Theme: Ecological Medicine
Sunday, December 6th
The current pandemic has starkly revealed what the most thoughtful experts from a wide range of fields, from public health to environmental justice to ecology, have been telling us for decades: human health is completely interconnected with the health of ecosystems and with social equity. If we continue the intense degradation of wildlife habitats, the perennial emergence of virulent zoonotic diseases is all but inevitable. If we don’t rethink our current food system, we’ll continue to confront problems ranging from deforestation to obesity. If we don’t decarbonize our economy, we’ll confront ever-worsening health and environmental degradation. If we don’t address gross social and environmental injustices and structural racism, pollution-induced illnesses and epidemics will be impossible to contain. How do we rise to the challenge and radically restructure our entire approach to health? With: William B. Karesh, Ph.D., Executive Vice President for Health and Policy at EcoHealth Alliance, President of the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) Working Group on Wildlife Diseases and chair of the IUCN Wildlife Health Specialist Group; Howard Frumkin, Professor Emeritus, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington School of Public Health, co-editor of the new groundbreaking collection Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves (Island Press). Moderated by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer.
December 6th | 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm
Panelists
Howard Frumkin
Professor | University of Washington
Howard Frumkin, MD, MPH, Dr.Ph, a physician and epidemiologist, Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington, previously led the Our Planet, Our Health initiative at the Wellcome Trust. His many other positions have included: Dean of the University of Washington School of Public Health, Director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the CDC, and Chair of Environmental and Occupational Health at Emory University. He has served on the boards or advisory committees of a wide range of leading scientific, professional, academic and governmental institutions and is the author or co-author of over 250 scientific journal articles and nine books, including Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-Being, and Sustainability; Environmental Health: From Global to Local, and most recently: Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves (Island Press, 2020).
William B. Karesh
Executive Vice President for Health and Policy | EcoHealth Alliance
William B. Karesh, Ph.D., a leading global expert on infectious diseases, wildlife and the environment, is Executive Vice President for Health and Policy at EcoHealth Alliance, President of the World Animal Health Organization Working Group on Wildlife Diseases, chair of the IUCN Wildlife Health Specialist Group; and serves on the WHO's International Health Regulations Roster of Experts focused on the human-animal interface and wildlife health. Currently EPT Partner Liaison for the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT-2 program, Dr. Karesh coined the term "One Health" in 2003 to describe the interdependence of healthy ecosystems, animals and people and has pioneered solutions-oriented initiatives with this concept as the guiding principle in programs under his direction in over 45 countries from Argentina to Zambia. He has published 180+ scientific papers and written for broader audience publications, including his highly acclaimed first book for a general audience, Appointment at the Ends of the World.
J.P. Harpignies
Senior Producer | Bioneers
J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer, affiliated with Bioneers since 1990, is a Brooklyn, NYC-based consultant, conference producer, copy-editor and writer. A former Program Director at the New York Open Center and a senior review team member for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge from 2010 to 2017, he has authored or edited several books, including Political Ecosystems, Delusions of Normality, Visionary Plant Consciousness, and, most recently, Animal Encounters.
Sunday, December 13th
Despite decades of conservation initiatives and millions of dollars spent, the Amazon forest is, tragically, being destroyed faster than before. Not only are some of the governments in the region actively promoting deforestation, but the twin factors of climate change and Covid-19 are combining to destroy Indigenous cultures at an ever-quickening pace. Renowned ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin is President of the Amazon Conservation Team, an organization that has partnered with over 55 South American tribes to help map and defend their lands and improve management of over 80 million acres of ancestral rainforest. He will share the latest news on the status of the fires and the battle against Covid-19 in Amazonia, as well as present new strategies and approaches to halting the processes threatening these crucially important ecosystems and the well-being and cultural survival of their inhabitants.
December 13th | 11:18 am to 11:33 am
Keynote
Mark Plotkin
Co-Founder and President | Amazon Conservation Team
Mark Plotkin, Ph.D., a renowned ethnobotanist who has studied traditional Indigenous plant use with elder healers in Central and South America for 30+ years, is also an award-winning activist who has worked with many conservation organizations, including Harvard’s Botanical Museum, the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and the Smithsonian. Co-founder (with his wife Liliana in 1996) and President of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), dedicated to protecting the biological and cultural diversity of the Amazon, Plotkin is the author of many papers and articles and several books, including the international bestseller, Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice; Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets; and The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria.
Although humanity is rapidly degrading the biosphere, condemning countless plant and animal species to extinction, simultaneously there has been a great deal of remarkable new research into plants’ perceptual and cognitive abilities as well as an enormous renewal of interest in certain plants (e.g. ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis) as potential physical and psycho-spiritual healing agents. This panel of botanical luminaries will share their perspectives on: the growing global fascination with certain plant species and what their embrace tells us about the current zeitgeist; what we can do to help support the land protection and human rights struggles of Indigenous peoples who are the custodians of the world’s greatest plant knowledge in biodiversity hot spots globally; and related topics. With host Mark Plotkin, renowned ethnobotanist and award winning eco-activist, co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team and best-selling author of such texts as: Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice and Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets; Karyemaitre Aliffe, MD, physician-scientist, leading expert on the healing properties of cannabis, who has taught at Harvard and Stanford and has 35+ years’ experience in natural products research, including explorations in many remote regions globally; Kathleen Harrison, co-founder, President and Projects Director of the nonprofit, Botanical Dimensions, a revered ethnobotanist renowned for her unique explorations of often hidden aspects of plant-human relationships. Moderated by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer.
December 13th | 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm
Panelists
Karyemaitre Aliffe
Executive Officer | Ethicannos
Karyemaitre Aliffe, MD, a multilingual physician-scientist who has taught at Harvard and Stanford, has 35+ years’ experience in natural products research, including explorations in remote regions in the Amazon, Australia, and Africa. He has lectured widely in 50+ countries to health professionals, government and civil society institutions and business groups. Dr. Aliffe is presently Chair and Executive Officer at Ethicannos, Praxigen Biomedia, where he leads a natural health product development team, applying translational medicine and integrative neurophysiology to expand the utility of cannabis-based formulations in enhancing human health, fitness and longevity.
Mark Plotkin
Co-Founder and President | Amazon Conservation Team
Mark Plotkin, Ph.D., a renowned ethnobotanist who has studied traditional Indigenous plant use with elder healers in Central and South America for 30+ years, is also an award-winning activist who has worked with many conservation organizations, including Harvard’s Botanical Museum, the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and the Smithsonian. Co-founder (with his wife Liliana in 1996) and President of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), dedicated to protecting the biological and cultural diversity of the Amazon, Plotkin is the author of many papers and articles and several books, including the international bestseller, Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice; Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets; and The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria.
Kathleen Harrison
President & Projects Director | Botanical Dimensions
Kathleen (Kat) Harrison, co-founder (in 1985), President and Projects Director of the nonprofit, Botanical Dimensions, is an ethnobotanist, ethnobotanical educator and artist renowned for her unique explorations of often hidden aspects of plant-human relationships and of the deep history of humans in nature. She teaches a wide variety of courses (some open to all; others university sponsored field studies) in Hawaii, Northern California and the Peruvian Amazon.
J.P. Harpignies
Senior Producer | Bioneers
J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer, affiliated with Bioneers since 1990, is a Brooklyn, NYC-based consultant, conference producer, copy-editor and writer. A former Program Director at the New York Open Center and a senior review team member for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge from 2010 to 2017, he has authored or edited several books, including Political Ecosystems, Delusions of Normality, Visionary Plant Consciousness, and, most recently, Animal Encounters.
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