Choose Your Own Adventures in Environmental Social Work: Imagining Futures for an Emerging Research Area

Where should environmental social work research go from here? Today, social work research on environmental topics finds itself at a critical juncture, teetering between growing interest and enthusiasm within the profession and strident opposition from governmental and political forces. How can scholars best channel their enthusiasm to make a difference for those most vulnerable to environmental threats? How can we advance this work in a context of defunded government agencies and governmental suppression of scholarly inquiry into environmental challenges and social equity—the very axes that define “environmental justice”? We explore these questions through an adaptation of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” genre, in which the reader navigates the story by making choices based on their own background and interests. Our second-person protagonist begins their story as a doctoral student returning from an annual meeting of the Society for Social Work Research. By selecting between real-world options for their career and research agenda, each reader constructs a unique pathway through the field of environmental work as it takes shape over the next 20 years. A brief epilogue then reflects on cross-cutting themes in the stories, including interdisciplinary collaboration, community engagement, the importance of Indigenous perspectives, and the need for imagination.