The Notion of Sustainability Transcends Energy Policy

Given the focus of the discussion here, we tend to look at the concept of sustainability through the lens of the ways in which we generate and consume energy.  But occasionally, it’s a good idea to look around us at the other major arenas of human endeavor, understand the issues, and observe the struggles that our peers elsewhere are facing. 

Here’s a short but extremely poignant article that a physician in Minnesota wrote recently, in which he asserts that “we can do better” than our current system of healthcare – and goes on to serve up a case in point that will leave you glad you took the few moments required to read it. 

I’d like to think we are indeed headed in that “better” direction.  After all, 59% of practicing physicians favor single-payer healthcare, according to a report in Annals of Internal Medicine, based on a poll conducted by Indiana University’s Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research.  But does it really matter what doctors think in the healthcare game, any more than what the employees in a steel mill think?  I’m not sure.  Something tells me we’re coming back around to the point at which doctors re-assert themselves. 

I’d be interested in your comments.