The goal of this presentation is raise awareness of how our day to day recommendations and herbal prescriptions are effecting our environment. As herbalists we always want to treat the WHOLE but in order for us to remain practitioners of natural medicines, we need to be thinking of nature as part of the whole. As health providers we are in a great position of power and responsibility when it comes to the daily recommendations we give to clients. Through the course of this talk I hope to inspire fellow herbalist to be not only stewards and champions of natural health, but of the health of nature and our planet.

Objectives:

• Review of some key ecological concerns that will be connected to herbal prescribing – soil quality and organic farming, ocean health and farming, common environmental factors we look at to treat in our patients
• Review of top NHPs sold in Canada and assessment of their ecological impact
• Importance of organics in herbalism and the lack of organic herbs in nutraceticuals, highlight a few significantly endangered species that are commonly used (myrrh, frankincense etc).