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be aware of the impact of human activity on the environment, and vice versa
(Woods 2021). The expansion of the urban way of life throughout the world has
led to the devastation of natural habitats, and hence the decrease of biological
diversity. It follows that it is more and more imperative to cooperate and transform
the patterns of consumption so as to achieve human wellbeing and sustainable
development. Green social work implies practices based on a communal approach
such as communal action, communal learning, broad collaboration, and raising
awareness to turn communities into indispensable resources in the fabric of society
(Woods 2021). Social workers predominantly work with people in the lower social
strata who are more markedly exposed to political and economic changes, or, for
that matter, to climate change. (See the chapter on Environmental Justice by Gyula
Nagy.) When communal resources are mobilized, poverty can be alleviated more
effectively. Writing of the connections between poverty and contact capital, Fruzsina
Albert (2022) argues that strengthening interpersonal relations might entail
economic gain and also lessen the risk of dropping out. It is beyond doubt that
specialists pursuing community-based practices are important, as they can explore
the roots of problems in social relations or in their deficiencies, and they make
attempts to revive society innovatively. Excellent examples are social undertakings,
a form that has various definitions. “Originally, a social undertaking was created
to enable those living in poverty and extreme poverty to make a living” (Illés 2021:
60). They were built on social innovations aimed at elevating the standard of living
of the community and responding to challenges of humanity (Veresné — Balaton
2021). Further, this solid economic concept is aimed at reorganizing everyday life
and making it sustainable in both social and ecological terms (Buda et al. 2020).
On a global scale, the idea of a future in which the whole population of the
Earth lives a consciously ecological way of life still appears remote. In their book
published at the end of the 2010s, Sattmann-Frese and Hill (2018) already called
for the elaboration of a new profession. They use the term “sustainability worker”
to designate green social work. They stress that specialists engaged in questions of
sustainability have highly important roles in improving individuals’ ecological
knowledge and competence. Vulnerable groups are fundamentally less receptive
to environment-friendly solutions. This is partially due to a lack of adequate
information. They are also hard put to acquire resources. For example, burning
household garbage (plastics, textile, etc.) to generate heat, or outdated heating
equipment contribute heavily to the deterioration of air quality, and consequently,
of individuals’ quality of life. What is therefore needed are complex community¬
based services — thematic club meetings — which help people learn about
unsustainable consumer patterns and create the transition from a consumerist
society to a more sustainable, conservationist society.
Lena Dominelli’s (2018) book on eco-social work contains several case studies
in addition to the theoretical section. Their main point is the methodological
knowledge imparted to the reader which may enable him/her to generate progressive
processes at a local level, whether the topic is a new challenge to the urban way of
life, communal gardening, a pandemic or terrorism. The example of Namibia
makes the transdisciplinary character of green social work easily intelligible for
ordinary people as well. Government interventions in response to the extreme
drought afflicting the country only proved enough to mitigate the symptoms;
finding alternative models of production and consumption became indispensable.