You are Nature: Working with the Elements for Change

by Janet Kent It is mid-winter. Outside the Wood Frogs are croaking, calling others in from the surrounding forest to congregate and breed in the unseasonably warm rain. They are here a month early, but they will be fine. We live in the Southern tip of their range and they are accustomed to cycles of …

Everything Matters: Why this is No Time for Cynicism

by Janet Kent Voices of cynicism under the guise of “reason” inundate us early in life. By cynicism I mean not only the assumption that individuals are acting out of self-interest, but also the belittling of the impact of individual and collective action. When we are children, mostly well-meaning adults advise us not to get …

Announcing our Podcast: The Book on Fire

If you know the two of us you know that we both read a lot, across a wide range of disciplines, seeking out books that enrich our understanding of the more-than-human world, books that shed light on how we as a species got into the mess we are in, books that offer frameworks for comprehension …

To Fulfill the Promise of Herbalism

We are living at an exciting time of rising energy and opportunity for herbalism in the United States. What is the full potential of this moment? How can we channel all this energy into the service of the greatest good?

Emergency! Herbs for Overwhelm and Freakout

                                                              by Janet Kent Big Box Meltdown A few days ago I had to spend a while in a big box store. I do this from time to time without much hassle but this time, no such luck. Something about the bright, bright fluorescent lights and the crowded aisles of holiday shoppers put me in …

Two Visions for the Future of Life on Earth

by Dave Meesters. On our trip to Florida last week, Janet and I had the privilege of seeing two eminent scientists speak. One of these speeches was an event that we’d been anticipating for months; the other took us completely by surprise. These two scientists shared strikingly different visions for how we can act to protect life in our apocalyptic age.

Think Like a Forest

By Janet Kent We tell ourselves stories to make sense of the world. We do this alone, as individuals, and together as a society. The stories we tell as a society, and in turn, those we tell as individuals, reflect the values of our culture. We recognize these frameworks as stories when they take the …

Herbalism in an Age of Mass Extinction, Part Two: Ecologically Minded Practice

by Janet Kent Consciousness of the growing stressors wild plant communities face can inform our herbal practice in many ways. There is currently a debate over whether ethical wildcrafting is even possible within the context of environmental catastrophe. I plan to write more on this topic soon, but for now, I will assume that people …

Herbalism in an Age of Mass Extinction, Part One: Context, Concepts and Strategy

by Janet Kent. In February of 2016, we, the inhabitants of Earth, reached a milestone. Around the world, the average temperature was 2˚C higher than any year on record. This is the number scientists have cited as the tipping point for the global climate. After a 2˚C temperature increase, catastrophic change is unavoidable. While global …