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Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

2015

Environmental justice

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Social Work

Social And Environmental Justice And The Water-Energy Nexus: A Quest In Progress For Rural People, Karen V. Harper-Dorton Ph.D., Stacia J. Harper Jan 2015

Social And Environmental Justice And The Water-Energy Nexus: A Quest In Progress For Rural People, Karen V. Harper-Dorton Ph.D., Stacia J. Harper

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Access to affordable and reliable clean water and energy is necessary for economic development, health, and well-being of all people worldwide. Unavailable, unaffordable, or unreliable water and energy resources represent social and environmental injustices that disproportionately burden poor people, especially those in rural areas. Furthermore, there is an inextricable link between water and energy: clean water requires power for delivery and sanitation, and power production requires large amounts of water. This water-energy nexus connects two vital resources for humanity with more attention to economic concerns than to human or environmental issues. This paper addresses social and environmental justice issues that …


Social Action Meets Social Media: Environmental Justice In West Virginia, Debra Hunt Young, Samantha Teixeira, Helen Hartnett Jan 2015

Social Action Meets Social Media: Environmental Justice In West Virginia, Debra Hunt Young, Samantha Teixeira, Helen Hartnett

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This article presents a case study of a community organizing effort known as Citizens Actively Protecting the Environment (CAPE). Led by rural West Virginians in response to the Elk River chemical spill of 2013, this environmental justice movement was novel in that it harnessed social media, specifically Facebook, to catalyze advocacy and change efforts in a rural area. The literature on environmental health disparities and environmental justice in rural communities is reviewed. Then authors describe how resident-led organizing in rural areas was effective in promoting environmental justice. Details of the CAPE project are presented, as well as ways social media …


Ecology And Social Justice: A Course Designed For Environmental Social Work In Rural Spaces, Arielle Dylan Jan 2015

Ecology And Social Justice: A Course Designed For Environmental Social Work In Rural Spaces, Arielle Dylan

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This article describes a course developed by the author that responds to the stated social justice aims of the social work profession. If social workers are to advocate successfully for environments conducive to the general welfare of all people, promote social justice, equitable distribution of resources, and just environmental management, environmental social work scholarship needs to move beyond theorizing and suggestions itemizing broad responses, and provide instead illustrative examples of interventions and alternative practices. The trend in very recent years of environmental social work scholarship has done just this. Education, in particular in the classroom setting, provides an opportunity to …


The Slow Violence Of Climate Change In Poor Rural Kenyan Communities: “Water Is Life. Water Is Everything.”, Jennifer L. Willett Jan 2015

The Slow Violence Of Climate Change In Poor Rural Kenyan Communities: “Water Is Life. Water Is Everything.”, Jennifer L. Willett

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Climate change is the most pressing global environmental problem and the most unyielding worldwide environmental injustice of our time. Although some social workers have begun to address climate change, this literature is centered on its generalized impact, rather than its specific effects on vulnerable populations. As a concept, slow violence offers a frame to understand the slow occurring effects of climate change on the global poor. This study used an ethnographic approach to examine the effects of climate change on two poor rural Kenyan communities. Findings discussed include the consequences of droughts, the connection between droughts and deforestation, failed governmental …