
Tarynn M. Witten and A. Evan Eyler (eds),
Baltimore, Maryland, The John Hopkins University Press, 2012, pp. ix 1 338, ISBN 10:1–
4214– 0320-X (pb), £15.50

This text book offers a valuable contribution to the developing literature con-
cerned with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) ageing. For
many years, there has been a relative dearth of texts specifically focused on

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