Sustainable Herbs

Video: What are Sustainable Herbs?

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“We can’t be well until the planet is well”

                                                  — Kenny Ausubel

Sustainable Herbs

The herbs we ingest are inextricably connected to the processes that produce them. This is true for all herbs – and it is especially true for herbs we take for our health. Sustainable herbal medicine simply means herbal products that  are produced and consumed in ways that sustain human and environmental health – in ways that are good for people and good for the planet.

Sustainable Herbs should:

  • Be safe, effective and affordable;
  • Utilize production practices that preserve biological diversity and regenerate ecosystems;
  • Support and enhance cultural diversity and economic resilience by providing fair wages and good livelihoods for everyone involved.

What is Sustainable Medicine

In SHP Director, Ann Armbrecht’s experience following herbs through the supply chain, she found that a handful of companies followed meaningful quality control coupled with sustainability commitments. This doesn’t mean these companies are always perfect – nor do they claim to be. It means they are committed to the ongoing work of trying to walk their talk.

Ann highlights these companies because she spent enough time with the decision makers to trust their commitment to sourcing high quality herbs, to broader issues of sustainability, and to tackling the challenges that inevitably arise. Most of all she was inspired by their vision not just to source the highest quality raw material but to use sourcing that material as a way to change the world.

Watch the video above to hear herb company decision makers talk about this vision in their own words. And then follow the links below to find out more.

Dig deeper into the issues facing the herb industry

Find out more about the supply chain

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