EP85. The truth about wild-harvested beauty

Wild harvesting plants as cosmetic ingredients sounds idyllic. It conjures up visions of nature's botanical bounty going straight into beauty product formulations, barely processed or adulterated by human hand, and carefully selected from woodlands, hedgerows, forests, mountains and moors. Wild harvesting is certainly a marketer's dream. You will no doubt have seen beauty products sporting 'wild harvested' labels and brands mentioning on their packaging and websites that their products include wild-harvested botanicals. But harvesting any plant, whether a commercial crop or a wild plant, has an environmental impact. Wild harvesting may sound the ultimate way to source natural beauty ingredients, but how do we as consumers know if the wild harvesting of precious botanicals isn't leaving its own damaging footprint on the planet? Wild harvesting could turn out to be a far cry from the sustainable image it portrays. To help unpack the truth about wild harvesting, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier invited Emily King, business engagement officer in the secretariat of the FairWild Foundation, on the show. FairWild is a non-profit initiative with the mission to secure a fair and sustainable future for wild plant resources and people. Listen in to hear just how wild harvesting can be a real force for sustainable good - for planet, plants and people - if managed the right way.