Liam, thank you for putting together our meeting today on Zoom with Dr. Devkota & Rick Silber. ?Nice meeting you Rick and exciting that you are on the ground in Nepal.
We just talked with one of our dear mushroom friends, Elinoar Shavit, who has traveled extensively throughout the world. ?At every opportunity, she interfaces with indigenous populations to learn about ?their mushroom traditions. ?She's published in the Springer volume on truffles.
We would like to think this is not true,, but she brought up the point that if the items we hand out are considered valuable in any way, then they will most likely be traded away for cash.? We who live in the US, having been more sheltered, possibly could not even picture this scenario, but it is a valid concern and something she has seen happen in other countries.?
She was very much in favor of the laminated plastic tri-folds similar to what Daniel Winkler produces.? It is good to hear that the hospital personnel in Nepal were interested in getting more education about mushrooms.
She also had some input about designing a flyer with or without edibles.? She thinks both should be included with a clear way to indicate poisonous vs.? edible.? ?I can certainly see an argument for including edibles on the flyer because then people would be more likely to keep it with them because they'd consider it a useful resource.
We also talked about how global warming in general is changing fungal populations all over the world.? That species known elsewhere are popping up in parts of the world where no one is familiar with them.? This means that whatever we figure out that is effective in preventing deaths in Nepal, may be helpful in other parts of the world as well.
So it was interesting hearing her input and thinking about it further.?
Please weigh in if you have other thoughts.
Thank you everyone,?
Cornelia?
Cornelia