Why sustainability
Imagine healthy people living in equitable and resilient communities on a thriving planet.
By embedding sustainability into health care operations, we can drive the health care sector from within to lead broader societal change.
Innovate
We identify and pilot opportunities for health care to implement economical, science-based solutions to environmental health problems.
Scale
We educate, build implementation tools, train health care professionals, and scale solutions across our national and global health care networks.
Transform
We aggregate the influence and purchasing power of health care to drive the marketplace toward sustainability and policies that will create worldwide change.
Health must become the focus of economic and social discourse, ushering in fundamental system changes to support social and ecological restoration and resilience.
The unprecedented scale of human impact on social and ecological systems threatens our health to such an extreme that current systems are no longer tenable. The health care sector is uniquely positioned, both within the sector itself and in partnership with other areas of our economy, to lead the transformation of society where individual, community, and planetary health is the aim.
The health and well-being of all life depend on social and ecological systems that are intact and functioning. Human activity is threatening or degrading many of these life-sustaining systems, causing a period of declining health for all species. Industrial systems – land development, food, chemicals, and energy – must be re-imagined if we are to restore what has been degraded as well as build individual and community resilience to new and emerging health threats.
What is health care for? The health care sector is both a significant contributor to the global planetary health crisis and uniquely burdened by it. Efforts aimed at protecting and improving our health will not succeed without addressing the social, economic, and ecological catastrophes that largely underpin the health, safety, and happiness of individuals and communities worldwide.
Representing 18% of the U.S. economy and 10% of the global economy, health care has the power to transform people, communities, and markets.
Healthy people, healthy planet
The health care sector is optimally situated to catalyze a purpose-driven societal transformation: to improve health at individual, community, and global levels. The converse is also true: such a transformation is impossible without the direct engagement of the health care sector. The frame for leading this transformation can be found in three interconnected strategies.
Tools & Resources
Value of sustainability initiatives in surgical suites
Practice Greenhealth’s report demonstrates how your hospital can save money – up to $56,000 per operating room annually – while improving environmental and community health.
Learn MoreAnesthetic gas toolkit
Practice Greenhealth is pleased to offer members a toolkit to help hospitals and health systems reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from anesthetic gases.
Learn MoreGreenhouse gas reduction toolkit
To reduce the health impacts of climate change, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be reduced, and hospitals have an essential role to play.
Learn MoreJoin Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is the health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives that help hospitals and health systems meet their health, financial, and community goals.
12355 Sunrise Valley Drive
Suite 680
Reston, VA 20191
Tel: 888-688-3332
Fax: 866-379-8705
Who We Are
Practice Greenhealth is a nonprofit membership organization founded on the principles of positive environmental stewardship and best practices by organizations in the health care community.