Collaborative on Health and the Environment :: Interview with CHE Partner, Peter J. Whitehouse, MD, PhD

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Interview with CHE Partner, Peter J. Whitehouse, MD, PhD

Peter Whitehouse Photo Director, Integrative Studies, Department of Neurology, Case Western Reserve University
Professor of Neurology, Cognitive Science, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Psychology, Nursing, Organizational Behavior and History, University Memory and Aging Center, University Hospitals of Cleveland

Steve Heilig: What first brought you into the environmental health movement?

A deep spiritual connection to nature; a serious concern about the directions and methods of medicine and its handmaiden biomedical ethics; a frightening sense that our species is rapidly destroying its own nest and that of other life forms and that the health consequences will be enormous.

What is the primary goal/mission of your organization/project?

To create empowering learning environments to foster moral imagination and wisdom that contribute to a healthy planet.

What have been the most significant obstacles and successes you have encountered and achieved in this work to date?

Obstacles - existing power structures in medicine and lack of moral leadership and vision.

Successes - creation of The Intergenerational School with my wife (www.tisonline.org) some progress of reforming undergraduate, medical and business school education.

What is the number one change you would like to see for the future of environmental health?

Changes in public, business and medical education towards understanding and promoting environmental and social sustainability.

What or who continues to inspire you in your work?

Van R. Potter -the man who invented the term "bioethics" and with me the term "deep bioethics" inspired by Arne Naess of deep ecology fame.
CHE and its partners.
My wife and family.
Nature.

Any comments/suggestions re CHE itself?

Keep up the good work and learn how to tell your story.

Posted: 3 August 2006

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment
c/o Commonweal, PO Box 316, Bolinas, CA 94924
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