Social Work and Sustainability in Asia

The rapid trend of globalization has brought with it a variety of sustainability challenges, including global climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty, and social inequalities, which are problems with unclear boundaries, complicated interrelated components, undefined parameters, contradictory values, and no single solution. Social work has a long-standing tradition of emphasizing the interaction of people and their environment. For this reason, the field of social work is one of the best-placed academic disciplines for studying the impact of environmental change on social systems, and should play an important role in developing strategies for mitigating and adapting to these environmental challenges. However, traditional social work tends to lack sustaining work and neglect globally interconnected social problems. Combining case studies and country reports from around Asia with a theoretical framework for understanding sustainability concerns, this book aims to show how social work can play a valuable role in mitigating and adapting to environmental challenges and social sustainability. For social work to develop a meaningful and viable profession that addresses contemporary sustainability issues, it requires changes and transformation in paradigm, theories, strategies, social policy and social services that will facilitate a sustainable future for all mankind.

Alice M. L. Chong is Professor and Social Work Discipline Leader in the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Iris Chi is the Chinese-American Golden Age Association/Frances Wu Chair for the Chinese Elderly at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.

Notes on contributors Preface (Annamaria Campanini) Preface (Ruth Stark) List of tables Lists of figures List of photographs Part I: Theory and Concepts of Social Sustainability and Social Work 1. Social Work and Sustainable Development: An Overview IRIS CHI, ALICE M. L. CHONG, TING KIN NG, AND DIEGO BUSIOL 2. Neoliberalism and Globalization: Trends Shaping Sustainable Social Work Practice MICHAEL HOLOSKO AND JOELLE A. PETTUS 3. Social Sustainability and Global Climate Change: A New Challenge for Social Work LAWRENCE A. PALINKAS AND MARLEEN WONG 4. Operationalizing and Measuring Social, Economic and Environmental Sustainability: Current Efforts and Future Directions MARY L. OHMER Part II: Case Studies in Asia 5. Global grassroots green movement driven by Tzu Chi Foundation's recycling volunteers: a multifaceted model of environmental sustainability with transformative social changes HSIN-YI HSIAO, HSUN-TA HSU, DEBRA BOUDREAUX, AND ALICE TING 6. Apocalyptic learning for sustainability in aged Japan: positive reciprocities and social innovations in the information age ON-KWOK LAI 7. Reducing the High Vulnerability of the Elderly to Urban Flooding: Findings from the 2011 Floods in Bangkok DANNY MARKS 8. Humanitarian response after a complex environmental disaster: a case study of Typhoon Haiyan TARA POWELL AND JADE BRACK 9. In the Typhoon Corridor: Rebuilding Communities in the Philippines through Empowerment and Innovation ANNALISA ENRILE, GABRIELLE AQUINO, AND VIVIEN VILLAVERDE 10. The Global Climate Change: Necessary Child Protection Services in Vietnam TUYEN THI THANH BUI, GRACE M. MISHLER AND GARY W. STUDEBAKER 11. Mass relocation and social sequence for the elderly in rural China WEIHONG ZENG, ZHENG WU, CHRISTOPH M. SCHIMMELE AND SHUZHUO LI 12. Maximizing impact in Hong Kong: economic, social, and environmental sustainability among nongovernmental organizations ELAINE AU LIU AND PAUL VINOD KHIATANI 13. Collaboration and Innovation for Inclusive Green Growth at a Community Level in Suzhou, China WANXIN LI, ERIC ZUSMAN AND JINING CHEN 14. Social work education in China: issues, challenges, and implications for sustainability PATRICK LEUNG AND ASHLEIGH SCINTA Part III: Leadership and Future Development 15. Preparing Social Workers to Advance Social Sustainability: Transforming Social Work Education MARY L. OHMER 16. Leadership and Sustainable Development in the Future ALICE M. L. CHONG, IRIS CHI, AND DIEGO BUSIOL Index