The Botany of Desire (2009)

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World is a 2001 nonfiction book by journalist Michael Pollan. Pollan presents case studies that mirror four types of human desires that are reflected in the way that we selectively grow, breed, and genetically engineer our plants. The tulip, beauty; marijuana, intoxication; the apple, sweetness; and the potato, control.

The stories range from the true story of Johnny Appleseed to Pollan's first-hand research with sophisticated marijuana hybrids in Amsterdam to the paradigm-shifting possibilities of genetically engineered potatoes. Pollan also discusses the limitations of monoculture agriculture: specifically, the adoption in Ireland of a single breed of potato (the Lumper) made the Irish vulnerable to a fungus to which it had no resistance, resulting in the Irish Potato Famine. The Peruvians from whom the Irish had gotten the potato grew hundreds of varieties, so their exposure to any given pest was slight.

www.pbs.org
Drug Prohibition   Environment   Food   Health
Rate this video 
Food
Honest Government Ads
Videos by Second Thought
Trending Videos
Jordan Klepper Charts Trump's Long History with Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell
13 min - With MAGA and Democrats demanding answers about the Epstein files and Trump denying their existence, Jordan Klepper charts the presidents well-documented history with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine...
acTVism Munich Video Series
272 min - This video playlist compiles all of acTVism Munich's work that include a wide range of topics - privacy, democracy, economy, politics and social issues.
Chicago 10 (2008)
98 min - Protesters and activists in the face of an oppressive and armed government speak out and take a stand, and after being denied permits for demonstrations they repeatedly clashed with the Chicago...
Food, Inc. 2 (2024) ($7)
94 min - In Food, Inc. 2, the sequel to the 2008 Oscar-nominated and Emmy-award winning documentary, Food, Inc., filmmakers Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo reunite with investigative authors Michael...
Food Fight: How Corporations Ruined Food (2012)
72 min - When we walk into a supermarket, we assume that we have the widest possible choice of healthy foods. But in fact, over the course of the 20th century, our food system was co-opted by corporate...
Why Labour REALLY Supports Genocide
13 min - Labour Friends of Genocide EXPOSEDJoin the Future of Journalism: https://www.patreon.com/DoubleDownNews
Patriarchy
Watch On Demand
Subscribe for $5/mo to Watch over 50 Patron-Exclusive Films
Subscribe $5/mo View All Patron Films

 

Your support keeps us ad-free and financially independent

Our 10,000+ video & article library is 99% free, ad-free, and entirely community-funded thanks to our patron subscribers!


Want to double your impact? You can subscribe for $10/mo or more as an extra show of support.