Environmental Arts and Humanities: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Foster Environmental Connection, Understanding, and Action

Social workers are increasingly concerned with environmental issues as accelerating crises such as climate change, pollution, and land degradation adversely impact the communities we engage with. The growing interest by the social work profession to examine environmental issues has been met with important questions about how social workers should aim to promote environmentalism in line with our social justice values (Mathias, Krings, and Teixeira, 2023). Scholars such as Mathias, Krings, and Teixeira (2023) have encouraged the profession to think more expansively about how social work understands environmental issues (e.g., green gentrification, extreme weather, etc.) One way social work can broaden its understanding of environmental issues is through the inclusion of art and the examination of the ways that the built environment has informed peoples relationship to nature and the environment. Environmental arts and urban humanities, an approach to understanding cities from a historical, contemporary, and future perspective, are interdisciplinary fields that invite us to consider how the arts can be used to explore the human connection to the environment, landscapes, nature, and the built environment; to communicate and translate environmental science related knowledge; and to foster engagement and collective action. As two interdisciplinary fields, environmental arts and urban humanities often include an array of art forms and mediums such as poetry, participatory photo mapping, oral histories, video, and music. While art forms vary, they provide a way to engage communities in exploring landscapes, nature, and the environment through meaningful participation and critical dialogue. The critical, interdisciplinary, and collaborative nature of the arts allows social workers and community members to (re)claim their connection to the natural world and built environments. Arts-based approaches invite participants to reflect on their surroundings and gain new insights about socio-ecological challenges and potential solutions to then inform meaningful community-driven action. This roundtable brings together scholars who have integrated different art-based, urban humanities-informed approaches into their environmental and climate justice research. The roundtable will be a space for social workers to reflect on the ways environmental arts and urban humanities have expanded scholars' and communities' understanding of environmentalism and the opportunities for social workers to use collaborative and arts-based approaches within environmental and climate justice related research. After a brief overview of environmental arts and urban humanities, the speakers will discuss their experience engaging in arts-based and urban humanities-informed approaches to explore/address environmental issues including extreme weather vulnerability, urban agriculture, and green gentrification. Presenters will also share examples of unique research partnerships they have formed including multisectoral nonprofits and community arts groups. Following these brief presentations, the speakers will facilitate a discussion with roundtable attendees about collaboratively integrating the arts and humanities for more expansive and accessible explorations and solutions in ecosocial work research.