The Green Health Center:
Ethical Principles and Purpose
August, 1999

Because:

Human well-being is dependent on the intact functioning of earth’s ecological systems. 

And, the well-being of individuals and families is dependent on access to health care and public health, together with other basic social goods.

 We propose a Green Health Center:

 The Green Health Center (GHC) will provide high quality health care consistent with ecological sustainability and justice. 
 

Statement of General Ethical Principles: 

Several broad ethical assumptions about health care form the background for the GHC’s specific commitments: 

1.  The provision of health care for present generations must not undermine the ability of ecosystems to support future generations. 

2.  Health care practice must reinforce the restoration and maintenance of global ecosystems. 

3.  The clinical and environmental activities of health care must be conducted with justice and without exploitation. 
 

Guiding Principles of the Green Health Center (GHC): 

1.  The GHC provides health care in ways that minimize harm to human and ecosystem health.
2.  The architecture, organizational design, strategic planning, management, budget, and mission statement of the GHC embody principles of responsibility to nature and future generations.
3.  The GHC provides ecologically sustainable therapies and products.
4.  The GHC provides services to patients with any health condition but may limit the range of therapies offered in order to reduce ecological impacts and increase efficiency.
5.  The GHC engages in a continuous process of assessment and evaluation of its services, in light of both patient satisfaction and research into environmentally preferable technologies.
6.  The GHC employs ecologically sound conceptions of health, recovery, and rehabilitation.
7.  The GHC encourages staff and patients to live in environmentally sound ways that express a modest level of material consumption.
8.  The GHC acts as a community educator, advocating principles of sustainability in every aspect of life.
9.  The GHC encourages institutions with which it has business and academic relations to operate in environmentally responsible ways.
10.  The GHC pays its share of the environmental and social costs of providing health care.
11.  Environmental risks to GHC employees will be monitored, minimized, and equalized.
12.  The GHC provides high-quality services at a level inexpensive enough that they can be made equally available to all. 

Prepared by The Working Group of the Green Health Center Project, August 1999.