A.E.A south east queensland Branch

[Torsten]

Google is a pretty good representation of what 'society' thinks and there is not a single mention of bikies in at least the first 30 hits [that's where I stopped looking] when searching 'chapter wa'. Still looks like it's just you. Any other WA folks care to chime in if the name is a problem there?

[Amazonian]

I too relate the word 'chapter' to biker clubs (only as i had some friends in bike clubs and that was their lingo). I have no problem with the word chapter though ... and i am all for the Australian Ethnobotanical Association, and I am just waiting to see an avenue where i might be of some help.

[dionysus]

listing #20 on a google search for 'chapter wa' reveals 'the patriots - south chapter', showing photos of burley leather clad men. may not be an outlaw gang, infact ex servicemen who happen to ride together, but, a biker club none the less.

even if only a fraction of people give negative connotation to the word, isn't that still valid? just as it was valid when people displayed concerns over gregs use of the word 'religion', whitewinds use of the word 'ethnobotany' and now the discussion of even the word 'feminism'.

i put forward the suggestion of the word 'branch' as whitewind noted as it follows our theme of botany anyway. i put forward these suggestions because i would like to see the AEA succeed at whatever it is it will be doing, constructive criticism from their peers may be useful to avoid non-constructive criticism from others later.

good luck to all who seek to preserve the pasture of man, (ethnos botane = mans pasture i believe)

[Seldom]

or 'drug-clique'

[mr b.caapi]

or 'drug-clique'

 

[whitewind]

Torsten's right in saying we need to set this up properly. We are already under a surprising amount of interest from people close to the powers that be. If we do this right, it's all good, and something of interest. If it doesn't work, then at least we tried. If we fuck it up, it will be noticed and we'll be back to that old monicker of being useless hippies who aren't worth listening to. It's also our personal careers on the line, possibly, for some of us.

And it's a lot of work. Replying to everyone's questions is time consuming, and I hope we can come up with a more rounded set of goals and ideas soon via a functioning, legit website. We're working on it (at least, the d00dabides is). Answering the same questions over and over is a bit frustrating, I am happy to do it for a while, but there's a lot to do and I'm busy with family and work as well so I'm limited.

That's the other thing a large group of people can do, take the pressure of those who til now have been doing it all. It also allows them to access a greater network of people who have a huge range of differing abilities - people who can run a website, people good at design, people with fantastic ideas and to resources to run them, people who can do but don't have the vision, people with legal minds and people with money. And people who aren't tied necessarily to commercial interests.

Back to local chapters / arms / branches.

One of the ideas that an AEA committee member has had is that of running a local ethnobotanical garden, perhaps using council land. We took a look at a community garden just set up down the road - it is a tiny unused piece of land, it took a lot of talking to the council to allow them to go ahead, and they have no resources apart from what people in the group give. They also couldn't do it without becoming part of a local community association - it gives legitimacy and allows public liability insurance in case someone gets hurt. They are doing it because they want people to have space to grow their own stuff and to network. There is talk of getting schoolkids in, disabled people, anyone who might have no ability to get outside and do stuff but might be interested in growing.

An official ethnobotanical association will allow members to get in touch with local councils and ask for help, advice, land, or possibly their local botanical garden for space to do some work. Individuals don't have a chance in hell of getting anything like that, unless they know someone on the council, possibly not even then. The AEA in Sydney couldn't possibly set up anything like this unless it had people in that area willing to do the legwork - hence local branches. Not that we're telling people what to do, just throwing around ideas for people to mull over and figure out if it's worthwhile joining up even if our lobbying isn't immediately effectual. Trying to give the community more opportunities as well as stem the tide of ever-crazier restrictions. The more visible we are, the more we get out there and are seen to be contributing and interesting, the better. And it should be fun too! Christ, if it's not fun it's not worth doing. Mind you, trying to set this thing up hasn't exactly been a barrel of laughs - my misses has already cracked the shits over how much time I'm spending on it. That's why I get excited when Bigred and the gang go all nuts on us and try to get moving. It means there are some people, at least, who are interested.

Re. Funding

If large amounts of funds are saved or donated (as has happened with some plant societies which have small overheads but large numbers of members) they could potentially be used for starting up an educational group and maybe run TAFE style courses, in a similar vein to the permaculture courses being set up. The possibilities are quite large, but they are just that for now, and we aren't really asking for more funds just yet - not to say that donations and auctions aren't going to be gratefully accepted, just that I don't think we need any more to start this thing going. If the SEQ group need funds for something, they should maybe fund it themselves or come and ask us if we have any spare - but since none of their activity is officially related to AEA yet, they will be accountable for it (although I'm sure they will be spending it sensibly).

[Bush Turkey]

Or an ethnobotany collective

[whitewind]

I'm not leaving SEQ group hanging out to dry, we're just a bit snowed under and not really ready for this yet. I think you should get organised, as Torsten said, and as soon as we are able we'll get you involved and officially able to fundraise etc. I'd love to have a bit more info on your seedbank idea too, very curious as to what you had in mind.

[GoOnThen]

A lot of associations that I have been involved with were sport based. There setup was local club are members of a state association who intern is a member of the Australian association. At each level you have X number of votes ether dependent on numbers or more commonly X number of votes per club and then the state associations each gets X number of votes at the national level.

This way it stops people hijacking the association and that all states get a say in what happens,

Cheers

Got

[Stillman]

There is a local PCYC garden group that is interested in growing alot of the edibles and Ayurvedic herbs. I'm going to go chat to them next weekend. I have a few conections there also two local community groups that I have access to. Just tell me when and I will make it happen, I'm currently propagating the plants that I am donating to them.

[PhoenixSon]

be cool if you could do grafting classes! charge a small fee/donation be sweet.

mycology classes would be popular as well i would think.

offers something tangible for people to learn and also as a fundraising/networking opportunity.

I really want to learn to graft

[PhoenixSon]

also whats the groups mission statement or whatever its called.

[Bigred]

let's just get back to the idea we are getting way ahead of ourselves, this thread is for the interest of a group

and what we can do to help make that happen. I love negativity, but would love to hear some more positive Idea's .

[Darklight]

Chapter = 1% bike club to me too

Often seen in the media as well to describe same. I think it could detract from the ability to get ready public support, but that's just my opinion

If you want to run a myco course over 2 short days as a fund raiser I'm happy to do some demos whitewind.

[Bigred]

Please don't condem whitewind and the A.E.A because I used a inappropriate word when i started the thread..

A lot of the comment's have been related to simply used the word chapter , and now we are seen as criminal's

same when i used the word Professional i was simply referring to the way to act about it

And sorry for my poor grammar and spelling just lazy but will put more effort into it

I love this site and all that it stand's for and will do all that i can to help member's. We all have a strong passion

for ethnobotanic's and i believe in preserving the heritage of sacred plant's. Sadly a lot of plant's are now lost

to the history book's , something has to be done to ensure that this does not happen any more.

and sorry whitewind I plan on asking for this thread to be deleted i meant to cause you no hassle or tarnish

the A.E.A name i feel really bad about it .

bigred

[dionysus]

you shouldn't feel bad bigred, the majority of us are only voicing concerns trying to help you guys. you are clearly passionate about doing this, and that's great, we're just trying to ensure that we give you all the advise we can for you to succeed. some things, such as use of a word, require a bit more discussion as different people have different views and sometimes such a trivial matter can be important.

those people being more abrasive are probably just agitated they aren't caught up in the initiative and trying to validate themselves to us as legitimate in our field. every hobby has it's elitists and some don't seem to handle the non-elite doing good work.

again, all the best

dio