"Plant Power" Is Topic of C. P. Snow Lecture Series

One speaker has been compared with Indiana Jones, while the other has conducted his research in both the jungles of Central America and the fruit and vegetable markets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The C. P. Snow Lecture Series at Ithaca College will bring them both to campus to discuss "The Power of Plants: The Role of Plants in Native Cultures and Modern Medicine." Both talks are free and open to the public.

Michael Balick, director and philecology curator of the Institute of Economic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden, will speak on Wednesday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Textor 101. His talk is titled "Ancient Wisdom and Modern Medicine: Ethnobotany, Conservation, and Therapies of the Tropical Rain Forest."

Balick’s scientific research revolves around the study of the relationship between plants and people. He has wandered through New York City searching for durians, mangosteens, and other exotic fruits to share with a botany class. Since 1987 he has also spent a great deal of time in the jungles of Belize, in a program with the National Cancer Institute to collect plant samples for screening as potential anti-cancer and anti-AIDS therapeutics. His efforts have brought him into a close working relationship with traditional healers from Maya, Garifuna, Creole, Latino, Mennonite, and East Indian ethnic groups. One result of this project has been the creation of the Ix Chel Tropical Research Foundation in Belize, a center devoted to the study of traditional medicine and ethnobotany, cultural education, and conservation.

Author, adventurer, and ethnobotanist Wade Davis will speak on "The Light at the Edge of the World" in his C. P. Snow lecture on Tuesday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Williams 225. His visit will also include a book purchase and signing opportunity.

Davis is perhaps best known for his 1986 book on his experiences with Haitian vodun and the traditional use of psychotropic drugs, The Serpent and the Rainbow, which was an international best-seller and later made into a motion picture. A native of British Columbia, Davis has worked as a park ranger, forestry engineer, logger, and big-game hunting guide. His magazine articles have appeared in such publications as Newsweek, Premiere, Outside, Omni, and Harper’s, and he was the host and cowriter of Earthguide, a 13-part television series on the Discovery Channel.

With degrees in anthropology and biology and a Ph.D. in ethnobotany from Harvard, Davis has been likened to a real-life Indiana Jones for sharing the experiences and traditions of aboriginal cultures. In addition to various writing projects and an active program of ethnobotanical and ethnographic research, Davis is currently serving as a scientific consultant to Warner Brothers for an upcoming feature film based on the struggle of the Penan people of North Borneo to preserve their forest homeland.