This book examines and encourages the increasing involvement of those in the social sciences, including social work, as well as everyday citizens, with environmental injustices that affect the natural ecology, community health, and physical and mental health of marginalized communities. The authors draw on their diverse experiences in research, practice, and education to suggest interdisciplinary strategies for addressing environmental justice, climate change, and ecological destruction on both a local and global scale.

This insightful work presents models for action, practice, and education, including field learning, with examples of how programs and schools have integrated and infused environmental justice content across their curricula. Environmental and ecological impacts on local communities as well as the whole ecology of life are examined. Models for engaging civic dialogue, addressing structural oppression, and employing other interdisciplinary responses to environmental injustices are provided.

Topics explored among the chapters include:

The Intersection of Environmental Justice, Climate Change, Community, and the Ecology of Lifeequips readers to identify the impact of the global environmental crisis in their own communities. Emphasizing the need for immediate action on ecological, climate, and environmental justice issues, this forward-thinking book assists social science professionals, educators, researchers, and other concerned individuals with the knowledge needed for creating meaningful interdisciplinary responses in their communities as they take action within a rapidly changing context.

Ande A. Nesmith, PhD, MSW is an Associate Professor and the BSW Program Director at the University of St. Thomas (UST) in the Morrison Family College of Health in St. Paul, Minnesota. She researches environmental justice in the United States, how to integrate it into social work education, and how social workers help clients who live with environmental hazards in rural areas. For the past 10 years, she has served on the St. Thomas Sustainability Committee, working to develop interdisciplinary approaches to address environmental inequalities and engage students in climate action and sustainable living. She served on the university's office of Global and Local Engagement Advisory Panel for the previous St. Thomas sustainability initiative and continues work with the university's new initiative. When she is not working on environmental justice, Dr. Nesmith studies outcomes for youth aging out of foster care, and was recently awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study this in the Czech Republic. Currently, she serves the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) as co-chair of the Committee on Environmental Justice and a commissioner of the Commission on Global Social Work Education.

Cathryne L. Schmitz, PhD, MSW is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). Her scholarship focuses on environmental justice, critical multiculturalism, analysis of the privilege/oppression nexus, global engagement, leadership, interdisciplinary education, organizational development and community building, and peacebuilding. She has been engaged in intercultural global education, environmental education, knowledge building, and curriculum development. Dr. Schmitz has numerous publications and is currently focusing in the areas of environmental justice, identity and culture, interdisciplinary knowledge building, and organizational/community transformation. She has expanded her focus through her cross-disciplinary appointments with the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and the Program in Women and Gender Studies. Dr. Schmitz also contributes to and learns from her work in the community and with the UNCG Center for New North Carolinians. Dr. Schmitz served on the CSWE Commission on Diversity and Social and Economic Justice from 2010 to 2016 and on the CSWE Committee on Environmental Justice from 2015 to present, serving as Chair from 2015 to 2019.

Yolanda  Machado-Escudero, PhD, MSW is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville. Her research interests include social work feminist ecology, environmental injustice, migration and climate change, disability, socioeconomic development, Latin American social work education, social welfare policy, and healthcare disparities among minorities of color, among others. She teaches from a critical race feminist framework, focusing on issues affecting Latinx populations living in vulnerable contexts. Dr. MachadoEscudero has served as a board member in various grassroots coalitions aiming to improve the quality of life of Latinos in the United States. Currently, she is working on developing interdisciplinary projects: 1) addressing the aftermath of natural disasters in Puerto Rico, including forced migration and collective trauma, and 2) reaching out to Latinx migrant families affected by separations due to deportation proceedings.

Shanondora Billiot, PhD, MSW is an enrolled citizen of United Houma Nation and works as an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University in Phoenix. She earned a PhD in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and holds a Master's of Social Work from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Her research explores the intersection of health, environment, and culture among Indigenous peoples and is informed by post-MSW practice experience in disaster recovery community development and national policy analysis. Her current research uses mixed methods to explore indigenous-specific sensitivities to global environmental change exposure and pathways to health outcomes within vulnerable Indigenous populations with the goal to develop mitigation and adaptation activities and inform communities, policymakers, and researchers.

Rachel A. Forbes, MSW is an Associate Professor of the Practice of Social Work and the Western Colorado MSW Program Director at the University of Denver (DU) Graduate School of Social Work. Her scholarship and research focuses on the intersections of community, climate change, and environmenta...

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