PBS - The Botany of Desire BluRay (2009) Part 2

Flowers. Trees. Plants. We've always thought that we controlled them. But what if, in fact, they have been shaping us? “The Botany of Desire” brings Michael Pollan's best-selling book to PBS, showing how human desires are an essential, intricate part of natural history. Explore the natural history of four plants –the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato – and the corresponding human desires – sweetness, beauty, intoxication and controlling nature–that link their destinies to our own. - Sweetness Few plants have appealed to our inborn desire for sweetness more successfully than the apple. - Beauty Have you ever wondered what we have in common with bees? Look no further than the tulip, whose beauty has bewitched us for thousands of years. - Intoxication People in every culture and society except the Eskimos have used some kind of plant to change consciousness. No plant has exploited this desire more effectively than the lowly weed marijuana. - Control Rich in nutrients and easy to grow, the potato has been the bedrock of civilizations. But our dependence on it also points out the perils of trying to control nature. The Botany of Desire tells the utterly original story of four everyday plants and the way they have domesticated humankind. In 1983 Michael Pollan and his wife left New York City to make a new home on an abandoned dairy farm. Pursuing a childhood fascination with gardening and an old-fashioned hubris about his ability to control nature, Pollan set about creating a garden. He had no way of knowing that it would eventually lead him to an original and provocative re-interpretation of the relationship between plants and people. This two-hour documentary begins in Michael Pollan's garden, and roams the world, from the potato fields of Idaho and Peru to the apple orchards of New England and Kazakhstan, from a medical marijuana hot house to the tulip markets of Amsterdam, where in 1637, one Dutchman, crazed with 'tulip mania, ' paid as much for a single bulb as the going price of a townhouse. How could flowers, with no real practical value to humans, become so desperately desired that they drove many to financial ruin? One of the great conceits of human civilization is to put ourselves outside nature–sovereign, constantly shaping and re-shaping the wild for our own purposes; people as subjects, and plants as objects. Taking these plants' perspectives of the world restores human activity to its proper place in the matrix of nature.

Produced and Directed by Michael Schwartz; A Kikim Media Production for PBS

— Part #1 is the main feature, bonus features are part #2, a panel discussion at UC Berkeley on the interdisciplinary importance of The Botany of Desire (19 min.), and part #3, deleted scenes and additional interview with Michael Pollan (42 min.) —

Full Version Available Upon Request