This year's keynote speaker was a Time magazine "Hero for the Planet", Dr. Mark Plotkin, the Harvard ethnobotanist who has spent his career working in the Amazon rainforest studying the relationship between indigenious people and medicinal plants. His work has led to numerous important medical discoveries, and he couples his scholarly interests with an activist's passion for conserving both the indigenous culture and biodiversity of the Amazon region. He is the founder of the Amazon Conservation Team, whose mission is "to work in partnership with indigenous people to conserve biodiversity, improve human health, and fortify traditional culture in greater Amazonia." His most famous book, Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, was turned into an award-winning documentary.
Plotkin challenged all AIMS educators to consider the various human benefits of conservation and biodiversity, and he implored us to teach our students about the powerful relationship between our natural environment and human healing. At Gunston, this year we are pursuing Green School certification from the state of Maryland, and this will serve as the beginning of an expanded school-wide committment to creating an academic program and a physical campus focused on environmental sustainability.
Here is a brief video I found that features Plotkin talking about the work of the Amazon Conservation Team: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxBb2FOj9x4
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