What the people of the Amazon know that you don’t

What the people of the Amazon know that you don’t



這個有關於生態、部落及傳承的演講，
有種沉重感，
但卻也帶來希望。
Mark Plotkin是位ethnobotanist，
他的解釋是
a scientist who works in the rainforest to document how people use local plants。
他深入亞馬遜雨林，
和一些the isolated and uncontacted tribes接觸，
發現他們用天然植物的療方，
取自於自然，
功效不亞於現代西方醫藥。
西方醫學，有其可為之處，
但是他指出there's plenty of holes in it.
他引導聽眾認識雨林的重要。
*The rainforest has been called the greatest expression of life on Earth. There's a saying in Suriname that I dearly love: "The rainforests hold answers to questions we have yet to ask."
*the Amazon is the mightiest landscape of all. It's a place of beauty and wonder.
但是雨林正快速地消失中。
同樣地，
居住在雨林裡的許多部落也在消失中。
Uncontacted peoples hold a mystical and iconic role in our imagination. These are the people who know nature best.
他們和自然接觸，也傳承了植物運用於醫療的知識，
...it's people like these that know things that we don't, and they have lots of lessons to teach us.
但是外來的人，
為了經濟利益，
漠視生命，
對自然，
也是予取予求，
迫害，
也造成傷害和損害。
部落中的長者，
即為植物百科活字典，
The elders are the libraries. Every time a shaman dies, it's as if a library has burned down.
他們對植物的功用及多元性最了解。
因此，
Mark Plotkin呼籲：
Let's think differently. Let's make a better world. If the climate's going to change, let's have a climate that changes for the better rather than the worse. Let's live on a planet full of luxuriant vegetation, in which isolated peoples can remain in isolation, can maintain that mystery and that knowledge if they so choose...
他的演講，
也為大家帶來曙光，
保護、尊重雨中的族群，
為他們，
也為地球，
許一個更好的未來。