Botanical Treasures of the West - Joshua Smith
Introduction:The Love of Plants As a city boy with little exposure to nature, my first encounters with the wildlands were filled with wonder. From the highly mechanized artificiality of the urban environment, I entered a new uncharted world where wildness seemed to strengthen the rhythm of my pulse. A wave of instinct rendered me fleet as a deer. Like an eagle my eyes saw across long distances and focused clearly on minutiae. One  moment my life knew only the ersatz of the city. In the next the cloudy veils raised and I came face to face with the authenticity of creation.Eventually it became clear to me that the techno-industrial model of society that was being imposed on all the world could not be sustained. Someone, and perhaps some day everyone, would pay an appalling price for our narrow and impoverished view of life. As I reviewed the evidence produced by our industrious society, I saw the toxic monolithic piles of waste it produced, the noxious gases it generated, the poisoned ground and waterways. It seemed to me our remarkable technological advances have sped ahead of our maturity and wisdom, leaving them behind, broken and bleeding in the wake of our imagined progress. The culprit is not science itself, but its poor application and untenable economic and social To our society the living biosphere is subordinate to the quest for personal material enrichment. Yet it is the biosphere that provided our species entry into the living world, the myriad overlapping ecosystems that allow our continued existence. As a society our single-minded pursuit of power and material wealth has yielded ozone depletion and global warming, drawing us ever closer to an unimaginable ecological catastrophe. We strip whole forests off our mountains and leave deserts in our wake. We belch out acid rain and radioactive waste--at what price? We have the means to allow all the world's people to live in comfort in an ecologically sustainable paradigm, but we have an economy that denies it. For society to curb its destructive habits many things must occur simultaneously. We must embrace our will, increase our knowledge, develop and experience models of ecological sustainability, and learn the social disciplines required to make them function. We will need to act cooperatively and collectively to heal the wounds we have inflicted on earth, and those imposed on the growing human underclass. We must, I believe, learn the art of working in harmony and equilibrium unselfishly to manifest a lasting culture that is sound, just, equitable, and integrated beneficially with earth's natural systems. One piece of the mosaic of this paradigm returns us to the point in history where our intimate experience and understanding of our natural environment was lost. Regardless of our race, culture, or class, our ancestors once lived in nature and were a part of the dynamic web of life. It is encoded in our DNA. For millions of years our ancestors lived in this way and today each of us is a genetic composite of those ancestors, and their experiences. We modems have been trained from childhood to embrace material acquisition as a supreme value. Such concepts of materialism, however, and the giant infrastructures of destruction they allow are more fragile than they might appear. Behind their thin veneer is an eon of encoded memory. Nature provided for our ancestors and they in turn held her in reverence. They were a part of nature and moved fluidly with her cycles. Rather than abuse and exploit her resources for self interest, our cells hold the database of this history. People who have lived close to this land with reverence and learned the skills to unlock and utilize nature's treasures in a sacred, respectful way have persisted even in the face of the techno-industrial revolution. Plants and animals are at the core of their economy, both wild and domestic. These are more than resources. They are components of our reality, as much a part of us as is our hand or foot. Altogether, an ecosystem is a whole--ev  erything gives and receives-and a dynamic self-sustaining natural system is created from myriad species and elements working together in balance. This is how we should look at our resources. They live in a complex system that nurtures them. They, in turn, nurture us. It is in our interest, and that of our children and grandchildren, that we must exemplify- sensitive stewardship now.New disciplines have emerged such as ecological restoration, permaculture and eco-forestry that are harbingers of a sustainable and ethical future. They provide us with the knowledge and skill to build a road to a more desirable relationship with the rest of the living world. Indigenous cultures who have lived for countless generations close to the earth also have much to teach us. Their knowledge, craft and lore still have relevance for a healthy sustainable society, as does their sincere and deeply felt reverence for creation. This book is indebted to them and humbly attempts to maintain scraps of their knowledge and means as they relate to plants. Also contributing are ecologists, herbalists, clinical studies, wildcrafters, wild food enthusiasts and others. In writing this booklet it is my desire to furnish a small but hopefully enlightening portion to the quest for an ecological paradigm. Particular plants profiled in this booklet-Evening Primrose, Yucca, silkweed, and Cattail-can contribute to a new and vital economy, yet today their virtues are little known. Indeed they are far too often thought of as weeds. Plants like the ones in this booklet and thousands more will open the door to our ecological future. It is time we get to know them better before we lose this knowledge altogether. Joshua Smith Further info on ordering books can be made by Top of Page. | .Home Page About Us. | .Services. | .Workshops. | .Articles. | .Resources. | .Contact Us . |
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