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Scott Lite - EthnoCO Founder

EthnoCO Founder & Admin
Expedition Team Leader
Origin - United States
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An American in his 30s Scott has studied plants and their complex relationship with humankind for 20+ years. 
Scott is an ethnobotanist, herbalist, adventurer, seed-saver, plant hunter, explorer and apprentice to the shaman of the world. 
He was trained as an herbalist at the Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism and in September 2011.
Scott is an associate of the Botanical Preservation Corps and was on the 2010 expedition to Peru collecting seeds and information on medicinal, edible and sacred plants throughout the Andes. 
Scott has also participated in or organized and lead other expeditions around the South-Eastern and Western U.S.A. and in the Peruvian Amazon and Andes including collecting seed and ethnobotanical data in the coastal chain of islands known as the "Outer Banks" of the Carolinas. Scott hopes to continue his study of ethnobotany both through schooling and his own personal studies and expeditions. 
In 2010 Scott opened the Ethnobotanical Conservation Organization or The EthnoCO. 
My name is Scott L. I am 30 years old and I was born in Charlotte North Carolina.
I am an adventurous and curious person who feels a deep connection to my roots, both here at home in the Carolinas and in my adopted home of Peru.
My family has a long history in the Carolinas and my grandfathers fought in the Second World War.
I've had a deep interest and love for nature since I was a child. The Appalachian Mountains and Outer Banks were my playground.
I'm curious, adventurous and have a big heart. 
In the end I hope I can leave this world a better place than the world I was born into.

My family has a long history in the Carolinas.  We are the descendants of Scottish, Irish, German, immigrants with a little bit of Native American blood mixed in.
A portion of my family has roots going back at least to the Civil War and possibly even to the American Revolution.
My ancestors in the Carolinas were mostly tobacco farmers. 
In more recent history my grandfathers were in World War II.  One of my grandfathers rode the high seas on a US naval destroyer and fought the Japanese in the Pacific.
The other was the driver of an M-36 Tank Destroyer fighting the Nazis in Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge in the ice covered forests of France in 1944.

Since I was young I have always loved nature, this mostly comes from the guidance of my father.  My dad would take me into the woods as a kid and teach me the names of all the plants and animals. We would go hunting in the early fall for dove and go out on the lake in the summer fishing.  My dad was originally trained in forestry but eventually moved on to work in the science field.
The first big trip I protect was at my dad to Yellowstone National Park and Wyoming, this was to be the first of many great expeditions in my life. 

I have a deep interest and botany. Since 2010 I have fielded by the expeditions into the wilds of Peru and Bolivia. 
My first expedition to South America was in 2010 with a company that goes around the world collecting plants seeds and cultural knowledge. While I had always been interested in plants and anthropology this trip truly sparks a deep and profound interest in the science known as ethnobotany. Since 2010 I've been to Peru every year for 6-10 months. I have traveled extensively through the Andes & Amazon and seen all the major sites including Machu Picchu and Choquequraio.  I have stayed in Quechua villages  & Machiguenga Native villages. 

Through my study of anthropology and culture I have learned to be empathetic and culturally sensitive.  Whenever I am a guest in someone's home or someone's country for that matter I was trying to carry myself with a high level of respect and dignity towards my house.  One of my goals in life is to speak the Native American languages Machiguenga and Quechua. The native people who live in these areas rarely ever hear outsiders speak their language because the dominant surrounding language is Spanish.
I've always had a great curiosity for all things especially things natural world. Since I was young I studied subjects such as well history philosophy and physics though and just me most is the natural world and the way people organize themselves in society as well as being  curious I also have a sense of adventure that gets me out Into some of the more remote areas in the world. This would include Manu national Park where I interacted with the Machiguenga people.
I think my combination of empathy curiosity and adventurous nature will lead to many great things in my life.

I think it is our job here on earth to leave the world a better place than how we found it.  I hope that I can bring together the right skills and attitude to help reach the goals I want to achieve such as preserving ancient indigenous knowledge and preserving the environment. The real purpose in life is to do good. It does not matter under what name for which better you choose to do good as long as you're doing good.

I have a great passion for all things plant related. I come from a long line of Tobacco farmers in North Carolina and my family has owned land in North Carolina since long before the Civil War (some say going back to before the Revolutionary War.) The tradition of Tobacco farming in my family is something I am very proud of. This is part of my roots in the agriculture, natural and plant world. From a very early age I played in the forest and explored the mysteries of the natural world. As a kid I would practice bushcraft such as foraging, starting fires and cooking outdoors.  My dad is a Forestry major and would teach me about all the plants, animals, trees and other flora and fauna in the forest of the Americas. When I was young I learned from my father and grandparents about plants and the forest. Around the age of fifteen I found out that this study was called herbalism, plant medicine or ethnobotany. I quickly fell in love with this science. 

Throughout my life I have planned and executed many ethnobotanical and anthropological expeditions including trips to the Outer Banks, Yellowstone National Park and many parts of Peru and Bolivia. During these expeditions my goal was to collect cultural knowledge and preserve plants and seeds. Once the seeds are collected they are cataloged, dried, packaged and shipped off to various botanical gardens around the world to protect these rare specimens for future generations. I am now in my 30s and have traveled to South America every year since 2010, mostly in Peru. I have gone on many expeditions during my travels. I have lived in the Andes with the Quechua people and traveled in the Amazon to live and study with the Machiguenga.
 
I study anthropology, ethnobotany, herbalism, shamanism, bushcraft and more. I often give lectures and talks sharing my knowledge of the plants, anthropology and more. I also enjoy giving plant talks when I am home or abroad. 
In 2011 I studied herbalism at the Appalachian School of Holistic Herbalism with Ceara Foley and other teachers at the school. This was after many years of personal study and informal apprenticeship with various knowledgeable people. I have also been trained in herbalism and shamanism by Machiguenga curanderos in the Amazon while living in a Native American village (four months in total) in the province of Madre de Dios, Southern Peru. I am the head of the FaceBook page the "Ethnobotanical Conservation Organization" with over 3000 members. I am an avid plant collector. I collect plants and seeds everywhere I go for their preservation. I have many plant collections and have recorded much knowledge about plants. 
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~Special Skills~
>Ethnobotany, Anthropology

>Languages - English, Spanish, Quechua (basic), Machiguenga (limited)
PERSONAL MOTTO OUR FAV QOUTE---


"Helping people help plants help people." 
   Outext text

~Contact Info~

Email - Info@EthnoCO.com

Facebook - Scott Lite

Youtube - blahhh

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