| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (52 min. 6 sec.) ; 314979794 bytes |
| Summary |
*Drug Use*While tulip breeders may spend long days tending their cultivars, nothing compares to the high-tech, 24-hour intensive care given another plant -- cannabis, a.k.a. marijuana. The Botany of Desire explores the history and physiology of this lowly weed that has made itself so desirable that nearly 15 million Americans risk arrest each month by smoking it. While fruits produce sweetness and flowers produce beauty, some plants produce chemicals that have the power to alter human consciousness. And, like our craving for sweetness or love of beauty, the desire to change consciousness appears to be hardwired into humans. Cannabis has cashed in on that desire and spread from its birthplaces in India and China throughout the world, where passionate -- and mostly illegal -- gardeners tend to its needs with slavish devotion. Although cannabis is now illegal in most countries, many cultures throughout history have embraced it.Our relationship to the potato began in the Andes Mountains of Peru. It was there, more than 8,000 years ago, that the plant was first domesticated, and more than 5,000 different varieties of potatoes are still grown there today. When the Spaniards conquered Peru in the 16th century, they took the potato back with them to Europe, where the plant would grow in abundance. But, unlike the Peruvians, the Irish grew mainly one single type of potato, the Lumper. The Irish potato fields, with their genetic uniformity, soon became vulnerable to biological pests. In the 1840s, when a virulent spore swept through the island nation, almost the entire potato crop was wiped out. The ensuing famine was so severe that it killed one out of every eight people in Ireland. Yet this parable has already been forgotten in America, where consumer demand for smooth, perfectly uniform French fries has resulted in the planting of another monoculture potato crop -- the Russet Burbank. The Botany of Desire contrasts this 'industrial' method of agriculture with organic farming, which avoids toxic chemicals and encourages genetic diversity.PRODUCTION DETAILS:A Kikim Media production. Producer/Director: Michael Schwarz. Narrated by Frances McDormand |
| Notes |
Closed captioning in English |
| Event |
Broadcast 2010-08-05 at 21:30:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Cannabis.
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Human-plant relationships.
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Marijuana.
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Nature.
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Smoking -- Health aspects.
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Tulips.
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United States.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Gray, Ted (Edward), director
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McDormand, Frances, cast
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Schwarz, Michael, director
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