Now that the snows have blanketed the northeastern United States, I sometimes hear in my circles a wish that certain plants had been collected during the growing season for medicine.  Of course, the often-voiced solution these days is to purchase medicines from natural food stores and online shops.  From within the consumer culture, this seems like a perfect remedy for an apothecary that is wanting for specific medicines.  And while I would voice that supporting herbal medicine has immense advantages over supporting pharmaceutical companies, there is still a level of nature disconnection, a reliance on long-distance transport, and information that is missing when we consider the winter landscape devoid of healing teachers.  All of this contributes to a willingness to allow trauma to the land (because we rely on land elsewhere for food, medicine, clothing, etc.).  It isn’t until we directly interact with our local landscapes for necessary items that this society will (finally) critically examine how it uses (read:  exploits) the environment.