With front-page headlines this week warning that the UK's policies on climate change are set to achieve their 2020 milestone 30 years too late, the scale of the environmental challenge ahead becomes yet more daunting.
Yet it is not as if green issues could be much higher up the political agenda.
Mainstream politicians, once content to leave green issues to the fringe parties, are clambering over bicycles and icebergs in an effort to prove their credentials.
But 2020 targets require long-term vision.
How can the NHS, frantically focused on short-term requirements to achieve the bottom line and hit ever more ambitious service targets, play its part?
The feature in this week's magazine (pages 22-24) sets out why, as one of the largest organisations in the world, the NHS needs to take a leading role in securing its future. But it also offers some hope and practical advice for those who fear an NHS culture of 'cheapest is best' leaves little scope for sustainable development.
But Barnsley Hospital foundation trust sets out two simple and persuasive arguments in favour of its recycling project: it saves money, and it makes people feel good.
The rest of the NHS could learn from a pitch like that.
Nick Edwards
No comments yet