If health care were a country, it would be the fifth worst polluter worldwide, according to Dr. Jonathan Perlin. He's the president and CEO of The Joint Commission, a nonprofit that works with health care providers to improve the quality of patient care.

Health care is a big contributor to pollution, excess waste and greenhouse gases, which can lead to making patients sicker: something many health care institutions would like to change.

Dr. Perlin will talk about how The Joint Commission is now working with providers to offer some concrete ways to do things like reduce waste and reduce their carbon footprint on Wednesday, Feb. 7 as part of St. Luke's lecture series on climate and health, and he joined Idaho Matters to tell us more.