Using essential oils with respect is one way we can minimise our consumption of essential oils and therefore our impact on the environment. For most aromatherapy products we make at home, we only need to use very small amounts of essential oils. Despite their comparatively low yield of plant matter to essential oil, they are extremely concentrated plant extracts, so little is needed to produce excellent therapeutic and aromatic effects. If stored in an airtight bottle away from light and heat, they have a good shelf life – several years, in fact, which makes them a good investment.

Since essential oils can be used to make home-made cosmetics, therapeutic herbal remedies and cleaning products, they can be harnessed in this way to reduce the number of products we buy in single-use plastics from large corporations. This has a positive environmental impact in an indirect way, since by making our own products in reusable glass bottles, for example, we’re creating less waste from other sources.

Finding alternatives to endangered species is also a key way we can reduce our impact when using essential oils. In the podcast An Aromatic Life, during episode #13, Conservation and Sustainability of Aromatic Medicinal Plants, guest Dr. Kelly Ablard advises that we should look at the chemical composition of vulnerable aromatic plants, as well as their therapeutic and energetic factors. She suggests that instead of buying essential oils from vulnerable plants, this information will allow us to choose a chemically, therapeutically and energetically similar essential oil to ensure we are not contributing to the precarity of vulnerable species. For example, Ho Leaf Cinnamomum camphora (Linalool ct.) is suggested as an alternative to Rosewood, Dalbergia sissoo, and even practices like choosing an oil which is taken from the leaf or branch of a tree as opposed to the heartwood, which requires cutting down the whole tree, would be preferable (20).

One of the very best ways to increase our understanding of how the use of essential oils affects sustainability is through education. Learning about our local aromatic plant species, and plants in general, is key to understanding the ecosystem of which we are a part, and therefore respecting it as a diverse network of intersecting factors that deserves respect. Rather than placing ourselves at the centre of the ecosystem, biocentrism (21) takes the view that humans are just one part of this system, yet it is clear that despite this, we have a great deal of power to influence the whole network substantially, for better or worse, through our choices on both an individual and collective level.