ABSTRACT
Global Climate Change (GCC) is the most significant and potentially disastrous natural occurrence to face the human species in the last 10,000 years. Its impact will be experienced by everyone, everywhere for generations to come. Indeed, GCC is the first true planetary emergency requiring a fundamental change in the way humanity comprehends its relationship with the natural world, as well as a change in the modern, economistic value system that has oppressed both human and non-human worlds. The challenges are daunting, but the opportunities are rich in texture and scope. Most interesting is the realisation that GCC is increasingly merging the interests of environmental as well as social, political and economic reform. The climate crisis has the potential to form the basis of ‘a powerful mass movement, one that would weave … a coherent narrative about how to protect humanity from the ravages of both a savagely unjust economic system and a destabilised climate system’ (Klein 2014: 8). The question for social work is: what is our role?
