Vision
| Editorial | Slide
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Biodiversity
Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, 4,
289-290 (1996)
EDITORIAL
The Environmental Council of the WMS
The Environmental Council was formed in
1992 by Dr. Chris Moore after attending the "Earth
Summit" in Rio de Janeiro that year. He wrote an editorial
in the Journal of Wilderness Medicine (1992; 3, 331-333)
reflecting on the summit and the merits of involvement of
the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS) in one of the most
important issues of our time, the threat to the environment.
The Environmental Council was born thereafter to explore
the connections between environmental health and human health.
Much has been accomplished since then; presentations exploring
these issues are now part of most every WMS meeting. We
have begun networking with other organizations with similar
interests and were one of the founding members of the National
Association of Physicians for the Environment (NAPE).
The Environmental Council has been in evolution
since its inception, working especially to define the contribution
to the field of "health and the environment" that
can best be made by the WMS, with its unique focus and expertise.
Fortuitously, in April 1995 a meeting was held in Washington,
DC at the Smithsonian Institute entitled "Biodiversity
and Human Health." It was a 2-day meeting to explore
the human health consequences of the loss of biological
diversity associated with environmental degradation, excessive
resource exploitation, and mounting population pressure.
The purpose of the conference was to open a dialogue on
these issues between experts on the global environment and
from the biomedical professions. Dr. Peter Hackett and T
had the good fortune to attend this meeting, which was pivotal
in crystallizing my thinking on health and the environment.
A report of this meeting was published in Wilderness and
Environmental Medicine (1995; 4, 452-56). A vision of what
the Environmental Council can be and the role it can play
in this critical area of connecting health and the environment
has emerged.
Enduring human and community health is inexorably
linked to a living, healthy planet. The world now faces
an imminent threat to human health and survival from changes
to the global environment. It is imperative that we improve
our understanding of the human health effects of environmental
degradation due to stratospheric ozone depletion, habitat
destruction, biodiversity loss, species extinction, global
warming, population growth, and the poisoning of air, water,
and soil by toxic and radioactive substances.
I believe that societies and individuals
will be motivated to preserve ecosystems, species, and cultures
only when they have grasped the full dimensions of the environmental
crisis and thereby perceive directly the connection between
environmental preservation and the preservation of their
health, and that of their children. Health professionals
are in an ideal position to educate others about the health
risks of environmental degradation. Physicians' responsibilities
in patient care have included a social responsibility for
public health since the industrial revolution (e.g., workplace
safety), and we have a duty to inform the public when we
have special knowledge of dangers to health not available
to others. The WMS is in a unique position; our membership
has specific expertise in medical issues of diverse wilderness
environments, and a strong sense of "connectedness
to place" (whether it be a high mountain, desert, or
the sea). We share a perception that experiencing wild and
natural places is an essential requirement in sustaining
personal health. The vision of the Environmental Council
thus entails nurturing this sense of "belonging to
the earth" in our peers and patients, while simultaneously
educating them about the connection between environmental
and human health; hopefully, they will thereby be moved
to preserve it.
Just as the vision of the WMS involves exploring
the interface between the wilderness and medicine, the vision
of the Council must involve defending this interface, implying
defending a wilderness ethic, but with a broader view. Certain
nations (many in the developing world) are home to the last
remnants of rich, intact ecosystems containing much of the
planet's biodiversity. Our idea of wilderness can incorporate
a more ecological view, defined by biological health and
sustainability, encompassing these places and indigenous
peoples.
The "biophilia hypothesis" developed
by E.O. Wilson (author of The Diversity of Life) suggests
that the subconscious need to seek connection with the rest
of life may be organically based. The biological and cultural
evolution of Home sapiens has occurred for tens of thousands
of years in the context of being woven intimately in the
web of life, rooted in the earth, not separate. ("Only
in the last moment of human history has the delusion arisen
that people can flourish apart from the living world.")
As we have evolved in this context for millennia, so experiencing
natural landscapes and "non-human beings," even
intermittently, is essential. As physicians, may we recognize
and nurture that which sustains physical, emotional, and
spiritual health.
The following mission statement of the Environmental
Council was approved by the WMS Board of Directors at the
annual meeting in Kananaskis, Alberta in August, 1996:
1. The primary mission of the Council is
to educate WMS members about the impact of environmental
alteration on human health and wilderness.
2. The Environmental Council will assist
WMS members in their efforts to educate colleagues, patients,
and communities by providing educational materials. This
information will allow our members to be knowledgeable and
articulate advisors to other organizations and the public
on issues pertaining to the preservation of a healthy environment.
3. The Council will collaborate with individuals
and organizations with scientific expertise on the global
environment, and with those in the biomedical community
with similar interests, to disseminate information delineating
the need to preserve environmental health.
The current focus of the Environmental Council
is the exploration of the link between biodiversity and
human health. This emphasis provides an integrated approach
to the understanding of the myriad ways the loss of wild
places and peoples, and thus nature's laboratory for adaptation
and change, impacts human health. Loss of biological diversity
may have the following repercussions on human health: the
loss of potential new medicines; the loss of medical models
for understanding physiology and disease processes; the
emergence of new infectious diseases and the resurgence
of old diseases in the developed and the developing world;
and the threat of inadequate food and water supplies worldwide,
to name a few. To this end, several projects are well under
way, most notably development of an educational slide set
for WMS members on "Biodiversity and Human Health"
and of a brochure for physicians' offices, directed to patients,
educating them on the connections between biodiversity preservation
and human health. Through these efforts, and by networking
with organizations in the conservation community, we can
improve our understanding and communicate more effectively
to others how the preservation of environmental health and
biocultural diversity is an abiding prerequisite for sustaining
planetary and human health.
KIMBERLY JOHNSON, MD Chair, Environmental
Council Durango, CO, USA
1080-6032 © 1996 Chapman & Hall
