Mark Plotkin

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 .

Background and career

After Attending Isidore Newman School in New Orleans , Plotkin worked at Harvard University ‘s Museum of Comparative Zoology als have joined an expedition searching for an elusive crocodilian species in 1978 and was galvanized JSON returning to education. He COMPLETED his bachelor of liberal arts degree at the Harvard Extension School , his master’s degree in forestry at Yale School of Forestry , and his Ph.D. at Tufts University ; prolongation welke have COMPLETED a handbook for the Tiriyó people or Suriname Detailing hun eigen 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 formally the Amazon Conservation Team [1] to protect Amazonian Rainforest in partnership with local indigenous peoples. ACT has now worked with 32 Tribes Throughout Amazonia. Plotkin Continues to work with the Tirio or Suriname, and in Brazil as well. He was 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 im an ‘Environmental Hero for the Planet “(2001) and Smithsonian hailed im 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 ulcers onder 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 dat het loss of knowledge and species anywhere impoverishes us all, for combine humanitarian vision with academic rigor and moral Sensibility, and for reminding us always, with Clarity and passion and humor, dat als we study people and plants, we are simultaneously Exploring paths to philosophy, music, art, dance, obeisance, and healing; Lewis and Clark is honored to confer on you today the Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa . ” In October of the year together, the great primatologist Jane Goodall Presented surviving spouse award for “International Conservation Leadership.”

Works

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 or curative powers of plants. The book details the potential value or synthesis plants as well as the incredible wisdom of indigenous healers as to how synthesis species kan best be-used. The book served as the basis for the award-winning documentary The Shaman’s Apprentice , directed by Miranda Smith.

Plotkin was interviewed in 1998 , 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 dat I’ve worked with has the equivalent of a polio vaccine, and no dermatologist dat I’ve been to Could cure a fungal infection than effectief (and inexpensively) as some of my mentors Amazonian . It arnt not be the doctor versus the witch doctor. It arnt be the best aspects of all medical systems (Ayurvedic, herbalism, Homeopathic, and so on) Combined in a way welke makes healthcare more efficient and more affordable for all. [3]

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 or Those who mention anything cure them.”

Plotkin highlights the Ironic marriage natuurstoffen, indigenous wisdom, and biotechnology . He details Discoveries Already Providing leads in the laboratory, pain-killers from the skin or Rainforest frogs, anti-coagulants from leechvideo- saliva, and anti-tumor agents from snake venom. Medicine Quest ook zorgt background on the eeuw-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.

References

  1. “Amazon Conservation Team” . Retrieved 2009-07-05 .
  2. Jump up^ “Recipients of Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship” . Archived from the original on February 5, 2009 . Retrieved 2009-07-05 .
  3. Jump up^ “The Shaman’s Apprentice” (PDF) . Retrieved February 16, 2013 . South American Explorer, Autumn 1988