Happy holiday season to all our plant-enthusiast listeners! For this episode of Herbal Radio, we’ll be shaking things up a bit from the usual herbal adventure we find ourselves embarking on each week. Today, in acknowledgment of the Buy Nothing Day movement, we sit down with our President & Owner, Shawn Donnille. Shawn and Thomas will dissect the traditions behind Black Friday, and shed light on the consequences surrounding the mass-consumerism culture that we all find ourselves living in today. Whilst many large corporations are gearing up for some of their biggest sales of the year, Mountain Rose Herbs has other plans.

Each year, we’ve marked our own Black Friday tradition by celebrating Buy Nothing Day. In making this stand, we are joining tens of thousands of people in 65 nations for an international day of protest against mass consumerism and the throw-away culture that accompanies it. The Buy Nothing Movement has been growing since 1992 as overconsumption continues to consume our precious natural resources faster than we can replace them, putting our planet in real jeopardy.

If you visit our website today, you will see that our entire website is blacked out in protest of Black Friday. Instead, we hope you will spend the day with your family and friends, sharing acts of kindness, starting that craft project you’ve been putting off, listening to this podcast, or better yet, all of the above! This is a day to reach for the meaning in our lives instead of stuff, and we thank you all for being part of the solution alongside us. So please, do not shop with us today Friday, November 24.

Shawn Donnille first became involved with Mountain Rose Herbs as a passionate young idealist with a fervent desire to change the world. He was the town’s notorious rabble-rouser, always petitioning for mandatory labeling on genetically modified food crops, encouraging people to support a strong conservation ethic, fighting for the protection of endangered or threatened species, and the protection and enhancement of our riparian areas. When Mountain Rose Herbs came into his life, Shawn saw it as an opportunity to change the way business is conducted on this planet. To this day, the revolutionary business principles that Shawn initiated have been used as a successful model by countless other organizations around the world.

Shawn became co-owner of the company in 2001, and since then he has initiated several bold and daring changes, most notably the eradication of all conventionally grown products from our product line, introducing the first line of fair trade certified medicinal herbs in the United States, implementing the design and deployment of our web presence, launching our zero waste program, our charitable giving program, and so much more!

Now, Shawn proudly holds the title of our President & Owner, and he currently oversees all behind-the-scenes aspects of Mountain Rose Herbs that keep our herbal-ship afloat. In addition to this, he is intimately connected with developing all of our sustainability initiatives to further enhance and propel bold ideas that are being shared with numerous other corporations, non-profits, state agencies, and civic groups as a working model for success.

"All of our environmental issues can be connected to the embarrassing way that business abuses this planet. My objective is to stop this destructive pattern by offering an alternative modality and sharing that modality with others so we can all lead the change necessary to heal the planet"

Learn more about the organizations and initiatives mentioned in this episode:

The Cornucopia Institute

Letter from the Founder of Patagonia - Yvon Chouinard

Mountain Rose Herbs Blog - Buy Nothing Day: A Stand Against Throw-Away Culture

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Jim Chalmers on his budget balancing act