Our Spring 2008 Conference on "Green Health and Sustainability" will be held June 3-4 at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco.

Public attitudes toward global climate change and sustainability have reached a tipping point, creating new pressures for both business and personal social responsibility. Over the next decade, a growing corporate and citizen awareness of sustainability will include an expanded view of health risks that will heighten concerns for the natural environment, the food supply chain, and the health of generations to come. Yet, even while sustainability is going mainstream, ideas about how to put the concept into practice vary widely; indeed, there are many different shades of green.

During the conference, we will explore how personal health, the environment, and sustainability are converging to create a new market for "Green Health." Green Health values and practices are likely to define whole new product and service categories, as the concept of personal health is linked to community and environmental health. Green Health is also likely to spur demand for new kinds of information about products and services, as online platforms that aggregate and distribute citizen views on corporate sustainability practices proliferate.

We will also examine how the market for Green Health will develop quickly but will remain unevenly distributed. And although some people will be motivated out of environmental concerns, being green will be as much about personal health as it is about the betterment of the environment. Staff and attendees will explore the emerging spectrum of green practices as they broadly relate to health and define the next chapter of the global health economy.