Constructing a Social Work Environmental Dialogue

Modern behaviours supported by ignorance and greed have impacted on the environment and have left many scars that will take lifetimes to rectify. This paper proposes that the social work profession has apparently played no leadership role in alerting society to the dangers of environmental change; albeit individual social worker’s campaigns against exploitation of the environment are exceptions. Within the South Asian scenario, social workers such as Medha Patkar continue to crusade for environmental justice making it clear that collective advocacy is needed. The authors assert that the social work literature shows limited interest, consideration and therefore, no debate around climate change. The authors explore a role for social work and argue merits for a social work role in the environmental dialogue. A construction of social work taking a central role has been proposed, that requires a new perspective focused on society and its problems and the values of the profession.