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Summer 2005: Sustainable Health Care
Cliff Feigenbaum and Ted Ketcham
GreenMoney has long touched indirectly on the topics of health and well being by covering the
marketplace of organics and natural products. Now we are taking a closer look at holistic health
care and ecological medicine. We'll explore how environmental and personal health are connected, as
well as how an integrative approach to health care encompasses all aspects of lifestyle, - body,
mind, and spirit.
Because how you spend your money remains an important key to health,
Sustainable Table launched a campaign last year to educate consumers on shopping smarter, eating
healthier and enjoying fresh and abundant food raised by local family farmers. From the benefits of
pasture-raised meat to the dangers of antibiotics in factory farms, Sustainable Table helps
families make healthier choices. Learn more at http://www.sustainabletable.org/
Pesticides
and herbicides, house paints, cars, dish soap, cosmetics, shampoo and even bed sheets can each
affect our personal health as well as that of our environment. With all these threats and many
more, can we still hope for a healthy ecosystem? Can we have nontoxic air, water, and land and halt
the rising cancer rates while still growing enough healthy food to feed our planet? One giant step
is to grow our food supply organically, free of genetically engineered ingredients. We must also
phase out and replace harmful chemicals with safer alternatives. Such sustainable agriculture
produces food that is healthy for consumers, safe for the environment, humane for workers and
animals, profitable and fair to traditional family farmers, and supportive of rural communities.
Information is key. Opportunities abound for making better choices in the interdependent
world in which we live.
The media has noted the merging of traditional and alternative
healthcare. Magazine racks now stock more healthy information choices; Spirituality & Health
promotes well being achieved by aligning mind, body and spirit. Natural Home and Garden promotes
natural products and materials that are beautiful and environmentally safe.
First in this
issue Charlotte Brody of Commonweal and Healthcare Without Harm shares a new health care
perspective, then Russell Precious of Pharmaca introduces us to "integrative" pharmacies. We have
included several important articles from the Bioneers' book Ecological Medicine; one is by Dr.
Michael Lerner, another is by Dr. Samuel Epstein.
On our web site, www.greenmoney.com
we've posted three additional articles from Ecological Medicine; one by Ted Schettler, another by
Charlotte Brody, and yet another by Carolyn Raffensperger. You'll also find actress and organic
farmer Marsha Mason who writes about her amazing New Mexico farm and their product line. Online we
have also posted a list of healthful resources like our favorite newsletter The Green Guide.
The topic is overwhelming to say the least, but this is our point of entry, so bravely we bring
you our first sustainable business issue on healthcare. Look for much more in the future.
A special thanks to Kenny Ausubel and the Bioneers for their guidance with this issue.
Now brew a nice cup of organic green tea and enjoy this issue.
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