Environmental Sustainability Must Be on Our Agenda for Healthcare

I am increasingly alarmed by climate change and environmental degradation. Many of you share my concerns, no doubt. I worry that we are not dealing with these issues in a manner that promises meaningful or timely results, and I believe we must reorder our priorities. There is also a fundamental unfairness that runs through what is happening. Environmental harm compounds existing inequities within and among our communities, inequities between richer and poorer nations and, most insidiously, generational inequity - deferring the consequences of our inaction to a future generation. Adding to these concerns is the realization that in my own professional field, healthcare, we have given little thought to the sector's role in and responsibility for environmental sustainability. To date, these issues have not been part of the mainstream healthcare conversation.