Leadership
Carolyn Raffensperger, MA, JD
Executive Director
Carolyn is an environmental lawyer and activist, and one of the nation’s most prominent advocates of the precautionary principle. She is invited to give dozens of talks, interviews and workshops to community groups, government agencies and the media every year. She collaborates frequently with countless allies across disciplines from environmental justice to sustainable agriculture.
Ted Schettler, MD, MPH
Science Director
Ted is the nation’s most prominent physician in the position of being “on call” to the entire environmental movement. He travels the country every year collaborating on speeches, public testimony, interviews and workshops to community groups, government agencies and the media. He serves as a crucial leader and advisor to both the Collaborative on Health and Environment (CHE), and HealthCare Without Harm.
Organization’s Objective
Human activity is bumping up against the limits of the Earth’s ecological capacity. Our current industrial system was created for a different world. In the Industrial Age of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Earth’s resources seemed endless. American law and culture evolved to support economic activity and allow environmental damage, since the benefits of economic growth were believed to outweigh the costs.
As human activity has grown so tremendously, however, we have discovered the limits of the Earth. We now find that natural resources are finite. Pollution and other environmental damage are harming people and eliminating species, degrading ecological systems, and changing the global climate. In this 21st century, we are beginning to pay dearly with our health and environment for our destructive industrial practices. We see now that we are capable of destroying our only home.
At the Science & Environmental Health Network, we believe we must alter our course. Under our democratic system, government is required to protect the commons and promote the public welfare, now and for future generations. To do this in our current Ecological Age, public policy must be transformed to recognize that we must live within the ecological constraints of the Earth.
Our public policies should reward healthy, sustainable economic activity and treat all people and species as neighbors: integral parts of the Earth’s ecological systems. They must also honor and uphold our nation’s historic commitment to equal rights and justice for all.
Energy Independence and Environment
