From the Gray Reality to the Green Dreams: Ethical Perspectives and Learnings from the Green Social Work Course in Türkiye

Since when has the world been going gray? The answer to this question dates back to the era when humans first began to control nature. The industrialization and capitalism movements of the 19th century drew humanity to the allure of the gray world, and for an extended period (possibly even now), they persisted without considering the possible consequences of this swift change. In terms of environmental degradation, many factors such as climate change, water scarcity, energy scarcity, soil pollution, water pollution, and greenhouse gas accumulation have a negative impact on the ecosystem. Human actions have increasingly severe consequences in terms of environmental degradation. New measurements and indicators, such as “carbon footprint” or “ecological footprint,” have been developed to show and monitor these consequences. In this article, the intellectual/ethical, theoretical, and practical contexts of green social work and the answers based on the experience of teaching green social work courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in Bartin/Türkiye are discussed.