Welcome to our inaugural issue of Code Green, a newsletter for those interested in reimagining a safer, more sustainable health care system.

When compiling news for this newsletter, we were surprised to discover that articles focusing on sustainable health care rarely exist.

The image above maps the news universe for the past two weeks: ninety-six stories published in mainstream and trade press mentioning terms like health care and sustainability, plastic waste, green initiatives, etc. Each dot is a story, colored and clustered according to themes, like "Health Care Programs;" lines show links between stories.

If a category is not as connected to others, as is the case with Kuwait Pharmaceuticals in this week's search, that means the category is more niche and distinct.

What's interesting is the shape: Kind of a squished donut. Right in the center, where the hole is, we expected to see articles at the intersection of sustainability and health care.

Instead, we have a vacuum.

We suggest that Code Green needs to fill that space. We know of initiatives and goals out there that touch nearly all of the categories identified by our software, yet they are not being written about or publicized enough to be identified. Our job – with your help – is to change that.

This is why we launched this newsletter. We'll be pulling any and all stories we can find on hospitals, individuals, new science, and trade news regarding sustainability in health care, from recycling initiatives to the use of toxic chemicals in medical products.

We're counting on you, our readers, to take this information and create the news that fills the space.