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Social Work Research on Global Environmental Change: Past, Present, and Future Directions

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“[T]here’s two big buckets of climate change related work. We talked about adaptation, helping people cope with and adapt to what is already here. . . [T]hen there’s mitigation which is reducing the problem, preventing the problem, [and] lowering the greenhouse gas emissions in the first place. And that’s an area that social work has done very little on. . . . I think there is space there to do much more around how we contribute to efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr. Lisa Reyes Mason

In this episode, our guest Lisa Reyes Mason, PhD, takes the Social Work mantra of “person-in-environment” and describes her work related to Global Environmental Change. Applying a social and economic justice perspective, she discusses the impact that Social Work research, education and practice has on shaping our responses to challenges that will continue to challenge those of us living on Planet Earth.

Dr. Lisa Reyes Mason

Lisa Reyes Mason, PhD, is Assistant Professor and PhD Program Director at the University of Tennessee College of Social Work. Dr. Mason’s research centers on environmental change, social justice, and community engagement. Her current projects look at socially responsive stormwater management, access and response to severe weather warnings, and public interest in green infrastructure. Dr. Mason is co-editor of a new book with Oxford University Press—People and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Social Justice. Her work is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Mason received her PhD and MSW from the Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis.

Interviewer: Katie McClain-Meeder, MSW

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