From the Harvard Office for Sustainability —
The complex and interconnected nature of the climate, energy, and health challenges facing the planet demand an ever evolving approach to sustainable development. The Harvard Office for Sustainability (OfS) leads an University-wide organizational change initiative across Harvard's 13 Schools and departments to set and achieve goals for a healthier, more sustainable future. [source]
In addition to translating sustainability research into practice, the OfS highlights organizations and initiatives like the Green Medicine Initiative that are aligned with the broader goal of promoting sustainable practices at the University and beyond. GMI was invited to write a news article about the problems of healthcare waste, and our mission to reduce it at the source.
Read an excerpt here:
The pristine glass doors of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) West lobby open, and out rolls a wheelchair onto the sidewalk. But it doesn’t belong to a patient—it’s being used as a makeshift trolley, and it bears a plastic bin full of surgical gowns and latex-free gloves. A nurse stands by to make sure its contents make it safely to the Zipcar parked a few feet away.
Though this may not sound like a typical 8 AM weekday scene for one of Harvard Medical School’s oldest and largest teaching hospitals, it’s typical work for undergraduate members of the Harvard College Green Medicine Initiative.
