Environmental sustainability: Educating social workers for interdisciplinary practice By: Cathryne L. Schmitz, Tom Matyók, Channelle D. James, and Lacey M. Sloan Schmitz, C. L., Matyók, T., James, C. D., & Sloan, L. M. (2013). Environmental sustainability: Educating social workers for interdisciplinary practice. In M. Gray, J. Coates, & T. Hetherington. Environmental social work (pp. 260-279). New York: Routledge. This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Environmental social work on 27 November 2012, available online: http://www.routledge.com/9780415678117 ***© 2013 The Authors. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction is authorized without written permission from Routledge/Taylor & Francis. This version of the document is not the version of record. *** Abstract: The relationship between social justice, environmental sustainability, and positive peace has been well established by theorists who highlight the need for multidisciplinary community-level responses to conflicts resulting from environmental issues and concerns. Schmitz, Matyók, Sloan, and James (2011) argue that many of the issues of poverty, injustice, and quality of life are connected to the health of the physical environment and its long-term sustainability. Increasingly, social workers, with their commitment to social justice, are called upon to recognize the relationship between social work, the environment, and human well-being (Coates, 2003). Keywords: social work | social justice | sustainability | environmentalism | peace studies Article: In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace (Wangari Maathai). The relationship between social justice, environmental sustainability, and positive peace has been well established by theorists who highlight the need for multidisciplinary community-level responses to conflicts resulting from environmental issues and concerns. Schmitz, Matyók, Sloan, and James (2011) argue that many of the issues of poverty, injustice, and quality of life are connected to the health of the physical environment and its long-term sustainability. Increasingly, social workers, with their commitment to social justice, are called upon to recognize the relationship between social work, the environment, and human well-being (Coates, 2003). The quality of the biophysical environment – the water, air, food, and living spaces – is pivotal for human existence. While the interdependence of these resources is critical, there have been