|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
Ethnobotanist alum awarded AAAS honor
Balick, who has conducted more than 75 research expeditions to work with traditional cultures around the world, is credited with helping to renew and transform the academic discipline of ethnobotany, which is the study of the relationship between people and plants. His fieldwork has taken him to such countries as Belize, Brazil, China, Egypt, Honduras, Peru, Thailand and, most recently, the Federated States of Micronesia. In his expeditions, he works with indigenous cultures to document their knowledge of local plants and to study the environmental effects of their traditional practices. “I was very honored and humbled to receive notice of the award,” Balick said. “I agreed to accept it on behalf of my colleagues—including the indigenous healers in many places around the world who have really trained me, as well as the dedicated scientists and students with whom I’ve worked.” He said he accepted the honor, presented in February, “as part of a community, not as an individual.” In announcing the award, the AAAS particularly noted Balick’s efforts in “preserving traditional knowledge and respect for the values of local peoples and his support for the development of scientific institutions in areas of the world where they are needed most.” Much of Balick’s work focuses on the search for plants with medicinal properties. Although a large number of traditional remedies and prescription drugs contain substances derived from plants, only a few hundred wild species are generally used, and the medicinal potential of most species has not yet been identified. Balick’s current, active research in Micronesia involves a comprehensive survey of native plants with healing properties. The project is similar to one he conducted for 15 years in Belize, resulting in the book Rain Forest Remedies: 100 Healing Herbs of Belize, which he coauthored with Rosita Arvigo. The book is designed to be used by teachers, students, traditional healers and researchers, and a portion of its sales is used to support healers and ecosystem preservation in the rain forests of Central America. For Balick, who said he sometimes feels as if his life moves “between two worlds,” it’s not unusual to attend a formal dinner in Manhattan one evening and, the next day, to carry his well-worn duffel bag onto a plane bound for the Pacific islands of Micronesia. A day later, he might be talking with a “Nahnken,” or oratory chief, on the isolated island of Pohnpei about the ways in which residents there use certain ceremonial beverages. Closer to home, Balick’s current research also includes the study of traditional Dominican healers living and practicing in New York City. “I have a fascinating life,” he acknowledged. “I’m very lucky.” A lifelong interest A key mentor was Richard W. Lighty, coordinator of the University’s Longwood Program and a horticulture professor in the agriculture college from 1967-83. Now retired, Lighty said he has kept in touch with Balick and followed his many accomplishments through the years. The AAAS award, he said, “was certainly well-deserved.”
“Even at that time, he thought outside the box,” Lighty said. “He had an easygoing manner, but he would always question why things happened, why they worked the way they did. I saw enormous promise in him.” As an undergraduate, Balick spent a year abroad at Tel Aviv University, studying biology and humanities and conducting ethnobotanical and botanical fieldwork to gain firsthand knowledge of the use of plants by Israeli and Palestinian groups in the region. After graduating from UD in 1975, with honors in agriculture and plant science, he worked in Costa Rica for a year with Robert Wilson, a friend of Lighty’s. Balick played a key role in Wilson’s work building a major botanical garden, Las Cruces Tropical Botanical Garden, and he also learned about the lives of local farm workers, or campesinos. Balick earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in biology from Harvard University, working under the noted ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes. In 1980, he joined The New York Botanical Garden, where he now holds the positions of vice president and chairperson of research and training. He also serves as director and philecology curator of the garden’s Institute of Economic Botany, which he cofounded in 1981. The word “philecology” was coined to refer to a love of the environment. From 1986-96, Balick helped lead The New York Botanical Garden’s collaboration with the National Cancer Institute to survey Latin America and the Caribbean for plants that might be useful in treating cancer and AIDS. A shared vision In all his research activities, Balick said, “Our model is one of full partnership, ensuring local interest and benefits that will last far beyond the lifetime of the immediate project.” Ethnobotany remains a relatively small scientific specialty, Balick said, estimating that it has probably only a few hundred active practitioners around the world,.But, he said, both popular and scientific interest in the discipline is growing, and new career opportunities are developing. “It’s an exciting time to be an ethnobotanist, and I would hope to see the growth continue substantially,” Balick said. “How humans relate to the natural environment and how they utilize it is certainly a very important topic at this critical point in time.” Balick has written 15 books and monographs and published more than 100 scientific papers. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia, New York and Yale universities and at City University of New York and is co-founder of a course that teaches herbal medicine to practicing physicians and other health-care professionals. He is an AAAS fellow, a MetLife fellow, a former president of the Society for Economic Botany and serves on the boards of many conservation organizations. The AAAS, the world’s largest general scientific society, publishes the journal Science. Article by Ann Manser To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
|
|
