It’s Earth Week, and Frostburg
State is doing its best to get students involved and caring. There were plenty
of speakers today in Lane. One presentation at 4:00 in the Atkinson room, “Sustainability
in the Amazon,” was given by Mimi Hernandez about her recent trip to Ecuador.
Mimi teaches the Ethnobotony major at Frostburg. She stands in the front of
the darkened room beside a screen with a
projector humming, ready to start. Lines of chairs hold students curious to hear
what this is about. She starts off the presentation by saying, with a laugh, “I’m
not really teaching anything, I’m just gonna show off a bunch of pictures.” She
describes herself as a clinical herbalist by background and an ethnobotanist by
profession. An ethnobotonist basically studies the relationships between plants
and people, according to Mimi. She went on a three week trip to Ecuador in
February. She reveals that part of her family is from Columbia, so it meant a
lot to her to be going so close.
This trip was a “plant lover’s
journey.” The group studied the way plants were used traditionally in the
country, as well as how shamans continued to use them. The groups started in
Quito (the capitol of Ecuador), and Mimi began showing us the beautiful
pictures that represent her journey. One of the first photos was of a plant
called rue, which is sacred to Mimi’s family. It is used to protect homes and
cleanse negative energy. It is also important to European culture, where it was
used to ward off the evil eye. In herbalism, it rue is used as an eyewash for
infection and irritation. Mimi talked about how much it meant to her to start
her journey of transformation by seeing this plant as soon as she stepped out
of her door on the first morning. She showed pictures of a church that were
built by Spanish conquerors from ancient civilizations’ sacred sites; the
church had animals carved into the stone to better convert the masses. She had striking pictures of an ethnobotanical
garden. Their group was the first to perform a ceremony in the gardens, to
honor the plants (the trip involved a lot of ceremonies, praying, and emotion;
Mimi admits to being the “crier” of the group).
 |
| Mimi's photo of rue |
Showing photos of lush green
mountains near Amazonia, she talks about the mining that is taking place near
there. The country’s government has made contracts with the Chinese and
Canadian governments to mine for gold, silver, copper, etc. The locals are very
upset, Mimi informs. She said she’d never seen so many men crying.
Mimi talks about Rosemary Gladstar,
who was on the trip. “If you don’t know who she is, definitely look her up if
you have any interest in ethnobotony,” she says. She is the “godmother of
American herbalists,” and founded Traditional Medicinal. Mimi also talks a
great deal about a healer they spent time with, Don Juan. She shows pictures of
sites made by the ancient Canarians. She even shows a photo of guinea pigs in a
pen that the ancient civilization, and the people who live there today, eat
(the audience gasped in horror, some envisioning their own pet guinea pigs).
Mimi’s presentation covered such a vast
majority of information, it was amazing. Cecylia Morrison, a freshman secondary
education major from Frederick, MD, said, “I was not expecting to learn so much
tradition of these cultures. I liked learning about all of the different
spiritual and medicinal uses for local plants and herbs.” It is these types of
activities that Frostburg gains so much from – knowledge, culture, a different
view of things we tend to never notice, like plants. Mimi Hernandez seeks to
change that, to show people that plant life deserves respect. That is what
Earth Day is about.
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