Con Viv in Bloom: Herbs, Community & Pluriverse Visions

In this reflective essay, Dr. Demeter shares a tender moment from a long-standing women’s herbal circle in remote Tasmania, where the question “What herbs do we need to change the world?” sparks a profound conversation about connection, diversity, and healing. Weaving together insights from herbalism, lived experience, and the pluriversal design philosophy of Arturo Escobar, the piece becomes a call to move beyond critique and toward regenerative imagination. At its heart is a reminder that no single solution can heal our world, we need all the herbs, all the voices, all the ways of living-with. Through story and vision, the essay invites readers to see plants not just as remedies, but as kin and co-creators of a more just and life-giving future.