Green Bioethics: Sustainable Health Care, Cristina Richie, PhD, TU Delft; Global Bioethics

Health care is ubiquitous in the industrialized world. Yet, every medical development, technique, and procedure impacts the environment. The Canadian health care industry expends an estimated 29.7 million metric tons (MMT), or 5.1% of the country’s emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions contribute to climate change, climate-change related health hazards, and perpetuate environmental racism. Health care is ruining the environment. In response, Green Bioethics synthesizes environmental ethics and biomedical ethics, thus creating an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable health care. Through four principles—distributive justice, resource conservation, simplicity, and ethical economics—patients, doctors, and health care plans can move towards sustainable, just health care.