In many ways, Erin’s story is one of two paths. Having always loved the outdoors, her love of plants started young. When she was fifteen she started to study independently the medicinal use of plants. For years, it remained a hobby until in 2000, she began her formal studies of herbal medicine at the Rocky Mountain Center for Botanical Studies in Boulder, Colorado. These years opened her to a deeper world of the plants and to holistic health. It sparked a deep connection with the land and plants of Colorado.
Following these years, she pursued a graduate degree in ethnobotany at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. This began a ten-year career working with indigenous communities on various conservation and natural resource management issues. During this time, she worked in Ethiopia for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and in various countries as International Program Director for Global Diversity Foundation and Managing Director for Global Diversity Foundation-North America. In total, she has spent more than twelve years living and working abroad in more than twenty countries.
During these years, much of her work focused on promoting “biocultural diversity”. This is simply the academic concept for the innate interconnectedness of everything on earth, the great web of life. People are an essential part of this web and the world’s biological diversity is deeply connected with the world’s cultural diversity and our diverse relationships with nature. While the amazing and diverse work that is being done in conservation and throughout the environmental movement is important, Erin believes that true change comes from the heart. It comes from people remembering their connection to the natural world and cultivating a deeper relationship with it. Whether through harvesting medicinal plants, growing an organic garden, or exploring natural building, all of these are ways that we connect with the natural world. Rooted in these beliefs, and fueled by her desire to combine her passions for herbalism, ethnobotany, and teach, she founded the Center for Integrative Botanical Studies.
