Environmental Justice and Professional Practice: A Survey of Social Workers in Three U.S. States

Environmental crises inflict ongoing and escalating challenges in the United States, especially for marginalized or minoritized communities. Environmental injustice is thus a rapidly growing social justice challenge that social work is called to address. Social work education and related educational research in this area have recently increased. However, little is known about the nexus of environmental issues and injustice in social work practice. This comparative study across three U.S. states aims to understand whether and how environmental issues are showing up in social work practice, social work readiness to respond, and what social workers need to increase their effectiveness. Data are from an online survey of 336 social workers in Colorado (N = 124), Ohio (N = 140), and Tennessee (N = 72). Participants were asked about their social work background, current job, how environmental issues may be showing up at work, other environmental and practice items, and demographics.