Botany

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Part I: Transforming Tradition: Judaism -- Catholicism -- The Earth as Sacrament: Insights from Orthodox Christian Theology & Spirituality -- The World of Nature According to the Protestant Tradition -- Jainism & Ecology: Transformation of Tradition -- Hindu Religion & Environmental Wellbeing -- Buddhism -- Islam -- Taoism & Ecology -- Motifs for a New Confucian Ecological Vision -- African Religions -- Indigenous Traditions: Religion & Ecology -- Part II: Religion & Ecology: Conflicts & Connections: Population, Religion & Ecology -- Genetic Engineering & Nature: Human & Otherwise -- So Near & Yet So Far: Animal Theology & Ecological Theology -- Religious Ecofeminism: Healing the Ecological Crisis -- Science & Religion in the Face of the Environmental Crisis -- Religion & Ecology: Survey of the Field -- The Spiritual Dimension of Nature Writing -- Religion, Environmentalism & the meaning of Ecology -- Part III: Religious Environmental Activism: Religious Environmentalism in Action -- Religion & Environmental Struggles in Latin America -- African Initiated Churches (AICs) as Vehicles of Earth-Care in Africa -- The Scientist & the Shepherd: The Emergence of Evangelical Environmentalism -- Religion & Environmentalism in America & Beyond

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A ground-breaking journey across India, Tibet and China, to explore traditional medicine and natural ways of healing. With health care costs soaring in the west, looking eastward to alternative medicine may provide the only answer. In this comprehensive look into traditional eastern medicine we connect all three countries through the core philosophy of the Five Elements, Yin and Yang and the common belief that a life-force called Chi or Prana exists that is vital to sustain a healthy life.. Now is the time for the west to embrace alternative medicine for better health a natural way. Our story begins in India and the ancient vedic healing practice of Ayurveda, the science of life. It continues into Tibetan Medicine which shares the same core philosophy as Ayurveda and is found in the theory of the Five Elements, the building blocks of man and the cosmos. Traditional Chinese Medicine is rooted in the Tao, the Yin and Yang of opposite forces that keep our body and mind in balance. All share these common beliefs and that a life-force or energy exists that can be found in all living things.

In the Haitian countryside, where people have little access to doctors, hospitals, or conventional medicine, peasants have learned to use local leaves, herbs, and therapeutic massage as a way of curing simple ailments. This video follows several men and women as they take us into the bush to look for leaves that they need for healing. We then follow then home where they explain and demonstrate their way of preparing the poultice or infusion. Narrated by the people themselves -and with beautiful songs about the importance of leaves woven throughout - this poetic film gives unique insight into the culture.

A comprehensive look at the healing practices of American Indians and how many of those natural remedies are applicable to today's alternative health-conscious society.

Numen, defined as the animating force in nature, is a 75-minute documentary film focusing on the healing power of plants and the natural world. Featuring stunning footage of medicinal plants and thought-provoking interviews with Drs. Tiearona Lowdog and Larry Dossey, the late Bill Mitchell, ND, author Kenny Ausubel, herbalists Rosemary Gladstar, Phyllis Light and many others, the film calls for a re-awakening of traditional knowledge about plants and their uses. Numen is for herbalists, gardeners, medical practitioners, plant lovers—and everyone concerned about human and environmental health. It offers an introduction to the following topics: Whole plant medicine Ecological medicine Environmental toxins The limits of allopathic medicine Spirit and healing and more. A primary objective of Numen is to bring the same awareness to medicine and the medical industry that the organic food movement has brought to food and the food industry.

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"This text provides students with a summary of the interactions between humans and plants from early history to the present. Enough general botany is provided to orient readers to parts of the plants discussed and their mechanisms of function. Unlike other texts on economic botany, this book discusses molecular methods in the study and alteration of crop plants. Drawings and explanations illustrate how molecular methods are being employed to discover relationships between agricultural crops and their wild relatives. Similarly, the steps involved in plant genetic engineering are illustrated and explained. By relating aspects of morphology and evolution to plants that are familiar to students, concepts should be easy for students to remember."

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"Plants Of The Gods is a comprehensive reference work on psychoactive botanicals. It provides a definition of plant hallucinogens and information on phytochemical research on sacred plants, geography of usage and botanical range, the chemical structures of these substances and the use of hallucinogens in medicine. The plant species discussed include the Amanita (Fly Agaric) mushroom, Atropa (Deadly Nightshade), Yellow and Black Henbane, Mandrake, Cannabis Ergot, Datura, Iboga, Yopo beans, Ayahuasca, Yage, Brugmansia, Peyote, the San Pedro cactus, the Morning Glory plus what the authors term "the little flowers of the gods" which include the various types of Psilocybe mushroom. This valuable reference work is an informative and detailed guide to entheogenic plants from around the globe; it includes a bibliography and index. The text is enhanced by photographs, illustrations and paintings. There's a section that lists every plant's common & botanical name, historical ethnography, context and purpose of usage, preparation and its chemical composition and effects."

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"Wunderlin has accomplished a major feat, writing a guide where the flora of the state is so diverse. . . . An original and highly significant contribution."--Michael O. Moore, University of Georgia This is the first comprehensive identification manual of the highly diverse flora of Florida, and it will serve as the definitive guide to Florida's vascular plants for years to come.  With more than 4,000 kinds of native and nonnative ferns and fern allies, nonflowering seed plants, and flowering seed plants that reproduce outside of cultivation, Florida has the third largest plant diversity of any state in the nation. Some of its plant species are found nowhere else in the world; many of these are endangered. Because of the state's mild climate, many nonnative species--including major pest species--readily become naturalized, contributing nearly one-third of the species of known flora.  Wunderlin provides a means to identify these plants through a series of taxonomic keys to family, genus, and species. He gives the up-to-date accepted scientific name of each species, the major nomenclatural synonyms, many common names, the general habitat preference, and, for plants not native to Florida, the region of nativity. Long awaited by biologists, conservationists, gardeners, educators, and environmental consultants, Wunderlin's guide provides for the first time in a single volume a means to identify the abundant and diverse flora of the Sunshine State. Richard P. Wunderlin, professor of biology at the University of South Florida, is the author of Guide to the Vascular Plants of Central Florida (UPF, 1982) and Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants CD-ROM.