Mark Plotkin | |
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 Mark Plotkin with Waura Chief | |
| Born | May 21, 1955 |
| Occupation | Ethnobotanist, Advocate, Author, and Podcast Host |
| Known for | Tropical rainforest conservation |
Mark J. Plotkin (born May 21, 1955) is an ethnobotanist and a plant explorer in the Neotropics, where he is an expert on rainforest ecosystems. Plotkin is an advocate for tropical rainforest conservation and host of Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast.
After attending Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Plotkin worked at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology when he joined an expedition searching for an elusive crocodilian species in 1978 and was galvanized into returning to education. He completed his bachelor of liberal arts degree at Harvard University's Harvard Extension School, his master's degree in forestry at Yale School of Forestry, and his Ph.D. at Tufts University; during which he completed a handbook for the Tiriyó people of Suriname detailing their own medicinal plants—the only other book printed in Tiriyó language being the Bible. He went on to do research at Harvard under Richard Evans Schultes. He is the author of the book Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice. Other critically acclaimed books by Plotkin include Medicine Quest, The Killers Within: the Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria (with Michael Shnayerson), and The Shaman's Apprentice, (a children's book with Lynne Cherry).
In 1995, Plotkin and prominent Costa Rican conservationist Liliana Madrigal formed the Amazon Conservation Team [1] to protect Amazonian rainforest in partnership with local indigenous peoples. ACT has now worked with 50 tribes throughout Amazonia. Plotkin continues to work with the Tirio of Suriname, and in Brazil as well. He is featured in the 1997 IMAX film Amazon , written by photojournalist Loren McIntyre.
Plotkin received the San Diego Zoo Gold Medal for Conservation (1993) and the Roy Chapman Andrews Distinguished Explorer Award (2004). Time called him an "Environmental Hero for the Planet" (2001) and Smithsonian hailed him as one of "35 Who Made a Difference" (2005), along with other notables like Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, and fellow New Orleanian Wynton Marsalis.
In March 2008, Plotkin and Madrigal were among those chosen as "Social Entrepreneurs of the Year" by the Skoll Foundation. [2]
In May 2010, Mark Plotkin received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. The degree citation read in part: "For teaching us that the loss of knowledge and species anywhere impoverishes us all; for combining humanitarian vision with academic rigor and moral sensibility; and for reminding us always, with clarity and passion and humor, that when we study people and plants, we are simultaneously exploring paths to philosophy, music, art, dance, reverence, and healing; Lewis and Clark is honored to confer on you today the Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa." In October of the same year, the great primatologist Jane Goodall presented Mark with an award for "International Conservation Leadership."
In 2011, he was the recipient of the Yale School of Forestry Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2019, the Harvard University Extension School gave him the Shinagel Award for Public Service “in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the protection of the Amazon rainforest and the tribal communities within.
Books written by Mark J. Plotkin include:
Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An account of the author's work in the Amazon rainforest tracking shamans' knowledge of curative powers of plants. The book details the potential value of these plants as well as the incredible wisdom of indigenous healers as to how these species can best be used. The book served as the basis for the multiple award-winning documentary The Shaman's Apprentice, directed by Miranda Smith. [3]
Plotkin was interviewed in 1998 by South American Explorer magazine, just after the release of Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice and the IMAX movie Amazon:
No medical system has all the answers — no shaman that I've worked with has the equivalent of a polio vaccine, and no dermatologist that I've been to could cure a fungal infection as effectively (and inexpensively) as some of my Amazonian mentors. It shouldn't be the doctor versus the witch doctor. It should be the best aspects of all medical systems (ayurvedic, herbalism, homeopathic, and so on) combined in a way which makes health care more effective and more affordable for all. [4]
Medicine Quest: Plotkin continues to address topics discussed in the previous work, exploring searches for new medicine from nature around the world. The new book, writes Plotkin, "is a quest powered by the desperation of the ill and the compassion of those who would cure them."
Plotkin highlights the ironic marriage of natural products, indigenous wisdom, and biotechnology. He details discoveries already providing leads in the laboratory: pain-killers from the skin of rainforest frogs, anti-coagulants from leech saliva, and anti-tumor agents from snake venom. Medicine Quest also provides background on the centuries-old pursuit of cures, ranging from the ancient Egyptians' expeditions in search of healing plants, to the 19th-century development of aspirin from willow bark and the extraction of penicillin from fungi.
The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know: Covers the whole Amazonian riverfront: the past, present, and future of a vast earth-supporting ecosystem Explores the variety of life found in the Amazon, from its tiny insects to its massive canopy system Vital to understanding human impact on the world's largest rainforest and current conservation efforts Includes information on all nine Amazonian countries, as well as the indigenous tribes.
Watch Mark's TED Talk, What the people of the Amazon know that you don’t
Listen to Mark's Podcast, Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation
Read Mark's New York Times Editorial, Could the Amazon Save Your Life?
Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for many aspects of life, such as plants as medicines, foods, intoxicants and clothing. Richard Evans Schultes, often referred to as the "father of ethnobotany", explained the discipline in this way:
Ethnobotany simply means ... investigating plants used by societies in various parts of the world.
Richard Evans Schultes was an American biologist. He may be considered the father of modern ethnobotany. He is known for his studies of the uses of plants by indigenous peoples, especially the indigenous peoples of the Americas. He worked on entheogenic or hallucinogenic plants, particularly in Mexico and the Amazon, involving lifelong collaborations with chemists. He had charismatic influence as an educator at Harvard University; several of his students and colleagues went on to write popular books and assume influential positions in museums, botanical gardens, and popular culture.
Edmund Wade Davis is a Canadian cultural anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author, and photographer. Davis came to prominence with his 1985 best-selling book The Serpent and the Rainbow about the zombies of Haiti. He is professor of anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia.
The Machiguenga are an indigenous people who live in the Amazon Basin jungle regions of southeastern Peru, east of Machu Picchu and close to the borders of Bolivia and Brazil. Their population is about 7700. Theirs is a hunter-gatherer culture for the most part, although they also practice slash and burn agriculture. The main crop grown is cassava, and their main source of protein is the paca, a large 6–12 kg (13–26 lb) rodent. During the dry season, the Machiguenga also use fishing to supplement the protein in their diet.
The Wai-wai are a Carib-speaking Indigenous people of Guyana and northern Brazil. Their society consists of different lowland forest peoples who have maintained much of their cultural identity with the exception of Christianity which was introduced to them in the late 1950s.
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with indigenous people of tropical South America in conserving the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest, as well as the culture and land of its indigenous people. ACT was formed in 1996 by ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin and Costa Rican conservationist Liliana Madrigal. The organization is primarily active in the northwest, northeast, and southern regions of the Amazon.
Paul Alan Cox is an American ethnobotanist whose scientific research focuses on discovering new medicines by studying patterns of wellness and illness among indigenous peoples. Cox was born in Salt Lake City in 1953.
Keewaydinoquay Pakawakuk Peschel was a scholar, ethnobotanist, herbalist, medicine woman, teacher and author. She was an Anishinaabeg Elder of the Crane Clan. She was born in Michigan around 1919 and spent time on Garden Island, a traditional Anishinaabeg homeland.
Traditional Brazilian medicine includes many native South American elements, and imported African ones. It is predominantly used in areas where indigenous groups and African descendants reside, like in the northeast coast, nearly all interior regions including Amazon regions, savannahs, rainforest, foothills, and Pantanal. According to Romulo R. N. Alves, "although Brazil's health system is public...use of traditional remedies and rituals provide an economical way of healing for much of the populace, but that also does not mean that wealthy Brazilians don't seek it out as well. Traditional medicine is a deep part of Brazilian heritage."
Michael James Harner was an anthropologist, educator and author. His 1980 book, The Way of the Shaman: a Guide to Power and Healing, has been foundational in the development and popularization of Core Shamanism as a path of personal development for adherents of neoshamanism. He also founded the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.
Cimora is a Peruvian term used to describe a brew with hallucinogenic properties made from the “San Pedro” cacti in South America, used traditionally for shamanic purposes and healing in Peru and Bolivia. The name is also used to describe a number of both hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic plants in the region, some of which are used in traditional medicines. Which plants go by the name Cimora is an ethnobotanical problem that has been debated at great length by ethnobotanists in many different journals. The term Cimora is said to refer to “algo malo”, meaning something bad. San Pedro goes by many names including Pachanoi, Aguacolla, El Remedio, Gigantón, and Cactus of the Four Winds. The ritualistic use of the brew is similar to Ayahuasca, which is a South American used as a traditional spirit medicine in Brazil, although while the active ingredient in Ayahuasca is DMT, the active ingredient in Cimora is mescaline. The use of Cimora and the rituals involved have evolved throughout history due to the influence of those who controlled Peru at different stages, although it has almost always involved the use of the San Pedro cactus and its mescaline content.
Vegetalismo is a term used to refer to a practice of mestizo shamanism in the Peruvian Amazon in which the shamans—known as vegetalistas—are said to gain their knowledge and power to cure from the vegetales, or plants of the region. Many believe to receive their knowledge from ingesting the hallucinogenic, emetic brew ayahuasca.
Tsentsak are invisible pathogenic projectiles or magical darts utilized in indigenous and mestizo shamanic practices for the purposes of sorcery and healing throughout much the Amazon Basin. Anthropologists identify them as objects referenced in emic accounts that represent indigenous beliefs. Tsentak are not recognized in scientific medicine.
Guillermo Arévalo Valera is a Shipibo vegetalista and businessperson from the Maynas Province of Peru. His Shipibo name is Kestenbetsa.
Acaté Amazon Conservation is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 by physician-ethnobotanist Christopher Herndon, M.D. and sustainable agriculturist William Park. Acaté Amazon Conservation works with the indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon to help protect the Amazon rainforest while providing the indigenous people economic opportunities. Notable initiatives include permaculture methods for sustainable agriculture, generating income through renewable non-timber resources as well as preservation of traditional knowledge and culture.
Runa Foundation is a public, non-profit organization with offices in Brooklyn, NY; Quito, Ecuador; Archidona, Ecuador; and Tarapoto, Peru. Runa Foundation's stated mission is to "create new value for tropical forests that benefit local people and the forest ecosystem". Runa Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation registered in the state of Rhode Island.
Liliana Madrigal is a conservationist who has worked toward the protection of rainforests and indigenous cultures in both Central America and South America. She is the co-founder and Senior Director of Program Operations of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), where she serves as chief liaison to in-country programs and communities. Her primary focuses are the indigenous peoples and forests of the northwest Amazon and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
Ina Vandebroek is an ethnobotanist working in the areas of floristics, ethnobotany and community health. Since 2005, she has worked at The New York Botanical Garden in the Institute of Economic Botany. She has worked on ethnobotanical projects in North America, the Caribbean, and South America.
Michael Jeffrey Balick is an American ethnobotanist, economic botanist, and pharmacognosist, known as a leading expert on medicinal and toxic plants, biocultural conservation and the plant family Arecaceae (palms).
Marlene Dobkin de Rios was an American cultural anthropologist, medical anthropologist, and psychotherapist. She conducted fieldwork in the Amazon for almost 30 years. Her research included the use of entheogenic plants by the indigenous peoples of Peru.
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4. ″Ethnobotanist says life mission to save indigenous culture is native to Judaism″. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
5. ″Dr. Mark Plotkin on Ethnobotany, Real vs. Fake Shamans, Hallucinogens, and the Dalai Lamas of South America″. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
6. ″Coronavirus and Conservation: Preventing the Next Pandemic″. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
7. ″COVID is killing Indigenous leaders″. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
8. "https://markplotkin.com". Retrieved 2021-03-27.
9. "https://markplotkin.com/podcast/". Retrieved 2021-03-27.
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