ABSTRACT
This article explores the more critical ‘discontents’ of capitalism and global neoliberalism (Stiglitz, 2002) by highlighting the ecological damages, natural disasters and social problems that have resulted from its rapid growth with less and less government sanctions and political and social control to check its domination and impact. Neoliberalism relies almost exclusively on unfettered economic growth from extracting the Earth’s limited natural and non-renewable resources to fuel energy and manufacturing products for mass consumption while squirreling millions of dollars for a select few individuals and corporations in charge and/or owners of manufacturing sites and resource extraction projects (Giroux 2001, 2015; Klein, 2015). I do this to develop further the emerging green social work discourse by strengthening its political voice in addressing current environmental and socio-political impacts. I argue that social workers need to re-focus their practice on grassroots activism, alternative economic models and sustain criticism of capitalism to redress its massive industrial consumerism to protect human and non-human species and show a clear platform for action. Green social work has undertaken this challenge, but this is only the beginning.
