The Green Social Worker

I guess I did a post like this at the very beginning of starting this blog when I returned from my time overseas, and I wanted to do another. I did the first when I was barely into my first semester and now I am three weeks into my last. How time flies - even when it doesn't! It's been a full and wonderful year and a half since that point. My theories of why social work is different are basically that we see the whole human and we see people with unconditional positive regard. In fact, I have a list of ideas that I think are central to social work: being client led unconditional positive regard holding both - possibly the most important person-in-environment social justice at the center of our practice ethics at the center of our practice speak the truth holding presence and a whole lot more! My classes so far in social work have been, as a Clinical - children and families track: First semester: Practice with Individuals (with Dr. Saur, whom I loved for ...

I wrote this blog post as part of a larger series of blogs by myself and my fellow students on a study abroad trip to Israel and Palestine in January 2020, where we learned about water usage, wastewater treatment, environmental engineering and inequality, and the oppression of Palestine through the lens of environmental control.  At the second farm we visited, our bus trundled into a small village along a muddy path, and we left the vehicle we were immediately greeted by the giggles and shouts of hello from a group of children. They were so pleased to have visitors, it seemed, and followed us around in a pack during the whole of tour. First we were served tiny cups of coffee in a comfortable living room with cozy couches and a gleaming marble floor by the leaders of the village, three men who work with PWEG and Clive on water projects on their farm. Then we went to go look at the water filtration system, followed of course by the band of merry children. They were on school holid...

I wrote this blog post as part of a larger series of blogs by myself and my fellow students on a study abroad trip to Israel and Palestine in January 2020, where we learned about water usage, wastewater treatment, environmental engineering and inequality, and the oppression of Palestine through the lens of environmental control.  Early Monday morning, we left Jerusalem, winding our way through hilly terrain to cross the much-discussed border between Israel and the West Bank. I was most anticipating this day of all days; after reading every book, magazine article, and internet resource I could over the last two months about Israel and Palestine, I was eager to see the other half of the equation, the balance to what we had toured thus far in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I wanted to see the truth for myself, as much as I could. Some time after entering the Palestinian territory, we stopped along the roadside in an area of the West Bank that is controlled by Israel. It is across the ro...