The Intersection of Environmental Justice, Climate Change, Community, and the Ecology of Life, 1st ed. 2021

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 Life equips 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 interdisciplinaryresponses 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 theCzech 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 throu