This week’s episode features yet another great speaker at the ESPD55 conference Mark Plotkin, an ethnobotanist, advocate for tropical forest conservation and the host of Plants of the Gods podcast.

Following research at Harvard under Richard Evans Schultes and years of working in a close relationship with the native communities of Amazonia, Mark with his books, podcasts and talks educates the public about the wondrous world of plants, their history, medicinal and cultural significance. Accordingly, he advocates for saving tropical forests as entities inseparable from their indigenous cultures. His group Amazon Conservation Team focuses on helping the communities to survive within the modern world rather than subordinate to it.

Tune in to the episode to find out how we can help these communities grow but also how wine, magic mushrooms and other substances might have influenced our own culture.

The Plants of the Gods

Kary Mullis

Thujone

ESPD55

Dennis McKenna

Stoned Ape Hypothesis

Drunken monkey hypothesis

The Ethnobotany of Wine as Medicine in the Ancient Mediterranean World

Richard Evans Schultes

Scopolamine

Erik the red

The Shamans and Apprentices Program

Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice

Timothy Leary

Amazon Conservation Team

Ethnographic mapping

Peyote

Ayahuasca

Mescaline

Richard Spruce

Alfred Russel Wallace

DMT

Coca

Cocaine

Cannabis

Kratom

Ibogaine