| Welcome: |
I
would like to welcome you to the Global Alliance for a Deep Ecological
Social Work (GADESW). If this is your first visit to the Website or if
you’re returning we trust that you will find some interesting, creative,
and hopefully useful information. The site has been
substantially updated since its inception. You will find a more comprehensive
bibliography of social work authors and sources, past and present, which
have written or are engaged in research on environmental issues, ecological
justice, deep ecology, ecofeminism, eco-spirituality or sustainable social
development. There are many more links to related topics and related fields.
The Essay’s Page includes more contributions by social workers and
helping practitioners who share a commitment to deeper earth awareness.In the months ahead, plans are to develop a media page where contributors can share art, pictures, videos, music and other types of audio/visual offerings of their connections to the Earth Community. In addition, there are plans to development social work’s first on-line professional journal dealing exclusively with integrating a deep ecological consciousness into professional theory and practice. The journal is now in its design stage and should be on-line by spring 2005. The journal will be named: Earth Consciousness: The Journal of Environmental Social Work and Human Services. We are also working on plans to hold a second conference of GADESW with the intent of expanding its outreach and giving it a more international flavor. Early manuscript submissions to this new journal may be sent to: Dr. Fred H. Besthorn and Dr. John Coates, both academic social workers from the US and Canada, founded this small but growing organization in the summer of 2000. In the summer of 2001 we held our First Annual Symposium in Washington DC entitled “Deepening Earth Consciousness in Social Work”. We are grateful to the Society for Spirituality and Social Work (SSSW) and to the Catholic University of America for their kind efforts in supporting and co-hosting the conference. The first ever meeting of this type brought together innovative social workers at the forefront of work to create a space in social work for a deeper ecological awareness. I am startled at the number of social workers from disparate places from around the world who have corresponded with us; always confirming our long held belief that social workers are looking for a place where it is acceptable to be both a social worker and a committed environmentalist. It also has been heartening to understand the ways that social workers have, in a myriad of small ways, introduced their passion and love for the Earth into practice. And, we are convinced that many social workers are ready for changes in the ways we understand ourselves and how we go about our work. Social workers are asking how we can meet our needs and the needs of the millions of poor and disadvantaged around the world without destroying our world and creating an unsustainable global economic system dependent on ever increasing corporate profits and endless consumer goods. This site is not just for academics. It’s for all social work professionals who share a love for the earth. We are dedicated to changing the consciousness of social work. In the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11th and the ensuing war, it is more imperative than ever that we shift our awareness and create alternative structures of being and living. And, as social workers we can no longer fail to act upon the growing worldwide recognition that we are deeply grounded in a radical interdependence with each other and with the life giving and sustaining compassion of our Earth Mother. This Website is one mechanism to assist social work in becoming more deeply ecologically aware. Your input and insights about the Website or (GADESW) are welcomed. Please contract Dr. Coates or myself. |
| Mission: |
| The Global Alliance for a Deep-Ecological Social Work (GADESW) is intended as an educational information resource and support forum for a global community of social workers attentive to the well-being of the Earth Community and concerned about environmental degradation. It was born out of a desire to assist social work practitioners, academics and students to see more clearly the deeply interconnected and interdependent relationships between the ecological, spiritual and political aspects of the global environmental crisis and how these realities may inform and guide social worker's environmental concerns, personal lives and professional theory and practice. |
| Objectives: |
| Ecological
Awareness: Political
Involvement: 1.
Environmental and economic justice Spiritual
Sensitivity |
 |
| If your would like to contribute to this new initiative or have questions or input, please contact: |
| Dr.
Fred H. Besthorn University of Northern Iowa Department of Social Work Sabin 33 Cedar Falls, IA 50614 e-mail: University e-mail: |
| |
| What's
New: |
|
Downloadable selected papers of Dr. Besthorn “Building Bridges, Crossing Boundaries: International Conference on Ecology and Professional Helping University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada Conference:
Global Social Work Congress-2004
|