Green Medicine: An Integral Approach That Benefits Physicians, Patients, Communities, and the Environment

38 Kreisberg—Medical Practice Management Healthcare in the United States continues to face numerous challenges, including inaccessibility of services, rising costs, and medical pollution, as well as an increase in environmentally related illness.1,2 In fact, the World Health Organization’s Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 found that 25% of the world’s burden of disease comes from poor environmental quality and that 60% of the benefits we receive from environmental resources are being degraded rapidly because of unsustainable management.3 Simply put, the world in which we live is losing its capacity to keep us well. My belief is that the field of medicine and healthcare can provide the leadership necessary to foster a healthier environment, one that will allow us to live well today while letting others live well tomorrow. While this task is often left to environmental activists, I believe health professionals have the opportunity to play a leading role in shaping the environmental health of our future. The concept of “green healthcare” offers us the means to realize this vision. What, you may ask, is green healthcare? This term describes practices that facilitate a sustainable future for medicine, physicians, patients, and the environment. Practically speaking, green healthcare has 3 components: 1) working in a healthy facility (or green clinic), 2) advocating for a healthy environment, and 3) practicing medicine in a sustainable manner. To be clear, the word sustainability means living in a way that also lets others live well, both now and in the future. Green healthcare allows medicine as a practice to promote health for people, communities, and the environment. But how does one go about incorporating the principles of green healthcare into a busy medical practice? The guidelines offered in this article are intended to help you take the first steps.