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Thompson Rivers University—Open Learning’s BISC 399, Plants and Society is an open/web based science course that introduces topics designed to explore the relationship between human beings and the plants that sustain their life. This challenge speaks to three of its learning objectives:

• Explain basic plant biology and apply it to explain how humans have used different plant structures
• Outline how plants are used and manipulated by people and conversely how plants have shaped human society
• Evaluate the importance of plants as sources of bioactive chemicals such as drugs (including medicines) and beverages

First Nations peoples of British Columbia use a variety of plants in medicines. Dr. Nancy Turner whose expertise is featured in this course has documented many of these traditional uses in her numerous ethnobotanical publications.

Medicines are taken in many different forms; some are chewed or swallowed as liquid (tonics, tinctures, and decoctions), while others are applied as salves, poultices, and washes.

There is often ritual associated with the collection and/or the preparation of the medicine. For example, according to the Thompson First Nations (the Nlaka'pamux), when preparing an herbal medicine with Trillium, only those with “serious intentions of using it as medicine” should collect it; those who do not would “have bad luck” (Turner, 1990).

To understand traditional medicine, it is important to consider its preparation as well as how it is administered. In addition to the treatments, the medicine often includes the use of scents and purification with smoke.

As with other philosophies of medicine, there is emphasis on maintaining health and disease prevention through diet, so the distinction between medicine and food and drink is often blurred.

Challenge Instructions
1) Choose a legal medicinal plant found in British Columbia.

2) After researching your selected plant or tree, create a narrated presentation that outlines the consequences of harvesting a wild plant of British Columbia for medicinal purposes. Using the technology application of your choice create a presentation two to three minutes in duration which contains the following information:

• Where this plant is found in BC and what it looks like.
• What the unique medicinal qualities of this plant are and how it was used traditionally.
• How this medicinal plant was harvested and processed into a useful medicine and how it was applied.
• How this medicinal plant is used today. How would you harvest it? Who currently knows about its use?
• What it would mean to the people who use the plant traditionally to commercially harvest this plant? What would be the impact on the plant itself?
• Beneficial and detrimental effects (environmental, social, cultural etc.) that the development of this plant for medicinal use may have.

Keep in Mind!
Be creative! Use your combined imaginations to express your ideas. Remember you want to make your presentation engaging and informative. You want your audience to be actively interested. Make it come alive!

Your presentation must not exceed three minutes in length. Think carefully about pacing.

This week we thought we'd invite teams to pick their own technology and submission file format. Please post your team's choice in the Challenge 4 Looking to the Land for Healing discussion Forum by end of the day on Wednesday Feb 27, 2008. This will help ensure we can upload and display everything you create. If special arrangements are required around upload we'll work with you to help ensure it goes as seamlessly as possible.

Be sure to respectfully consider First Nations culture and history in your presentation.

For more information follow this link: http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/ntfp/commerce/index.htm