People Power - Citizen Science and Community

Liquid Culture tutorial at an EGA conference.

Science is often viewed as something done by individuals in white coats, far away in private research facilities, or academic ivory towers. Some gatekeeping can try to keep lay people outside of science! But the power of knowledge means this gatekeeping cannot prevail. Anybody can do research - and in many cases, people know the plants and fungi in their own region better than some academics. By observing flora and funga in our local area and by propagating and caring for the species we find around our homes and properties, we can gather data and contribute to botanical knowledge.

By recording data in a way that is systematic and replicable and sharing this data with others, you can greatly advance plant science. On a simple level, this can be as easy as taking photos, and using iNaturalist and social media to publish your interesting plant finds. If you want to take your citizen science to the next level, try getting in touch with experts or enthusiasts to discuss your finds directly.

The contributions of everyday people without formal training to science is especially important in our favourite discipline; the study of psychoactive plant cultures (‘entheobotany’). We’ve shared some of our favourite examples of citizen entheobotany below.

Alistair McTaggart’s genetic research of Psilocybe cubensis has been hugely advanced by the sharing of samples from amateur mycologists all around Australia. Online discussion around mushroom identification has surely been crucial to upskilling citizen mycologists, and we’ve tried to contribute too. Read our guide to making spore prints to learn more.

“Have you tried DMT?” Flyer from Conseracacian.com

The Conseracacian project was the product of a group of Acacia enthusiasts who learned of the destruction of rare Acacia species in habitat in order to produce the psychedelic tryptamine, DMT. To protect vulnerable species, Conseracacian launch a messaging campaign that encouraged the protection of wild trees. For more detail about the project, make sure to watch this video featuring Dr Liam Engel. If you want to learn How to grow Acacia seeds yourself, make sure to read our factsheet, an interrelated citizen-lead entheobotanical project drawing on the accumulation of community Acacia knowledge, with a conservation objective.

Symon Beck and Caine Barlow’s research of psilocybin mushrooms and wood lover paralysis (WLP) via the Australian Psychedelic Society has directly connected community and research to help people understand and manage the harms associated with WLP. By understanding how WLP has affected survey respondents, we are better positioned to identify symptoms and care for people experiencing this condition.

Turnerna diffusa in liquid culture. Propagated and photographed by Darklight.

With the help of Darklight, EGA has helped upskill the entheobotanical community in lab techniques, such as tissue culture, where a plant is cloned in a sterile medium using a small piece of living plant material. Read Darklight’s guide to liquid culture and bring a hard science approach to your gardening.

MYCOmmunity Applied Mycology have been collecting soil samples from the Wombat State Forest in Victoria for the last 2 years (and about to collect for the 3rd year), to study the effects of storm damage on soil fungi. They have just sent the last 2 years samples off for Next Gen Sequencing (Illumina), which will then be compared with sequencing from their MinION. MYCO was successful in becoming a partner on the Bioplatforms Functional Fungi Initiative, so the 100 plus herbarium samples of fungi and cultures which were going to be sequenced on the Minion will all be full genome sequenced. MYCOmmunity Applied Mycology are taking on volunteers for field or lab work.

While it isn’t strictly plant-based, psychedelic care is another important practice that is largely dependent on the skills and knowledge of the underground community. Trip sitting is different to psychedelic therapy, but these two practices can be complementary. EGA’s sister organisations PRISM and DanceWize are at the cutting edge of trip sitting, blending the skills and knowledge of psychedelic clinicians and medical researchers with underground and peer knowledges of people who use psychedelics.

In this video, psychedelic expert and influential harm reduction advocate Steph Tzanetis, explains the PRISM and DanceWize tripsitting partnership. This collaborative project in psychedelic care is paving the way for advancing psychedelic benefits and reducing the harms for festival goers and everyday people using psychedelics outside of a formal, therapeutic setting.  

Alison Pouliot at Garden States 2022. Photo by BigDoofa.

But our favourite part of citizen entheobotany, without a doubt, have been the Entheogenesis Australis conferences, taking place every other year since 2004, with the most recent being Garden States 2022. These conferences bring together the diverse community of cultures around psychoactive plants, allowing all types of knowledges to fill your cup of entheobotanical science. If your brew needs a top up, check out our conference, ‘Garden States Microdoses.’ EGA Microdoses are shorter webcast episodes with attendance taking place online with community voices. We also suggest joining our mailing list at the bottom of this page to stay updated with the ethnobotanical and psychedelic communities in Australia and beyond.

EGA Blotter Art By Izwoz

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