Healthcare Leaders Convene at White House to Focus on Sustainability

Last week, top Obama administration officials joined representatives from leading health systems at a White House event to discuss advances in sustainability across the health care sector.

The event's attendees represented organizations and companies that are blazing a path to sustainability in the healthcare sector - a sector that has been criticized for its lack of effort on the sustainability front in the past.

For example, a 2010 survey conducted by the Corporate Realty, Design & Management Institute found that the majority of healthcare professionals believe hospitals are in dire need of sustainability managers. The survey also found that hospitals were neglecting energy and water efficiency programs, lagging behind other industries where sustainability was becoming a core competency of facility professionals.

Moreover, an overwhelming majority - 94% - of the healthcare professionals surveyed said that green washing in the healthcare sector was worse than ever.

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Harry Stevens is a Media Consultant for 3BL Media / Justmeans. After earning his Bachelors of Arts in international relations from the University of Puget Sound, Harry moved to Guatemala to do business development for Mercado Global, a fair trade fashion organization. Harry has written on social enterprise, sustainable finance, and fair trade for a number of popular blogs, including Justmeans and The Fair Trade Times. A serial road-tripper, Harry has been to forty-seven of the forty-eight contiguous states, and is actively seeking an excuse to visit Oklahoma. You can follow Harry on Twitter: @Harry_Stevens