Good News
from the Amazon
An interview with John Easterling
John
Easterling, founder and CEO of Amazon Herb Co., created a model of
ecological prosperity that is benefiting the Amazon rainforest and
its inhabitants. Having personally traveled to the rainforest more
than 175 times over the past 26 years, we asked John about his vision
and mission, both for the present and for the future.
Kosa:
John, we’d like you to share with us your model of ecological
business.
John:
Well, the model of ecological business is simply a model
of being a good steward to the planet and to the people on the planet,
so what I find is in economics and in business, wherever you put incentives,
it creates behavior and it creates activity. We all know the rainforest
is being threatened by many different forces that are based on other
models of business. There is oil exploration, there is mining, and
there is cattle ranching and logging. The beautiful thing about our
business, with Amazon Herb Company, is that we’ve discovered
the true treasure of the Amazon. Not only is it a true treasure, but
it’s true and valuable. So it has a significant value in the
marketplace. By bringing that value to the marketplace, and exposing
it, we are able to turn the tide on where the incentives are. So now
the incentives have become one of ecological preservation. In other
words, we want to preserve the biggest treasure that’s there,
these Amazonian botanicals, so that they will be available on an on-going
basis over the years. Simply by our providing resources, by paying
the Indians a dollar value that’s more than logging, more than
oil exploration, and with no damaging side effects at all, we have
a real solution.
Kosa:
What are your chances of success given the fact the rainforest is
being destroyed at a rate of 75 acres a minute? Aren’t you fighting
a losing battle?
John:
Our chances of success are a hundred percent. We are succeeding. Every
time an acre is preserved, that’s success. Every time an Amazon
Herb bottle goes out the door, we’re celebrating a great success.
And our success will continue and get larger and larger in an even
grander scale. Now there are 14 communities we work with. The Amazon
basin is about the size of the United States, so there is a long,
long way to go, and our mission and our vision is to affect, in a
positive way, the entire Amazon basin. So, is it happening in a small
way right now? In a relative sense, it’s small, but to the people
in the communities where we are working, it’s gigantic. So every
day to me is a one hundred percent success.
Kosa:
And what would it take in numbers for you to be able to bring
enough herbs to market here in North America to affect that entire
Amazon basin?
John:
I’d say if we had 5 million people using these herbs, we could
really affect the entire Amazon basin.
Kosa:
People want to know, John, that harvesting the herbs is not
going to deplete the rainforest, especially when you talk about 5
million people taking these herbs daily.
John:
Well, think of it this way, there’s two hundred and
seventy million people in the United States. And think of them as
all eating a plateful of food. They’re not taking a couple of
droppers or a spoonful – a few times a day. They’re eating
platefuls of food each day. And every person in the United States
is doing that - two or three times a day. So you have two hundred
and seventy million people, times three – so what’s that?
Eight hundred million plates of food a day being consumed, and yet
look at the tiny percent of land that is used to grow all of that
food. So just try to put it in perspective in a comparative model.
When you compare the consumption of herbs to the masses of food people
are eating everyday, you can see how a very small area of the Amazon
can feed hundred of millions of people their daily herbage.
Kosa:
In numbers, John, how much of the Rainforest have you already helped
preserve?
John:
Well, I’d say our company has participated now in stabilizing
and preserving 300,000 acres. I say that because of the communities
we work with and the amount of land that they have. They don’t
have the temptation to compromise the integrity of their land by inviting
any lumber or oil exploration or gold exploration onto their land.
So that’s 300,000 acres at this point. In addition, we are buying
land ourselves.
Kosa:
John, as your company spreads its sphere of influence, how will you
deal with the political pressures that are often an obstacle in environmental
protection?
John:
Well, Kosa, quite frankly, I’m apolitical. I just focus on the
vision and the mission and doing what we’re doing. I don’t
pretend to be victimized by agencies or political pressures one way
or another, and as a result we’ve never been interfered with
in this country or abroad, taken the exception of the terrorist activity
in Peru. I have a high degree of confidence that the consciousness
of people is shifting in a dramatic way. I’ve seen that happen
in extraordinary ways in the past 15 years as we’ve been working
with these herbs. For example, the Natural Supplements Industry was
not the most welcome kid on the block in the business community 15-20
years ago. So there were major breakthroughs with DSHEA laws and the
understanding of herbs and botanicals, and now the world is recognizing
how valuable these plants are. And the consciousness is awakened to
a degree where people are looking for a way to participate and be
good stewards on the planet. I see things getting better and better.
I’m very optimistic about the future, and I feel that any resistance
that you refer to would be temporary and benign.
Kosa:
John, the ecological business model that you’ve created - how
do you see it affecting other businesses?
John:
Well, I’m glad you asked that question. I see its future
becoming very popular. I see people wanting to be a part of this simply
because of the ecological aspect of it. People are awakening to the
fact that there is a limit, there is a finite amount of resources
on our planet. So now we’re recognizing there’s a cause
and effect relationship and that the resources are finite. So I see
the ecological business we’re doing - that it’s becoming
a positive influence and a positive model for others, and I encourage
that. I encourage other businesses to wake up to the possibilities
of doing their business in an ecologically friendly way.
Kosa:
Is there anyone else who is harvesting herbs in the rainforest. Are
others following your lead?
John:
Certainly with what we’ve got started now, it’s an attractive
kind of model that other companies would want to duplicate. And we
get calls every week from other companies wanting to buy herbs from
us. Are there other people harvesting? It’s a big rainforest;
there’s other people beginning to harvest but there’s
no one that has the complete model that we have: the relationships
with the communities, the facility and reserve in the Amazon, and
the crew down there. Different people are looking to see if they can
copy what we have, but no one is involved with the relationships all
the way through the process like we are.
Kosa:
So what has been your key in crossing cultural boundaries
and developing partnerships in the Amazon that work?
John:
Well I don’t know if there is a specific duplicatable key. It
really comes down to following one’s passion. I didn’t
set out in the beginning to cross cultural boundaries and set up successful
relationships with indigenous communities. In the beginning, I was
following a passion of finding treasure. So that was the driving force
that took me across the cultural boundaries, and it was then that
I began to appreciate the cultural differences and be able to work
with indigenous communities based on trading and purchasing a variety
of tribal artifacts, ceramics and blowguns and things like that. And
I did that for years. So that was where the relationship really was
formed and really grew. Then later, once I had a life changing experience
with their botanicals, we started talking about herbs and botanicals,
and it opened up another entire layer of adventure, another layer
to delve into. So if there is a key, I would just say - follow the
passion, follow the trail. I just stumbled into this. I am very blessed,
and very fortunate with all the things that have happened to me while
following that trail. I never know exactly where that trail is going
to lead. And in this case, it’s led me beyond the gemstones
and the tribal artifacts into these herbs, and into relationships
with indigenous communities, and now helping to reverse the effects
of degenerative issues with peoples’ health. So really it just
gets bigger and bigger. It’s a matter of staying on track, and
staying with the vision. We see some really good things happening
now, and it’s not me - I can eat only so much herbage myself.
Now we’ve got thousands of people with a shared vision and a
shared mission and that’s what’s so encouraging.
Kosa:
John, what is your vision and hope for the people in the Amazon? What
is your big dream?
John:
Well on the big side, we’re probably in the most exciting point
in history, and something of historical significance is going on now
with the re-empowerment of the communities in the Amazon. What we’re
doing is empowering these communities to make new choices about their
future. As they become more and more empowered, over the next 10 or
15 years, these communities could rise to the level of having such
power and influence – they could be calling the shots. This
is the next generation of empowerment that’s just beginning
to start now. So how that plays out, I know it’s going to play
out in a very powerful and positive way.
Fantastic
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products check out this great site.
For
more information on partnering with John Easterling and Amazon Herb
formulas, please contact (800)362-3975 http://www.amazonprosperity.com
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