WASHINGTON, DC – August 9, 2010 –
The Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO) announced
today that Dr. Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, head
of the Democratic National Committee and Presidential
candidate, will keynote a gathering of a distinguished group
of healthcare professionals and thought leaders at its
upcoming conference, Healthy Hospitals: Changing Climate in
Healthcare Facilities and Institutions. The full-day event,
which is the first of three ACCO Climate Change Leadership
Series programs scheduled in Fall 2010, takes place on
September 29, 2010 at George Washington University (GW) in
Washington, DC and will be co-presented by Practice
Greenhealth, the Sustainable Packaging Council and the GW
Institute for Sustainability Research, Education, and
Policy.
The healthcare community ranks amongst the
top sectors in terms of gross energy intensity in commercial
buildings. The U.S. EPA estimates that 30% of the healthcare
sector's current energy use — or $1.95 billion — could be
reduced without sacrificing quality of care through a shift
toward energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports
that climate change is already (and will increasingly)
causing a range of complex health impacts, including
temperature-related illness and death, injuries and
illnesses due to extreme weather events, the spread of
infectious disease vectors, increases in water borne
illnesses, and wide-ranging impacts from air pollution. The
healthcare sector will be significantly impacted by the
broad range of impending business, economic and operational
implications related to climate change and energy
consumption.
The Healthy Hospitals workshop will provide
a forum for healthcare community leaders to discuss the
pressing energy and climate change issues impacting their
sector. The sessions will focus on topics such as role of
green building design and retrofits, facilities management,
use of environmentally sound products/procedures and supply
chain protocols, and their impact on improving patient
health and response to treatment, as well as reducing energy
consumption, operational costs, and greenhouse gas
emissions. In addition to the keynote speech by Governor
Dean, the event will also feature speakers such as:
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James Sullivan (Senior
Sustainability Officer and Director, Asset Management
Services, U.S. Veterans Administration)
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Clayton Boenecke (Chief, Capital
Planning Office, Office of the Assistant Secretary of
Defense, Health Affairs)
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Kathy Gerwig (Vice President of
Environmental Stewardship, Kaiser Permanente)
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Valerie Patrick (Sustainability
Coordinator, Bayer Corporation)
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Linda Lee (Director of
Operations, Waste Management)
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Jessica Abrahams (Partner,
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP)
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Summer Martin (Partner, McKenna
Long & Aldridge LLP)
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Gary Cohen (President, Health
Care Without Harm)
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Robin Guenther (Principal,
Perkins & Will)
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Katherine O’Dea (Senior Fellow,
GreenBlue / Sustainable Packaging Council)
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Mark Starik (Director, GW
Institute of Sustainability Research, Education and
Policy)
-
Roni Neff, Ph.D. (Research and
Policy Director, Center for a Livable Future, Johns
Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health)
“One of ACCO’s primary missions is to
provide an environment to facilitate discussion amongst
subject matter experts, our members and our partners to
address the very real business, economic and operational
risks and opportunities related to energy and climate
change,” said Daniel Kreeger, ACCO’s Executive Director.
“We’re excited to partner with Practice Greenhealth, the
Sustainable Packaging Coalition and George Washington
University to bring this approach to the healthcare
community with recognized thought leaders such as Governor
Howard Dean.”
The September 29, 2010 event is a full-day
program and will take place at The George Washington
University (GW) in Washington, DC. “GW is very pleased to
host this exciting and important conference. At the GW
Institute for Sustainability Research, Education, and
Policy, we recognize the vital role of collaboration in
advancing sustainability in our organizations and throughout
society, and congratulate the Association for Climate Change
Officers in organizing and leading this gathering. We hope
that focusing attention on the nexus of healthcare, energy,
and climate will highlight the need for an urgent response
to some of the most critical sustainability issues of our
time,” said Mark Starik, Director of GW’s Institute for
Sustainability Research, Education, and Policy.
The Association of Climate Change Officers
is a 501(c)(6) non-profit corporation that services climate
change professionals worldwide from sectors such as public
and private corporations, governmental organizations,
colleges and universities; and non-profit organizations.
ACCO’s mission is to advance the knowledge and skills of
those dedicated to developing and directing climate change
strategies in the public and private sectors, and to
establish a flexible and robust forum for collaboration
between climate change officers. For more information about
ACCO or this event please visit
www.accoonline.org.
About ACCO’s Climate Change Leadership
Series
ACCO's Climate Change Leadership Series (CCLS)
brings together thought leaders in industry, government,
academia and the NGO community to share their experience and
expertise on a wide range of issues related to climate
change. The series features executive education courses,
workshops and conferences designed to advance the knowledge
and skills of those dedicated to developing and directing
climate change strategies in the public and private sectors.
About The George Washington University
and the GW Institute for Sustainability Research, Education
& Policy
In the heart of the nation’s capital with
additional programs in Virginia, The George Washington
University (GW) was created by an Act of Congress in 1821.
Today, GW is the largest institution of higher education in
the District of Columbia. The University offers
comprehensive programs of undergraduate and graduate liberal
arts study, as well as degree programs in medicine, public
health, law, engineering, education, business and
international affairs. Each year, GW enrolls a diverse
population of undergraduate, graduate and professional
students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and
more than 130 countries.
The GW Institute for Sustainability
Research, Education, & Policy is a newly-chartered
University-wide organization with a mission of advancing the
scholarship of sustainability, or long-term quality of life
for humans and our ecosystems, specifically:
-
Promoting, initiating, and evaluating GW
sustainability research, including publications,
presentations, and other scholarly efforts, in four main
areas, described below.
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Encouraging GW faculty in all schools to
increase the quality and quantity of
sustainability-oriented courses, programs, and
extracurricular activities to a level commensurate with
student demand, societal need, and university resources
in those same four areas.
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Collecting, analyzing, evaluating, and
disseminating information about sustainability-related
policies in these four areas, from local through global
levels, and throughout the three main areas of societal
organization: business, government, and non-profit
organizations.
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Providing a convening and
cross-communication function to assist the university in
coordinating sustainability efforts of other GW academic
institutes, centers, and departments.
About Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth provides practice
guidance, training, consultation and business solutions to
help its members in their efforts to implement
environmentally responsible practices. More than 1,000
health care institutions have joined Practice Greenhealth,
demonstrating the growing commitment among the health
community to reduce its environmental impact. Practice
Greenhealth offers a variety of programs to its members,
including the Healthcare Clean Energy Exchange,
environmental purchasing, sustainable operations, continuing
education, webinars, networking opportunities,
communications, and annual awards recognizing the
achievements of member institutions.
About the Sustainable Packaging Coalition
The Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a project of the
nonprofit sustainability institute GreenBlue, is an industry
working group of nearly 200 companies from across the
packaging supply chain.
www.sustainablepackaging.org
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