"The Botany of Desire" on PBS
Did any of you happen to catch "The Botany of Desire" on PBS last night? I had the DVR set, and happily, the kids were (mostly) asleep so I was able to watch more than I thought I'd be able to. While I kind of zoned out during some parts of it (not much interest on my part about growing a certain weed (ahem) but still impressed at the ingenuity of the growers of said weed) I did enjoy the segments about the apple and the potato.
What I appreciated most of all, from a gardener's standpoint, is that Pollan makes a strong case that we are part of nature, not standing apart from it. That as much as we may believe we have a modicum of control over the natural world, it has just as much control over us. It's a viewpoint I've believed in since I started gardening as a teenager, and I think it's one that most die-hard gardeners have. As much as we may try to control what happens in our garden, nature will do its own thing. We can try to restrict where the Nigella grows, but it's almost a guarantee that it will pop up somewhere totally different, and usually in a spot that does more for the plant's own self-preservation than it does for the aesthetics of our garden. Such is life in the garden.
Besides the overarching theme of "plants doing what they can to survive," I was happy to see Pollan make the point again and again about the danger of monocultures. There was also quite a bit of discussion about GMOs, especially in the segment about potatoes. I was very, very happy to see that the documentary profiled an organic potato farmer who was doing everything right and succeeding amid the conventional farms he was surrounded by.
If you weren't able to watch "The Botany of Desire" last night, it will be re-broadcast several times in the upcoming week or so on most PBS stations. Check the website for information about the show, as well as the broadcast schedule.
Did you watch "The Botany of Desire?" Have you read the book? Thoughts and opinions, please!
Comments
Yes, I caught most of it. Learned a lot.
The Irish potato famine resulted from ignorance but the science was not there at the time, I presume. I’m also certain that profit driven McDonald’s will not change their behavior with or without the knowledge.
The tulip bubble was another lesson human failed to learn. Although the next potato famine, a matter of time, won’t be so devastating – Monsanto will come to the rescue – God help us. (I’m an agnostic.)
The ‘little’ cannabis is certainly in control of us ‘advanced’ animals.
There are thousands of species of apples, infinite according to one apple farmer. I’m certain there are just as many tomato species and what have you. But the market decides what farmers grow. What’s available from the market is what makes the most profit, not what tastes best or other qualities.
And we think this is progress. We also think recession is bad and market (GDP) must grow.
If we fools don’t learn our lessons nature will take care of business.
I can easily make a case that roaches are smarter than us human. We are the only species that find ways to destroy ourselves and our environment and call it progress to boot.
Fools never learn. Sad!
I happily stumbled across this show, as I totally LOVED the book. It was great to see Michael Pollan. The book goes into even more detail on each plant chosen, all of it very entertaining as well as enlightening. (The true history of Johnny Appleseed was especially interesting!) I found the show to be an excellent synopsis of the book.
The full program is now available for viewing at that link. I’m so happy, since my DVR messed up.
I can’t wait to see it! I missed it the first go round, but will now look for it to come around again.
I just came here to read this because of our convo on Twitter. Don’t know why I didn’t see it when I commented on your pumpkin post.
For the record in my post on this, you’re not the blogger I referenced. It was one of the food bloggers on Twitter. I swear!