Adding deep nuance to conversations around herbalism and the botanicals industry, this week’s guest Ann Armbrecht shares her extensive knowledge about herbal supply chains and the effects of herbal commodification. Ann focuses much of her research on the stories behind the herbal products available to consumers, detailing the complicated and often exploitative supply chains involved in the mass production of botanical products.
Ann and Ayana discuss how we might come into right relationship with the plant world. As plants invite us to imagine and create medicine, what might true health look like?
Ann Armbrecht is an anthropologist (PhD, Harvard 1995) whose work explores the relationships between humans and the earth, most recently through her work with plants, herbal medicine, and the botanical industry. She is the director of the Sustainable Herbs Program, a program of the American Botanical Council, which she established in 2016 to help bridge the gaps between the values of herbal medicine and the reality of sourcing and producing herbs on a global scale.
She is the author of The Business of Botanicals: Exploring the Healing Promise of Plant Medicines in a Global Industry, that documents her journey following herbs from seed to shelf. She is also the author of the award winning ethnographic memoir, Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home, and the co-producer of the documentary on traditional western herbalism, Numen: The Healing Power of Plants. Ann was a 2017 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar documenting the supply chain of medicinal plants in India and she lives with her family in central Vermont.
Music byFlo Perlin, Jeffery Silverstein, and Andy Tallent. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.
Dr. CHANDA PRESCOD-WEINSTEIN on the Night Sky and Liberation Discourse /228
NKEM NDEFO on the Body as Compass /227
CAROLINA RUBIO MACWRIGHT on the Intersections of Immigration, Assimilation, and Earth Based Wisdom /226
ENRIQUE SALMÓN on Moral Landscapes Amidst Changing Ecologies /225
ELLA NOAH BANCROFT on the Intelligence of Our Intimacy /224
QUEER NATURE on Reclaiming Wild Safe Space /223 ⌠ENCORE⌡
JENNY ODELL on the Attention Economy /222
DAVID HOLMGREN on a Quiet Boycott /221
VIJAY PRASHAD on Capitalism’s Erosion of Morality /220
Dr. CUTCHA RISLING BALDY on Land Return and Revitalization /219
TOM BUTLER on the Complexities of Large-Scale Conservation /218
CAROL RUCKDESCHEL on Keeping Cumberland Island Wild /217
OLÚFÉMI O. TÁÍWÒ on Climate Colonialism and Reparations /216
NALINI NADKARNI On Discovering Forest Canopy Microcosms /215 ⌠ENCORE⌡
SEVERINE VON TSCHARNER FLEMING on the Commons to Which We Belong /214
CAMILLE DEFRENNE on Forest Symbiosis /213
Dr. VANDANA SHIVA on Becoming Untameable /212
HARSHA WALIA on Dismantling Imagined, Militarized, and Colonial Borders /211
Dr. SAMUEL RAMSEY on Bee Population in Peril /210
SII-AM HAMILTON on Respect-Based Futures /209
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL