EP98: Environmental Justice as Social Work Practice

We speak about environmental justice with Christina Erickson, MSW, PhD, professor and chair of the social work department at Augsburg University. 

Dr. Erickson co-developed the environmental studies program at Augsburg and teaches the course Environmental Justice and Social Change. She was on the national working group to develop the Curricular Guide for Environmental Justice in 2020. 

Dr. Erickson is the author of “Environmental Justice as Social Work Practice,” (Oxford University Press, 2018) and “Spanked: How Hitting Our Children Is Harming Ourselves” (Oxford University Press, 2022).

Our host for this conversation is NASW staffer Josh Klapperick, MSW.

Posted March 7, 2023

Read a transcript of episode 98

You can also watch this interview and leave your comments on YouTube.

Related Resources

Environmental Justice as Social Work Practice

By Christina L. Erickson
Environmental Justice as Social Work Practice places the natural environment as central to practice. Utilizing the Phases of Practice and micro to macro levels of practice, the book integrates neatly into a college semester course. Chapters cover important components of social work such as theory, ethics, conceptual foundations as well as distinct chapters on micro, mezzo, and macro practice.

Environmental Health Inequities: A Social Work Perspective

This Practice Perspectives describes the connection between human health and the environment. It highlights efforts within the social work profession to bring environmental health issues to the forefront and to advance practices and policies that are beneficial to people, communities, and the natural environment.

Additional Resources

• Create Social Responses to a Changing Environment - NASW 2021 Blueprint of Federal Social Policy Priorities
• Climate change’s hidden threat: grief and trauma - National Geographic Society
• NASW Research Library: Environmental Justice
• Health and Medical Organizations Call for Immediate Action to Protect Our Nation’s Health in the Face of the Climate Health Emergency - NASW is an endorser of this report