Treating the Climate Fight As a Social Work Problem
January 22, 2008 by lamarguerite
Once upon a time, I used to be a social worker. ‘
Used to’ is probably the wrong word, since social work is more a frame of mind than anything else. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the value of the
social work model, as it pertains to the climate fight. Social work is the stepchild of psychology, and a discipline that promotes what may seem like a simplistic approach, and yet is a very profound way to deal with human problems. From the
Code of Ethics of the
National Association of Social Workers:
‘
A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession’s focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living.‘
Also, from Carolyn Saari – my teacher at Loyola University of Chicago, and one of the lead thinkers of social work theory, in her book, ‘The Environment: Its Role in Psychosocial Functioning and Psychotherapy‘:
‘Clinical social work, as a profession, has always believed in the importance of the environment and has regarded theories of the “person-in-situation” or the “person-environment configuration” as necessary in order to understand human needs . . . ‘
Applied to the climate fight, this means looking at the environmental forces that perpetuate old behaviors and make it hard for people to adopt carbon neutral lifestyles. And no longer placing most of the responsibility on individuals. This is not about making excuses and absolving people from taking action. Rather, it is about looking first at all the factors in the physical, social, economic, and political environments that create and contribute to the problem. And second, exploring solutions in that environment to facilitate desired changes in behaviors.
The social work model, gives meaning to how I, and the majority of Americans have been feeling and acting. It also validates social experiments such as the North Karelia Project. One of the most flagrant negative environmental factors is the situation created by sprawls. For more, read recent post in Daily Green on ‘Stop Sprawl to Protect the Climate and Save Money’.
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La Marguerite 
Dear Marguerite,
Very interesting and helpful post. Thank you.
From my standpoint, I don’t know how different people use (or think of) the term “social work”. But, as far as I understand your post, there is much that is consistent between important aspects of your post and a key aspect of my work, on the relationship between morality (in a broad sense of the word) and sustainability. In summary fashion, more or less, as follows:
“Morality itself is most foundationally “about” the sustainable and healthy survival of the human species along with plentiful and healthy biological diversity along with the sustainable health of our home, planet Earth, all accomplished in a way that respects human equality (in important senses) and embraces a living and somewhat fragile planet.”
It’s interesting to notice the parallels between this and the NASW’s Code of Ethics.
Also, as another illustration, consider the recent Google announcement: There is something very revealing, wise, and accurate in Google’s Brilliant’s statement, “We have chosen them [some recent initiatives] both because we think solving them will make a better, fairer, safer world for our children and grandchildren — and the children and grandchildren of people all over the world — but also because we feel that these core initiatives fit well with Google’s core strengths . . .”
That said, I agree that the approach (which can be put into words) involves an attitude, which is very important.
I guess you are a social worker at heart . . .
I used to be a social worker too – but I still think very systemically and see the linkages between interactive influences. The good news about that of course is that if I/we change one thing in our balanced system, then imbalance occurs and something else has to change to rebalance. That doesn’t mean we go back to the way it was, it means that all kinds of little tiny movements influence the whole.
It gives me hope that all the small things we are doing will eventually get us to the tipping point where all kinds of rebalancing will have to occur to survive.
[…] much as we shape our environment, we are also very influenced by our environment. If we want to change, let us modify our living spaces. This way we won’t even have to think […]