Have you looked into the sustainability of your White Sage?
White Sage grown, harvested, bundled, dried and ready to be given to friends…I am doing my tiny part to prevent what Susan Leopold, PhD and Bill Chioffi termed “The White Sage Mafia”, as they described the practice of unethical harvesters who illegally and unsustainably harvest White Sage (Salvia apiana) from its native ranges—often from public lands.
In their chapter, entitled “North American Case Studies of Medicinal Plant Conservation” from our book, Socio-Ecological Systems and Decoloniality, Convergence of Indigenous and Western Knowledge (Deepa Pullanikkatil (PhD) and Hughes, Eds.), they describe the unethical and unsustainable wild harvest of White Sage for “Cleaning Space Kits” sold by large retailers and the concern by many Native Americans, herbalists and conservationists over this activity.
As White Sage is easy to grow by seed, and if it is to be grown commercially, as Leopold and Chioffi report, “the only sustainable and ethical claims should be that it is coming from a cultivated source and a buyer should always visit the farm to verify the claim.”
#ethnobotany #sustainability #UnitedPlantSavers #whitesage #salviaapiana #nativeamerican #sacredplants #medicinalplants