ABSTRACT
This chapter presents reflections and elaborations on the responsibility of, and the action needed by, the nations in the Global North for a just climate transition, exemplified with Sweden. The aim is to position social work as an academic discipline and a field of practice directed towards an equitable and sustainable society in which human needs are met in ways that are compatible with planetary boundaries. The chapter draws on secondary sources of an approach with different designations and highlights the critical, holistic, and normative potential under the overarching term,‘green social work’. The chapter discusses how the concept ‘environment’ is understood within social work and how a more encompassing meaning has been acquired due to an encounter with the environmental movement. It discusses the concept ‘sustainable welfare’ and touches on concepts such as a steady-state economy and de-growth economy leading to the classical questions within social work concerning a fair distribution of resources between people. Finally, it gives examples from Sweden of eco-social interventions that consider both the ecological and the social, striving for justice for both humans and the environment involving, for example, community workshops, urban gardening, and sharing and circular economy. We argue that even if the ecological significance might be proportionally small such initiatives should not be underestimated given that private consumption in a country like Sweden accounts for as much as 60% of the consumption-based emissions and that everyday practices can be a leverage for a sustainability transition. Eco-social interventions can also contribute to increased local social sustainability, cohesion and increase people’s connection to a specific place that is central for social mobilization and for preventive social work.
