ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a simple yet relevant approach of introducing a Sustainable Social Work workshop to social work programmes and as professional development opportunities offered for practicing social workers in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Social workers need to understand the risks and relevance that climate change has to their clients and develop strategies to address these through policy development and effective community and social work practices. Green social work has argued that environmental justice now comprises an essential component of social justice. Humans are thus obliged to take action. 'Green social work' combines these two perspectives: social workers' macro-practice and ecological thinking – to take action in a local space while acknowledging the integrated interaction between the global and the local. The ability of social workers to bring people together across disciplines, cultures and geographical locations are important features in green social work practice.
