Abstract
The impacts of human activity on ecosystems are increasingly evident through ecological degradation and climate change. Despite this, in many jurisdictions across the world, action to address and curtail destructive human activities is slow and resisted at all levels. In this article, we suggest that this resistance is connected to deep ecological grief. We introduce a dual approach to understanding ecological grief, using concepts of unprecedented and unacknowledged grief. Unprecedented grief is felt in response to the loss of our ecosystems and unacknowledged grief connected to the anticipated loss of lifestyle necessary to curtail destructive human behaviour. Drawing upon an ecosocial work praxis, this article then explores how we can use these understandings of ecological grief to take action and make radical changes to prefigure healthier relationships with each other and our ecosystems.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
10-25-2024
Funding Information
Edith Cowan University
School
School of Arts and Humanities
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Publisher
Bristol University Press
Comments
Bailey, S., & Gerrish, N. (2024). Ecological grief: How can we bear this together?. Critical and Radical Social Work. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1332/20498608Y2024D000000059