Tools and resources

Understanding labels: Fair labor and sustainability practices

• Sustainable procurement
• Food

Practice Greenhealth and Health Care Without Harm recommend that food purchased carry one of these certifications when possible: the Agricultural Justice Project, Fair for Life, and Regenerative Organic. These certifications are recommended because of their commitment to addressing the social and economic determinants of health, individual health and safety of workers, and community resilience…

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Renewable energy: Imperative to act

The health care industry is the only sector with health as its core mission. Open 24/7 and buzzing with high-tech, life-saving equipment, hospitals are incredibly energy-intensive facilities, consuming roughly 2.5 times more energy per square foot than a typical commercial office space. While being used to save lives and improve patient health, this energy is often generated by the combustion of…

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Where to find sustainable products

• Sustainable procurement

Sample third-party labels, certifications, and databases for health care goods and services (Sustainable procurement guide) Finding sustainable products in health care is achievable through a number of resources. The list below provides links to sustainable products identified by Practice Greenhealth, Health Care Without Harm, and labels and certifications specific to the health care sector.…

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Furniture and furnishings procurement

• Chemicals
• Sustainable procurement
• Healthy interiors

Part of Impact purchasing commitment: Getting started guides  Every day, patients and employees are exposed to a wide array of chemicals in hospitals and health care facilities, and the priority chemicals of concern have been shown to have a lasting negative impact on individual health, public health, and the environment. Furnishings can be a significant contributor to poor health in interior…

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Sustainable food procurement

• Food and Beverage Purchasing
• Sustainable procurement

Part of Impact purchasing commitment: Getting started guides  The way our food is produced, processed, transported, made available for consumption, and consumed has profound impacts on environmental, public, and individual health. At each point in the food system, there are opportunities to support the health of workers, eaters, and the biological systems on which health depends. As large,…

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Environmental Excellence Awards sample news items

• Awards

Here are two sample news stories as well as a brief description for each of Practice Greenhealth’s Environmental Excellence Awards. Feel free to use some or all of this content as you promote your win internally and externally. You can find additional resources, including award logos, on our website. If you have questions, please reach out to [email protected]. Sample news story 1…

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2018 sustainability data

Practice Greenhealth’s data, collected from hospitals across the country, will assist hospitals in identifying key sustainability program opportunities by benchmarking their own program’s performance. The data is divided into 10 components of health care environmental stewardship programs: leadership, waste, chemicals, greening the operating room, food, environmentally preferable purchasing,…

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Circles of Excellence overview

• Awards

The Circles of Excellence recognize up to 10 of the highest performing hospitals for each individual category of environmental performance including Leadership, Waste, Chemicals, Greening the OR, Food, Environmentally Preferable Purchasing, Energy, Water, Climate, Green Building. Winners are selected based on the highest scores within that category while also meeting a set of threshold criteria.…

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UC San Francisco: Tasty food that just happens to be plant-based

• Case Study
• Food

  “I don’t sell plant-based, I sell delicious looking and tasting food that just happens to be plant-based."  - Dan Henroid, University of California San Francisco Medical Center  The University of California San Francisco Medical Center is a signatory of the Cool Food Pledge, a new platform to help hospitals offer diners more of what they want while slashing food-related greenhouse gas…

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Sample awards application: Food

• Food
• Awards

Health care organizations nationwide are offering healthier menus, working with farmers to purchase locally and sustainably grown products, reducing the amount of meat they purchase and serve, and going beyond their walls to help meet the food needs of their community, all in an effort to support the health of their patients, staff, surrounding community and the environment. Practice Greenhealth…

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