Kris Clarke and Dr. Michael YellowBird approach the impact of climate change on social work and human existence from a, rightfully, critical perspective in Chapter 9 of Decolonizing Pathways towards Integrative Healing in Social Work: Mother Earth.
“Settler colonial extractive capitalist activities during the Anthropocene have degraded the environment and our integrative relationships with one another, our fellow creatures, and places we inhabit. As a result, we are suffering physically, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually.”
Decolonizing Pathways towards Integrative Healing in Social Work
Climate change is impacting all of us in one way or another. Where I live, drought and wildfires used to be the most common issues, but we’ve been having crazy amounts of flooding in the last few winters. Because there was so much drought for so long, the plant root systems are weak and the soil is loose- so we’ve been having mud/landslides, too. A lot of folks in areas that are flooding can’t afford to leave, and it’s getting harder for people to keep up with repairs. The US just had its warmest winter on record.
Decolonizing Pathways towards Integrative Healing in Social Work brings the social outcomes of climate change into perspective.
“…there are inequities in our everyday realities: Indigenous People on reservations have trouble accessing clean and affordable water, social workers assisting suicidal callers end up with health issues because their working conditions do not allow them to move, and food deserts proliferate in many areas of the abundant agricultural San Joaquin Valley. While we often focus as social workers on state-mandated care plans to mitigate the negative personal and social outcomes of these larger systems of exploitation and distress, these traumatic landscapes sap our strength and overwhelm us. It becomes difficult to imagine other ways of living.”
Decolonizing Pathways towards Integrative Healing in Social Work
As social workers, it’s important to understand what issues our clients are facing that are results of climate change. The frequency of flooding, fires, and air quality issues is increasing and impacting overall health, safety, and security- issues our clients are already dealing with on a daily basis. Not everyone can be a climate expert, but understanding the climate situation in our communities can help inform our recommendations and action plans. In some scenarios, saving to move into a more elevated home in the short term can be more beneficial than saving for a car in the long term. For others, enrolling in a renter’s insurance policy that includes coverage for fire damage is a high priority because without it, relocating or replacing valuable items following a fire is simply impossible.
Incorporating Mother Earth into Social Work Practice
Theodore Roszak developed the concept of ecopsychology, a nature-based practice meant to address the isolation and emptiness of modern life. Over the last several decades, practices such as wilderness therapy and forest bathing have become more common in social work practice.
“Forest therapy is based on the idea that humans’ interconnection with nature is a fundamental element of life and is healing.”
Decolonizing Pathways towards Integrative Healing in Social Work
As noted in Kris Clarke’s story about observing the effects of forest therapy on participants facing substance abuse issues, reconnecting with nature has a way of bringing meaning into life and encourages feelings of strength, peace, safety, and relationship. Preserving and restoring the natural environments and ecosystems in which our clients live is vital to their success and well-being.
What are some of the ways climate change has personally impacted you? What ideas do you have for bringing elements of nature into your current or future work? What obstacles might you encounter along the way? Are there opportunities for environmental advocacy in your community?
Comments
10 responses to “Environmental Connections: A Reflection on Mother Earth”
Hey, Charles! I found your blog to be well thought out and wonderfully written, and the topic of ecopsychology is truly interesting to me. Growing up, I didn’t think that something as serious as psychology would be tightly knit with nature, since I thought it didn’t truly connect. Though reading this post, I realized that what you have written and covered is correct, and that our bodies are connected with nature in numerous ways – in scientific terms! I knew that our spirits and mind can be influenced by nature, since it is a cultural value that Ellam Yua/Universe has the ability to make us heal in many different ways – but to read it from a scientific perspective is mind blowing to me. It is also a heartbreaking topic to read about climate change and how it affects families – including my own as well. The fish that swim in the Kuskokwim River are noticeably smaller than how it was two decades ago. The fish are becoming more and more scarce as well, and I can only blame the trawlers that destroy the ecosystem too, as well as the climate changing in the atmosphere. I think being an advocate to let the government stop the trawlers would be beneficial to all people – including the government itself.
Though looking at the positive sides of Nature, I can only think of the tundra. When I try to meditate, I think of laying on the tundra at home, and I would immediately feel a sense of peace.
I don’t know how to connect nature to future clients, though I would assume that a simple 15 minute walk can do wonders for the body and mind – especially how something such as the smell of trees and grass would do to people emotionally.
These aside, again, I found your blog to be compelling to read and I hope that you have a great rest of your weekend, and happy Friday!
Hi Jere! Thanks for reading my post! Alaska is definitely feeling the impacts of climate change a lot quicker and in a lot more ways than much of the lower 48. It’s going to keep making resource coordination and availability a challenge for Alaska social workers. You’re right that there’s more the government could be doing to protect those resources and advocating for such measures is a great way to get involved in the area of climate action. Thanks again! It’s been awesome to be in class with you this semester and I hope we meet again!
Hi Charles.
Very good and clear blog post! What stood out about your blog for me, was your mentions of forest therapy. I really do believe in the power of nature therapy, as I do participate in something we might know as ocean therapy. I liked how you were able to capture just how individuals are using Mother Nature as a resource in social work.
Personally, Saipan has reached its coldest temperatures this early January. It bottomed to about 60 degrees. Which as you can imagine a person who is used to 80-90 degrees heat, it was a pretty drastic change. I’ve always appreciated nature as an extension of who I am. Who we could be as human and nature relationship. I do believe that nature therapy can help different people in a lot of ways.
Great sharing!
Hi Carmen! Experiencing such a significant temperature shift can cause major disruptions, whether it’s getting hotter or like you mentioned in Saipan, getting colder. If people aren’t able to afford appropriate clothing and shelter when it gets that cold, the consequences can be dire. I love what you said about appreciating nature as an extension of who you are and who we could be. I recently read a social media post that said its important to remind ourselves, in the presence of all the chaos, that we are animals. They wrote, “Every day wake up and remind yourself you are an animal. You are a big clumsy mammal on a big clumsy earth. You get acne and dead skin falls off your body all the time. Any kind of touch is stimulating. your teeth get loose and the way your fat sits changes and we act just like cats or orangutans or parrots. Don’t forget this. It’s endearing to pretend you’re looking in from the outside: all the little behaviors we share [with other animals] because we’re looking for a warm rock to bask on or a beautiful flower to pick and press.”
Hi Charles, thank you for teaching us about climate change’s impact on our environment and social work practices. Your insight into how environmental issues affect communities and the prospect of wilderness therapy helping to heal is important. I enjoyed the way you’ve connected these topics. In response to your question about environmental advocacy opportunities in our community, I would advocate for significantly reducing bycatch limits. This change would help more salmon return to our rivers, supporting subsistence fishing in rural communities, preserving cultural traditions, and combating food insecurity.
Hey Danelle! That sounds like a great way to get involved in the climate-related and policy-related issues your community. Last year in my Native Alaskan Cultures class, I learned about how subsistence practices are about so much more than just providing food and other resources for living, and that subsistence is truly a part of the culture of many rural Alaskan communities, and that so much about life and the world is taught and learned during subsistence activities like fishing. It gave me a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of subsistence and culture in rural Alaska. I hope advocating brings about changes that benefit communities like yours in significant and lasting ways.
Hey Charles,
I really appreciate your blog, thank you for teaching us a little more about the climate crisis. So for me personally I can’t think of a way that climate change has impacted me because I just don’t think I know enough about it to know what has changed in my life but I would love to do my own research and figure out some things that have changed for me. I think that for ideas of bringing elements of nature into my future work is maybe starting a community garden somewhere in the city that could be interactive for the whole community. Some obstacles could be the cold weather and finding a good place to do that. I don’t know if there are already opportunities for environmental advocacy in my community but I am willing to learn! I really liked the video you put in your blog also that was super informative!
Hi Lillian! Starting a community garden is a wonderful idea! That’s something I hope becomes more common across the states. They’re good for fostering connection, education, providing useful resources, and making quality nutrition more accessible. Great idea!
Charles,
I really value the way you structured your blog. I knew I would probably like it because it is about Mother Earth, and I practice an Earth based spiritual system. You actually mentioned something about the connection between climate change and social work, and this was not something I had really thought about. That provides a whole new perspective I had not considered, and I wanted to thank you for that.
The most prominent change I have noticed over the span of my life in terms of the climate are: the ever decreasing amounts of snow, the lakes not freezing over, less thunderstorms in the spring and more rain. Is there a specific demographic that you think would be more impacted by these changes than others?
Hi Ariel! I’m glad to hear I helped you see the connection between climate change and social work. It can be easy to miss if someone or something doesn’t put it right in front of us, but it’s very important to be aware of because it can make it easier to identify and predict existing and potential issues our clients may be facing.
The changes to storm/water cycles are probably going to impact communities that are low-lying and communities that are close to/surrounded by existing natural waterways. Snow melt is accelerating and adding to the amount of water flowing down toward rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. That water combines with rainwater runoff and results in flooding because there’s all this extra water with nowhere to go. It can’t all be eventually taken up by oceans because ocean levels are also rising as polar ice melt is speeding up. Communities that have removed too much of their vegetation and root systems in order to build more homes and businesses could see landslides and sinkholes because there’s not enough holding the soil beneath structures and roads together. It could become catastrophic very quickly.