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They are four of
the most common plants we know.
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00:00:08,340 --> 00:00:11,880
We've always thought that wecontrolledthem.
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00:00:12,140 --> 00:00:16,040
But what if, in fact,
they have been shaping us?
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00:00:16,110 --> 00:00:19,510
We don't give nearly enough
credit to plants.
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00:00:19,580 --> 00:00:21,020
They've been working on us.
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00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:23,620
They've been using us,
for their own purposes.
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00:00:23,690 --> 00:00:26,790
Four plants that have
traveled the road to success,
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00:00:26,860 --> 00:00:30,090
by satisfying human desires.
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00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,430
The tulip,
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00:00:32,490 --> 00:00:35,530
by gratifying our desire for
a certain kind of beauty,
11
00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:37,400
has gotten us
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00:00:37,470 --> 00:00:40,440
to take it from its origins
in central Asia
13
00:00:40,500 --> 00:00:44,210
and disperse it
around the world.
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00:00:44,270 --> 00:00:48,540
Marijuana, by gratifying our
desire to change consciousness,
15
00:00:48,610 --> 00:00:50,980
has gotten people
to risk their lives,
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00:00:51,050 --> 00:00:52,780
their freedom,
in order to
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00:00:52,850 --> 00:00:55,420
grow more of it
and plant more of it.
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00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:59,120
The potato -- by gratifying
our desire for control,
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00:00:59,190 --> 00:01:01,520
control over nature,
so that we can feed ourselves,
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00:01:01,590 --> 00:01:05,990
has gotten itself
out of south America
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00:01:06,060 --> 00:01:07,760
and expanded its range
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00:01:07,830 --> 00:01:10,870
far beyond where it was
500 years ago.
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And the apple,
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00:01:12,940 --> 00:01:15,170
by gratifying our desire
for sweetness --
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00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,010
begins in the forests
of Kazakhstan
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00:01:18,070 --> 00:01:21,210
and is now
the universal fruit.
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00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:22,980
These are great winners
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00:01:23,050 --> 00:01:25,180
in the dance of domestication.
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00:01:25,250 --> 00:01:26,950
A look at nature
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00:01:27,020 --> 00:01:29,480
the way you've never
seen it before,
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00:01:29,550 --> 00:01:32,480
with best-selling author
Michael Pollan.
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00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:39,390
And this relationship
of the plants,
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00:01:39,460 --> 00:01:41,700
learning how to gratify
our desires,
34
00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,500
and our working for them
in exchange for this,
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00:01:44,740 --> 00:01:47,200
is what I call
"The botany of desire."
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00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,420
It was that
very special week in May,
37
00:02:36,710 --> 00:02:40,520
when the apple trees are in
spectacular bloom,
38
00:02:40,590 --> 00:02:44,560
and they're just vibrating with
the attention of bees.
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00:02:45,310 --> 00:02:47,620
And I was planting potatoes,
40
00:02:47,770 --> 00:02:49,600
making my little rows,
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00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:51,080
and putting in my chunks,
42
00:02:51,220 --> 00:02:53,370
and the bees were working
above me.
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00:02:55,500 --> 00:02:57,000
And it occurred to me --
44
00:02:57,670 --> 00:03:00,740
you know, what did I have
in common with those bees?
45
00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:03,480
And when you think about it,
46
00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:04,820
quite a bit.
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00:03:06,770 --> 00:03:08,110
The bee assumes
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00:03:08,180 --> 00:03:09,570
it's getting
the best of this deal
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00:03:09,620 --> 00:03:11,250
with the apple blossom.
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00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:12,850
It's breaking in,
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00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:15,170
it's getting the nectar,
52
00:03:15,620 --> 00:03:19,450
and has no idea that it's
picked up this pollen
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00:03:19,450 --> 00:03:21,130
on the hairs of its thighs
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00:03:21,190 --> 00:03:23,650
and is transporting it
to another tree
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00:03:23,710 --> 00:03:25,450
in the garden
or down the street,
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00:03:25,510 --> 00:03:26,910
or anywhere else.
57
00:03:30,170 --> 00:03:33,420
So for the bee to think it's
in charge of this relationship
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00:03:33,450 --> 00:03:36,610
is really just
a failure of bee imagination.
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00:03:36,910 --> 00:03:40,310
And I realized I had the same
failure of imagination.
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00:03:40,450 --> 00:03:43,250
I was working for these potatoes
in some sense.
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00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:45,420
I was planting them,
I was giving them
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00:03:45,420 --> 00:03:47,970
A little bit more habitat
than they had before.
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00:03:48,110 --> 00:03:51,710
And yet I thought I was kind of
calling the shots.
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00:03:52,740 --> 00:03:55,080
So that's when I had
this thought
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00:03:55,130 --> 00:03:57,100
that, wouldn't it be interesting
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00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:59,930
to look at our relationship to
domesticated plants
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00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,710
from the plant's point of view?
68
00:04:05,170 --> 00:04:08,710
Of course, plants don't have
consciousness or intention,
69
00:04:08,780 --> 00:04:13,110
but the act of using
our consciousness
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00:04:13,420 --> 00:04:16,200
to put ourselves
in their "roots,"
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00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:18,050
or shoes, or whatever,
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00:04:18,170 --> 00:04:23,020
helps us to see things
from their vantage point.
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00:04:24,420 --> 00:04:25,910
And when you do that,
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00:04:26,170 --> 00:04:28,490
nature suddenly looks
very different.
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00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:31,740
We realize we're inthe web of nature,
76
00:04:31,970 --> 00:04:34,020
not standing outside it.
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00:04:34,570 --> 00:04:35,970
These plants are mirrors
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00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,880
in which we can see ourselves
in a slightly different way.
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00:04:39,170 --> 00:04:42,170
And as much as this is
a story about plants,
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00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,650
it's a story about human desire.
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00:04:59,590 --> 00:05:01,330
Good morning,
my name is Brian,
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00:05:01,390 --> 00:05:03,050
welcome to
Poverty Lane Orchards.
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00:05:03,260 --> 00:05:04,560
First thing we're gonna do
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00:05:04,630 --> 00:05:06,480
is we're gonna head up
into the orchard,
85
00:05:06,510 --> 00:05:07,650
and when we get up there,
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00:05:07,740 --> 00:05:09,880
I wanna tell you a little bit
about the apples,
87
00:05:09,970 --> 00:05:12,000
and the trees,
and how to pick apples.
88
00:05:13,850 --> 00:05:15,710
For children
in new England,
89
00:05:15,740 --> 00:05:17,280
it's an autumn ritual --
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00:05:17,310 --> 00:05:20,550
an apple picking expedition
to the local orchard.
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00:05:22,940 --> 00:05:25,170
Okay, when you guys
are picking the apples,
92
00:05:25,570 --> 00:05:28,570
you want to pick out
nice ripe apples.
93
00:05:28,940 --> 00:05:32,090
And the way to tell
the ripe ones is they're red.
94
00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:33,820
But these children
might never have
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00:05:33,820 --> 00:05:35,620
had a chance
to taste apples
96
00:05:35,860 --> 00:05:40,340
had the apple not found a way to
get us to do its bidding.
97
00:05:41,170 --> 00:05:44,500
Thousands of years ago,
the apple put us to work --
98
00:05:44,570 --> 00:05:46,040
transporting its genes
99
00:05:46,110 --> 00:05:48,670
from its native ground
in central Asia
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00:05:48,740 --> 00:05:51,010
to the far corners
of the earth.
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00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:53,820
For a plant to do that,
102
00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,280
it has to be awfully
enterprising, willing to adapt
103
00:05:57,280 --> 00:05:58,850
to a great many
different environments,
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00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:00,240
willing to experiment with
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00:06:00,250 --> 00:06:02,450
a great many different
forms and flavors.
106
00:06:02,570 --> 00:06:04,880
Is there a really good red one
up there? What do you see?
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00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,650
Today,
it's a fruit iconic
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00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,140
and beloved and used in
a great many different ways.
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00:06:12,050 --> 00:06:14,670
But the apple has not
always been regarded as
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00:06:14,730 --> 00:06:17,220
the wholesome fruit
we think of today.
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00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:20,940
The apple tree
was the great evil plant,
112
00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,780
because people took these apples
and made hard cider,
113
00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:25,820
which was the main source
of alcohol
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00:06:25,820 --> 00:06:27,970
in rural America
for many, many years.
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00:06:28,580 --> 00:06:30,920
The strategy --
the evolutionary strategy
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00:06:30,980 --> 00:06:32,740
that got it from there
to here --
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00:06:32,850 --> 00:06:36,150
involved producing
ever more sweetness.
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00:06:42,220 --> 00:06:43,910
Okay, here's cup four.
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00:06:43,970 --> 00:06:45,080
There you go.
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00:06:45,310 --> 00:06:47,370
If you think it tastes
bad or yucky,
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00:06:47,370 --> 00:06:49,620
I want you to give it to
Oscar the Grouch.
122
00:06:50,770 --> 00:06:52,740
Oscar, okay.
123
00:06:54,020 --> 00:06:55,640
So here's cup two.
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00:06:55,710 --> 00:06:58,570
And if tastes good, I want you
to give it to Big Bird,
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00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,400
because he likes things
that taste good.
126
00:07:01,970 --> 00:07:04,250
These children
are doing taste tests --
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00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:06,220
part of research
being done on sweetness
128
00:07:06,250 --> 00:07:09,250
at the Monell Chemical Senses
Center in Philadelphia.
129
00:07:09,450 --> 00:07:12,400
It specializes in the study of
taste and smell.
130
00:07:12,570 --> 00:07:14,680
Good job!
You're doing great.
131
00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:17,280
All right, so I'm going to
give you another one.
132
00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:20,370
Some of the fundamental
things we've discovered are,
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00:07:20,420 --> 00:07:24,020
the desire for sweetness is
hardwired in human beings.
134
00:07:24,100 --> 00:07:25,770
It's built-in, it's innate.
135
00:07:25,940 --> 00:07:27,510
It's not because we feed babies
136
00:07:27,570 --> 00:07:29,310
high levels of sweet
when they're young,
137
00:07:29,340 --> 00:07:30,980
It's part of their biology.
138
00:07:33,650 --> 00:07:36,280
Presumably, our response to
sweet evolved
139
00:07:36,310 --> 00:07:39,320
when sweet things were rare
in the environment,
140
00:07:39,390 --> 00:07:41,250
They were there
in small amounts,
141
00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,510
and our biggest problem
was to make sure
142
00:07:44,510 --> 00:07:47,460
we got enough calories
and didn't starve to death.
143
00:07:49,030 --> 00:07:50,660
If a plant was sweet,
144
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,110
that meant it wasn't bitter
and poison.
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00:07:53,140 --> 00:07:55,800
It meant it was reasonably high
in calories,
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00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,020
because sugars
are calorie-rich.
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00:07:58,020 --> 00:08:01,200
And so sweetness is the signal
148
00:08:01,290 --> 00:08:03,560
for something
that's good for us.
149
00:08:05,710 --> 00:08:08,620
Sweetness in nature is
very rare, very special.
150
00:08:08,850 --> 00:08:10,800
It's really limited to
ripe fruit,
151
00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:13,340
and honey,
if you're willing to risk
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00:08:13,370 --> 00:08:15,000
going into a beehive.
153
00:08:15,070 --> 00:08:18,170
And apples are a particularly
big, portable,
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00:08:18,220 --> 00:08:21,210
long-lasting vessel
for sweetness.
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00:08:26,650 --> 00:08:27,790
It was here in
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00:08:27,850 --> 00:08:29,790
the ancient forests
of central Asia
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00:08:29,860 --> 00:08:31,720
that our own pursuit
of sweetness
158
00:08:31,790 --> 00:08:34,370
first brought us into contact
with the apple.
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00:08:34,770 --> 00:08:36,420
This, scientists say,
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00:08:36,570 --> 00:08:38,340
is the apple's genetic home --
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00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:40,430
the place
where it originated.
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00:08:41,250 --> 00:08:45,000
These high forests in what is
now the nation of Kazakhstan
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gave rise to thousands of
different varieties,
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00:08:47,870 --> 00:08:50,510
many of which
still grow here today.
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00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:55,350
You land in Almaty,
the capital of Kazakhstan,
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and there are apple seedlings
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00:08:57,480 --> 00:08:59,680
pushing up through
the broken pavement.
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00:08:59,950 --> 00:09:01,690
You go up into the hills,
169
00:09:01,750 --> 00:09:05,110
and there are thousands of
different kinds of apples.
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00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,080
great big red apples
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00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:09,680
That look like
large Macintosh --
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00:09:09,740 --> 00:09:13,230
and you'd find these sort of
knotty little green things
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00:09:13,300 --> 00:09:14,680
that even a rat wouldn't eat.
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00:09:16,110 --> 00:09:19,680
To see these wild apples
in all their diversity
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00:09:19,850 --> 00:09:23,300
is to realize that, in these
forests, this is, you know,
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00:09:23,310 --> 00:09:26,640
These are god's first drafts of
what an apple could be.
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00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:30,140
One way the apple
could secure its future
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00:09:30,150 --> 00:09:32,450
was by expanding its habitat --
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00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:35,850
But that's a hard thing to do
if you're a plant.
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00:09:37,820 --> 00:09:40,370
You know, the apple has
the same existential predicament
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00:09:40,380 --> 00:09:43,510
of any plant -- it's stuck
in place, it's rooted down.
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00:09:43,650 --> 00:09:46,880
So you had the apple
beginning its life
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00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:49,850
in these Kazakh forests
in central Asia,
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00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:51,510
but they would be stuck there
185
00:09:51,540 --> 00:09:55,020
if not for mammals,
that they evolved to appeal to.
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00:09:55,770 --> 00:09:58,420
If you're a bear in a forest
and you're hungry,
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00:09:58,510 --> 00:10:00,810
You don't pick the little
blueberry sized apples,
188
00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:02,650
You pick the biggest ones
you can get.
189
00:10:02,770 --> 00:10:04,570
If you find
a particularly sweet one,
190
00:10:04,570 --> 00:10:05,850
You're going to eat
more of that one
191
00:10:05,850 --> 00:10:07,510
than a sour one.
192
00:10:08,710 --> 00:10:09,930
And in their case,
193
00:10:09,940 --> 00:10:12,040
They eat the whole apple
and excrete the seeds,
194
00:10:12,050 --> 00:10:14,770
and that's how apples
spread their genes.
195
00:10:15,290 --> 00:10:17,760
And sweetness was the ticket
out of that forest.
196
00:10:19,770 --> 00:10:22,430
But to move farther
than bears could take it,
197
00:10:22,500 --> 00:10:24,600
The apple would need
a new ally --
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00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:27,140
And found one...In us.
199
00:10:33,710 --> 00:10:35,170
Part of
the apple's genius
200
00:10:35,170 --> 00:10:37,480
has been to insinuate itself
into our culture,
201
00:10:37,510 --> 00:10:39,710
and art and religion, as well.
202
00:10:40,620 --> 00:10:42,390
It's kind of
a botanical Zelig --
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00:10:42,450 --> 00:10:44,800
I mean, it just kind of
shows up everywhere.
204
00:10:45,220 --> 00:10:47,820
Even when it wasn't
really there.
205
00:10:48,970 --> 00:10:50,400
One of
the best known images
206
00:10:50,460 --> 00:10:52,170
of people and apples together
207
00:10:52,170 --> 00:10:55,020
comes from the story of
the garden of Eden.
208
00:10:55,940 --> 00:10:58,710
Though the bible doesn't
specify what the fruit is,
209
00:10:58,910 --> 00:11:01,220
We have always imagined it
to be apples.
210
00:11:01,420 --> 00:11:03,820
And that's because the northern
Renaissance painters,
211
00:11:03,820 --> 00:11:05,220
when they thought of a fruit,
212
00:11:05,220 --> 00:11:07,680
the desirable fruit
that you would put in a garden,
213
00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:09,340
they immediately
thought "apple."
214
00:11:09,540 --> 00:11:10,850
But it wasn't an apple.
215
00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:12,910
probably was a pomegranate,
216
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:14,720
because apples don't do
very well
217
00:11:14,790 --> 00:11:17,820
in the lands where the bible is
thought to have taken place.
218
00:11:19,540 --> 00:11:21,450
One place
where apples did grow
219
00:11:21,450 --> 00:11:23,060
was ancient China.
220
00:11:23,250 --> 00:11:25,280
They'd been brought there
from central Asia
221
00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:25,310
on the trade route
called the Silk Road.
They'd been brought there
from central Asia
222
00:11:25,310 --> 00:11:28,030
on the trade route
called the Silk Road.
223
00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:31,310
The apple also traveled west,
224
00:11:31,370 --> 00:11:35,070
reaching Europe
and eventually the new world.
225
00:11:40,140 --> 00:11:42,620
In America,
the apple found a partner,
226
00:11:42,850 --> 00:11:46,200
Someone whose love for it would
become the stuff of legend --
227
00:11:46,650 --> 00:11:48,120
Johnny Appleseed.
228
00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:52,790
¶ The Lord is good to me ¶
229
00:11:52,860 --> 00:11:55,620
¶ and so I thank the Lord ¶
230
00:11:55,740 --> 00:11:57,910
Behind
Johnny Appleseed the myth,
231
00:11:57,910 --> 00:12:00,450
There is a real person --
John Chapman.
232
00:12:00,970 --> 00:12:03,540
But the myth is so powerful,
233
00:12:03,540 --> 00:12:05,510
so compelling, so fascinating,
234
00:12:05,570 --> 00:12:09,250
that it has completely obscured
the real person who's behind it.
235
00:12:14,820 --> 00:12:19,280
John Chapman was born
in 1774 in Massachusetts.
236
00:12:19,350 --> 00:12:22,290
In his early 20s,
he headed west.
237
00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,420
He traveled through
the Ohio river valley,
238
00:12:25,490 --> 00:12:27,910
which was then
the American frontier,
239
00:12:28,020 --> 00:12:30,540
planting and selling
apple trees.
240
00:12:31,370 --> 00:12:35,400
He is said to have
likened himself to a bee --
241
00:12:35,470 --> 00:12:37,760
that he had some sense that he,
like a bee,
242
00:12:37,770 --> 00:12:39,970
was spreading
these plants around.
243
00:12:41,650 --> 00:12:43,400
Johnny Appleseed
was --
244
00:12:43,450 --> 00:12:44,450
not to make a terrible pun --
245
00:12:44,450 --> 00:12:45,840
a pretty "seedy" fellow,
you know?
246
00:12:45,910 --> 00:12:48,250
traveling around,
often barefoot,
247
00:12:48,310 --> 00:12:50,450
You know,
in a burlap sack sometimes,
248
00:12:50,450 --> 00:12:51,710
sleeping in barns,
249
00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:53,910
but terribly engaging.
250
00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:55,650
People took him in,
251
00:12:55,650 --> 00:12:57,880
And he planted the orchards,
252
00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,400
and he told them how to prune.
253
00:13:01,230 --> 00:13:03,140
But he was, um...
254
00:13:03,850 --> 00:13:04,910
He was a bum.
255
00:13:05,060 --> 00:13:07,620
This is doubly odd,
256
00:13:07,620 --> 00:13:10,420
Because he was actually
fairly well off.
257
00:13:13,250 --> 00:13:15,280
Chapman could easily
have afforded
258
00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:16,650
much better clothes.
259
00:13:17,020 --> 00:13:20,680
All those apple trees he planted
made him a prosperous man.
260
00:13:22,170 --> 00:13:23,020
He wasn't just
261
00:13:23,020 --> 00:13:24,540
sprinkling apple seeds
where he went --
262
00:13:24,540 --> 00:13:26,080
He was a nursery man.
263
00:13:26,770 --> 00:13:28,250
He understood that,
264
00:13:28,250 --> 00:13:32,310
wherever the next wave
of settlers would land,
265
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:34,560
They would want apple trees.
266
00:13:35,110 --> 00:13:38,910
By law, you were required to
plant some fruit,
267
00:13:39,020 --> 00:13:41,310
because that was a symbol
you were going to stay put.
268
00:13:41,620 --> 00:13:44,140
So he would find
a piece of land,
269
00:13:44,170 --> 00:13:45,280
He would clear it,
270
00:13:45,340 --> 00:13:47,620
and he would plant apples
from seeds,
271
00:13:47,740 --> 00:13:51,210
and start a nursery a few years
before the settlers got there.
272
00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:52,850
So by the time they showed up,
273
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,340
he had saplings for sale
for a few cents apiece.
274
00:13:56,110 --> 00:13:57,510
It was a very good business.
275
00:13:57,740 --> 00:14:00,740
But when I started learning
about the botany of apples,
276
00:14:00,850 --> 00:14:04,140
suddenly there was
a problem with his story.
277
00:14:04,420 --> 00:14:07,250
Why would he be planting them
from seed?
278
00:14:14,370 --> 00:14:16,940
The mystery stems
from a curious fact
279
00:14:16,940 --> 00:14:19,050
of the apple's own biology.
280
00:14:19,770 --> 00:14:22,570
Its taste and even
its appearance
281
00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,600
are rarely passed on
through its seeds.
282
00:14:28,710 --> 00:14:31,370
In every apple you will
find a few little seeds,
283
00:14:31,370 --> 00:14:33,370
each in their own
little chamber.
284
00:14:34,570 --> 00:14:37,370
Well, every one of those seeds,
if planted,
285
00:14:37,370 --> 00:14:39,490
will produce a completely
different apple,
286
00:14:39,970 --> 00:14:42,820
looking very little, if at all,
like its parent.
287
00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:45,450
They tend to be sour, bitter,
288
00:14:45,450 --> 00:14:47,250
all these other
different flavors.
289
00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:49,910
That's because
each apple seed
290
00:14:49,910 --> 00:14:52,970
carries genes for a wide variety
of traits --
291
00:14:53,020 --> 00:14:55,170
and there's no telling
which of those genes
292
00:14:55,170 --> 00:14:57,800
will be turned on when
the seed starts to grow.
293
00:14:58,650 --> 00:15:00,940
There is, however,
a very simple way
294
00:15:00,940 --> 00:15:03,280
to perpetuate
the traits of an apple,
295
00:15:03,420 --> 00:15:06,200
an ancient technique
called "grafting."
296
00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:09,850
You take a bud from a tree
297
00:15:09,850 --> 00:15:11,560
that produced fruit
that you liked
298
00:15:11,620 --> 00:15:14,490
and insert it into a young,
developing tree.
299
00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:16,600
The result?
300
00:15:16,620 --> 00:15:17,820
An exact copy --
301
00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,510
or clone -- of the apple
you started with.
302
00:15:22,540 --> 00:15:26,370
Many American settlers grew
their apples exactly that way.
303
00:15:26,820 --> 00:15:28,710
But not Johnny Appleseed.
304
00:15:29,220 --> 00:15:31,880
He tended to
grow seedlings
305
00:15:31,940 --> 00:15:34,780
and then just let them
grow wild.
306
00:15:35,050 --> 00:15:37,400
He might have done this,
we think,
307
00:15:37,420 --> 00:15:39,080
because of his
religious beliefs --
308
00:15:39,150 --> 00:15:40,850
He was a Swedenborgian.
309
00:15:44,740 --> 00:15:47,280
The 18th-century
Christian theologian,
310
00:15:47,310 --> 00:15:48,850
Emanuel Swedenborg,
311
00:15:48,940 --> 00:15:52,820
preached that the natural world
is imbued with god's spirit.
312
00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:58,970
Swedenborg had
taught that
313
00:15:59,140 --> 00:16:01,610
Everything that was here
on earth,
314
00:16:01,670 --> 00:16:04,740
that you could see, feel,
taste, touch,
315
00:16:04,810 --> 00:16:08,480
had a counterpart in
the spiritual world beyond.
316
00:16:11,710 --> 00:16:14,850
For Chapman,
this seemed to indicate that
317
00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:19,770
he should not tamper with
all of the natural things
318
00:16:19,770 --> 00:16:21,830
that he could see
in the world around him.
319
00:16:23,220 --> 00:16:25,330
And this seems to be
one reason why
320
00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,110
he grows apples
from their seeds,
321
00:16:28,110 --> 00:16:29,710
and not from grafting.
322
00:16:31,220 --> 00:16:34,880
Whatever his reasons,
Chapman's botanical practices
323
00:16:34,970 --> 00:16:37,480
gave the apple
a golden opportunity
324
00:16:37,540 --> 00:16:40,010
to adapt
to a new environment.
325
00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:41,910
By going back to seed,
326
00:16:42,140 --> 00:16:45,250
you are going back to
the biodiversity of your genes.
327
00:16:45,910 --> 00:16:48,020
So all of those apple seeds
328
00:16:48,050 --> 00:16:50,850
produced hundreds of
different kinds of apples
329
00:16:50,850 --> 00:16:52,880
With very different qualities.
330
00:16:53,450 --> 00:16:54,690
And so the apple,
331
00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:57,760
just like the Englishmen
who came over,
332
00:16:57,830 --> 00:17:00,400
remade itself
as Americans.
333
00:17:08,420 --> 00:17:10,220
Most of these
new varieties,
334
00:17:10,220 --> 00:17:11,880
because they were
grown from seed,
335
00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:13,600
turned out to be bitter...
336
00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,750
But the settlers had a very good
use for them -- cider.
337
00:17:19,110 --> 00:17:20,650
Hard cider.
338
00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:25,680
Now, when we use
the word "cider,"
339
00:17:25,710 --> 00:17:28,250
We picture something very sweet.
340
00:17:28,310 --> 00:17:30,850
but of course,
it only stays sweet
341
00:17:31,140 --> 00:17:32,710
if you have refrigeration.
342
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:36,710
So all the cider they made
went into barrels and fermented
343
00:17:36,820 --> 00:17:39,770
and became what we call
"hard cider," alcoholic cider.
344
00:17:39,970 --> 00:17:42,340
So Johnny Appleseed,
who we think of as
345
00:17:42,340 --> 00:17:45,200
the most benign, wholesome
kind of character,
346
00:17:45,370 --> 00:17:46,200
turns out was
347
00:17:46,250 --> 00:17:49,050
bringing hard drink
to the frontier.
348
00:17:50,420 --> 00:17:52,080
That's what people drank.
349
00:17:52,250 --> 00:17:54,370
Colonial America
was terrified of water!
350
00:17:54,420 --> 00:17:56,000
There, you know, they knew all about
351
00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,910
diseases of water
in Europe,
352
00:17:58,910 --> 00:18:00,250
And so they didn't drink it.
353
00:18:00,620 --> 00:18:03,260
Cider, however,
because it had been fermented,
354
00:18:03,310 --> 00:18:05,260
had killed, in the process,
355
00:18:05,330 --> 00:18:07,740
anything that might
make you ill.
356
00:18:08,510 --> 00:18:11,250
That was the beer of
its time, the wine of its time,
357
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,310
That's what everybody drank --
and I mean everybody.
358
00:18:15,820 --> 00:18:19,740
Everyone from paupers
to Presidents consumed cider.
359
00:18:19,910 --> 00:18:22,310
John Adams liked to
drink it for breakfast.
360
00:18:22,770 --> 00:18:25,340
but over time,
cider and the apple
361
00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:27,490
became victims
of their own success.
362
00:18:31,110 --> 00:18:32,710
Alcohol consumption
363
00:18:32,740 --> 00:18:36,570
started to rise
in about the 1830s.
364
00:18:36,620 --> 00:18:39,500
And there's some public outrage
over that,
365
00:18:39,510 --> 00:18:42,880
that people seemed to be too
interested in drinking,
366
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:44,540
or are drunk.
367
00:18:44,740 --> 00:18:47,510
So all forms of
alcoholic beverage
368
00:18:47,510 --> 00:18:51,140
begin to be criticized,
and cider is among them.
369
00:18:54,420 --> 00:18:57,310
People went after
apple trees.
370
00:18:57,650 --> 00:18:59,080
Suddenly the apple,
371
00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,570
which had been celebrated for
much of American history,
372
00:19:02,770 --> 00:19:06,140
is vilified as
the evil fruit.
373
00:19:06,170 --> 00:19:08,510
It's back in the garden of Eden,
in a sense.
374
00:19:09,310 --> 00:19:12,020
The hatchet wielded by
the famous prohibitionist
375
00:19:12,020 --> 00:19:13,480
Carrie Nation,
was not just about
376
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:15,000
breaking down saloon doors,
377
00:19:15,020 --> 00:19:17,740
It was also about
chopping down this evil tree
378
00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:19,880
That was getting
Americans drunk.
379
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,140
But the apple would
be rescued from infamy
380
00:19:24,170 --> 00:19:26,440
by the sweeter side
of its nature.
381
00:19:27,250 --> 00:19:30,480
Even though cider was
what happened to most apples,
382
00:19:30,540 --> 00:19:32,280
apples were also eaten
as a food.
383
00:19:32,340 --> 00:19:34,850
and whenever you were lucky
enough to find a sweet one,
384
00:19:34,850 --> 00:19:36,000
that's what you did with it.
385
00:19:36,620 --> 00:19:38,820
So with cider
in disrepute,
386
00:19:38,890 --> 00:19:42,660
the race to find sweet new
varieties intensified.
387
00:19:48,420 --> 00:19:52,420
Everyone who had
a cider orchard had his eye out
388
00:19:52,450 --> 00:19:54,870
For that one good edible apple.
389
00:19:55,170 --> 00:19:56,840
It was really well understood
390
00:19:56,850 --> 00:19:58,310
That one of the tickets
391
00:19:58,310 --> 00:20:01,110
to great success
and great wealth in America
392
00:20:01,180 --> 00:20:03,350
was to find a good
edible apple.
393
00:20:04,540 --> 00:20:06,850
And all the famous apples
that we know --
394
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:08,570
The delicious, the macintosh,
395
00:20:08,570 --> 00:20:10,800
The baldwin, the northern spy --
396
00:20:10,910 --> 00:20:13,140
these had all begun
in cider orchards.
397
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:15,420
They were the stars.
398
00:20:18,220 --> 00:20:22,910
Before 1900, the fate of, like,
99% of apples was to be drunk.
399
00:20:23,110 --> 00:20:26,650
After 1900, it becomes the fruit
that we now know.
400
00:20:26,970 --> 00:20:29,170
For 20th-century Americans,
401
00:20:29,250 --> 00:20:31,910
Apples became
a symbol of wholesomeness.
402
00:20:32,310 --> 00:20:34,770
The apple growers
came up with this campaign --
403
00:20:34,770 --> 00:20:36,620
"An apple a day
keeps the doctor away" --
404
00:20:36,740 --> 00:20:39,950
And essentially rebranded
the apple as a health food.
405
00:20:40,170 --> 00:20:41,650
That's all well and good.
406
00:20:41,650 --> 00:20:43,450
But what it meant is that,
407
00:20:43,450 --> 00:20:44,670
as soon as you're
eating apples,
408
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,340
you focus on those few varieties
409
00:20:47,340 --> 00:20:49,560
that are really tasty
and popular,
410
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:52,800
And the industry shrank down
the number of apples
411
00:20:52,860 --> 00:20:55,300
over the course of
the 20th century.
412
00:20:55,510 --> 00:20:59,370
So that, by the time I was a boy
in the early '60s,
413
00:20:59,370 --> 00:21:01,710
there were very few apples
in commerce.
414
00:21:01,770 --> 00:21:04,280
There was the red delicious,
the golden delicious,
415
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:06,280
and the macintosh.
416
00:21:06,820 --> 00:21:08,170
That was, you know,
417
00:21:08,170 --> 00:21:10,170
easy for marketers
to get their head around,
418
00:21:10,170 --> 00:21:12,200
it was all the public
seemed to want.
419
00:21:12,370 --> 00:21:14,850
But for the apple,
it wasn't very good news --
420
00:21:15,110 --> 00:21:18,880
Because as soon as you kind of
freeze its evolution,
421
00:21:18,940 --> 00:21:22,050
The apple is kind of
a sitting duck for its pests.
422
00:21:29,050 --> 00:21:31,400
Apples were
increasingly being grown
423
00:21:31,420 --> 00:21:33,910
in what scientists
call "monocultures,"
424
00:21:33,970 --> 00:21:36,510
which churned out
just a single variety.
425
00:21:37,650 --> 00:21:39,940
Once you rely on
the genetic uniformity
426
00:21:39,940 --> 00:21:40,910
that comes with cloning
427
00:21:40,910 --> 00:21:42,850
rather than planting
from seed,
428
00:21:43,050 --> 00:21:46,620
you restrict the species'
natural ability to evolve.
429
00:21:47,220 --> 00:21:51,140
So you have your plants,
with their genetic combination,
430
00:21:51,370 --> 00:21:53,310
staying still,
while the pests --
431
00:21:53,310 --> 00:21:55,510
I'm talking about
insects or diseases,
432
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:57,000
viruses or bacteria --
433
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,830
are always trying to
pick the lock.
434
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:02,310
And sooner or later,
435
00:22:02,310 --> 00:22:04,480
they will be able to get not
just one of your plants,
436
00:22:04,500 --> 00:22:06,680
but all of your plants,
'cause they're the same.
437
00:22:08,140 --> 00:22:10,740
To defend them
from insects and diseases,
438
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:14,050
most apples are routinely
sprayed with chemicals.
439
00:22:14,710 --> 00:22:16,220
The bugs are clearly
440
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,780
well ahead of
the human controls.
441
00:22:19,340 --> 00:22:21,520
If you're talking about
a large grower,
442
00:22:21,740 --> 00:22:23,590
with a couple of hundred acres,
443
00:22:23,660 --> 00:22:24,680
they're probably spending
444
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,030
a half-million to three-quarters
of a million dollars a year
445
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:30,200
in chemical costs.
446
00:22:30,970 --> 00:22:34,280
One of the biggest
consumers of pesticide now
447
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:35,480
is the apple crop.
448
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:38,880
It's the fate of monocultures.
449
00:22:41,170 --> 00:22:42,910
We'll have to
check the records
450
00:22:42,970 --> 00:22:45,770
to see what the resistances are
in these,
451
00:22:45,770 --> 00:22:48,650
Because these could be
real useful
452
00:22:48,650 --> 00:22:50,850
in breeding right now,
I think...
453
00:22:51,250 --> 00:22:54,310
In Geneva, New York,
scientist Herb Aldwinckle
454
00:22:54,310 --> 00:22:56,340
and Phil Forsline
are looking for
455
00:22:56,340 --> 00:22:58,000
Another way to help
the apple --
456
00:22:58,110 --> 00:23:01,790
by harnessing the defenses
that lie hidden in its genes.
457
00:23:01,820 --> 00:23:03,140
So think what it
would be like
458
00:23:03,140 --> 00:23:05,820
if it was grafted on
a dwarfing rootstock.
459
00:23:06,220 --> 00:23:09,930
Probably double the size
and even more color.
460
00:23:10,340 --> 00:23:11,910
Aldwinckle and Forsline
461
00:23:11,910 --> 00:23:14,400
collaborate at this
apple research center,
462
00:23:14,450 --> 00:23:17,410
which is run by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
463
00:23:17,710 --> 00:23:20,800
It's a botanical version
of Noah's Ark.
464
00:23:21,510 --> 00:23:24,550
To walk into
this orchard is to --
465
00:23:24,570 --> 00:23:27,080
At first, it looks like kind of
a normal orchard...
466
00:23:27,510 --> 00:23:30,690
and then you realize,
as you look down the rows, that...
467
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,060
my god, every one of
these trees is different.
468
00:23:33,940 --> 00:23:36,200
There are yellow ones
and there are red ones,
469
00:23:36,220 --> 00:23:38,680
and there are green ones,
and there are purplish ones,
470
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:40,200
and there are small and large.
471
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,940
Every shape
of tree and fruit.
472
00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:45,540
It is just
this vast library.
473
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,300
Here, there are more
than 5,000 different kinds
474
00:23:49,310 --> 00:23:53,400
of apple trees -- each with its
own distinct set of genes.
475
00:23:53,810 --> 00:23:56,710
A mechanic has a wide
variety of tools
476
00:23:56,710 --> 00:23:58,880
Which he hopes
he'll be able to use
477
00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,880
to fix problems with machines
he's working on --
478
00:24:03,050 --> 00:24:05,880
It's a similar situation
with apples.
479
00:24:06,260 --> 00:24:08,420
We need to have a tool chest,
480
00:24:08,570 --> 00:24:11,710
and the genes are what provide
the tool chest.
481
00:24:12,450 --> 00:24:15,570
In 1989,
Aldwinckle and Forsline
482
00:24:15,570 --> 00:24:19,480
got an unexpected opportunity
to add to their tool chest
483
00:24:19,570 --> 00:24:22,740
some of the most valuable
apple genes in the world --
484
00:24:22,910 --> 00:24:24,800
the genes from Kazakhstan.
485
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:33,710
We regard
the Kazakh apple forests
486
00:24:33,710 --> 00:24:37,620
as the gene bank
of the domestic apple.
487
00:24:38,940 --> 00:24:41,650
Wild forests
were being chopped down.
488
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:43,420
The trees were being destroyed.
489
00:24:43,450 --> 00:24:45,220
They just wouldn't
be there anymore
490
00:24:45,220 --> 00:24:47,850
unless someone went there
and collected them
491
00:24:47,850 --> 00:24:50,200
and um... grew them somewhere else.
492
00:24:51,050 --> 00:24:54,340
We had some jeeps
we traveled around in,
493
00:24:54,370 --> 00:24:58,250
and so we were able to visit
true apple forests.
494
00:25:02,250 --> 00:25:04,680
It was a bit of
a culture shock
495
00:25:04,710 --> 00:25:07,340
to be in central Asia
for the first time.
496
00:25:07,620 --> 00:25:10,110
My first impressions were,
this was in
497
00:25:10,110 --> 00:25:12,620
The middle of nowhere --
what am I doing here?
498
00:25:14,620 --> 00:25:17,090
But, uh...
To just see
499
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,330
the diversity in those apples
500
00:25:19,340 --> 00:25:21,000
is just... amazing.
501
00:25:23,130 --> 00:25:25,710
Once an apple tree
is chopped down,
502
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:27,270
it's gone forever.
503
00:25:27,620 --> 00:25:30,810
But if we can take the seed
from that tree
504
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:32,340
and store the seed,
505
00:25:32,340 --> 00:25:36,680
we can preserve the genes that
were present in that tree,
506
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,800
and essentially we can preserve
that tree forever.
507
00:25:43,990 --> 00:25:45,600
Aldwinckle and Forsline
508
00:25:45,620 --> 00:25:48,090
made several trips
to the Kazakh forests.
509
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,930
They brought seeds back
and planted them.
510
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:52,850
We're standing in
the middle of what I call
511
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,680
"Kazakhstan re-created
in Geneva, New York."
512
00:25:55,970 --> 00:25:57,630
But we're not only just
saving it,
513
00:25:57,700 --> 00:26:00,000
we're developing
a library of information
514
00:26:00,020 --> 00:26:01,740
on every one of these trees.
515
00:26:03,220 --> 00:26:05,370
The notion of
conservation of seed
516
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:07,310
is to conserve it --
because you don't know
517
00:26:07,310 --> 00:26:10,050
what you might need it for
at some future time --
518
00:26:10,220 --> 00:26:11,620
maybe nothing.
519
00:26:11,820 --> 00:26:13,200
Why do we have museums?
520
00:26:13,220 --> 00:26:15,940
Well, because it's a good idea
to conserve things --
521
00:26:16,250 --> 00:26:17,590
That's the primary value.
522
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:19,370
Then there's a secondary value,
523
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,790
and that is to use them
as genetic breeding stock
524
00:26:23,050 --> 00:26:24,710
to solve problems --
525
00:26:24,740 --> 00:26:27,660
to solve problems that might
enable growers
526
00:26:27,730 --> 00:26:29,500
to use fewer pesticides.
527
00:26:30,940 --> 00:26:32,080
In his lab,
528
00:26:32,110 --> 00:26:34,400
Aldwinckle is trying to do
just that,
529
00:26:34,470 --> 00:26:37,600
by moving genes that provide
disease resistance
530
00:26:37,620 --> 00:26:41,480
from a wild Kazakh apple
into a commercial variety.
531
00:26:42,140 --> 00:26:46,520
These are pieces of
leaves of fuji apple.
532
00:26:46,580 --> 00:26:49,740
And what we've got here is
an experiment
533
00:26:49,740 --> 00:26:52,250
to try and transfer some genes
534
00:26:52,250 --> 00:26:55,280
for resistance
to apple scab
535
00:26:55,590 --> 00:27:00,600
into fuji, and therefore make
fuji resistant to apple scab.
536
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:02,830
In the 19th century,
537
00:27:02,900 --> 00:27:05,640
the repository of all
the genetic diversity
538
00:27:05,700 --> 00:27:08,450
of the apple in America
was in the cider orchard.
539
00:27:09,510 --> 00:27:12,170
Today it's in these collections
540
00:27:12,170 --> 00:27:15,850
that are maintained by
some visionary individuals
541
00:27:15,910 --> 00:27:19,510
who understand the importance of
preserving this biodiversity.
542
00:27:25,570 --> 00:27:27,010
There's a vicious circle
543
00:27:27,020 --> 00:27:29,650
that we get into, which is,
we have monocultures
544
00:27:29,650 --> 00:27:32,220
in the field,
and monocultures on the plate.
545
00:27:32,370 --> 00:27:33,930
Monocultures of taste.
546
00:27:34,510 --> 00:27:37,000
Fruit now has to
compete with soda.
547
00:27:37,140 --> 00:27:39,420
So it has got to be super-sweet,
548
00:27:39,420 --> 00:27:41,770
and the modern apples all are
very sweet --
549
00:27:41,910 --> 00:27:44,700
We have apples that, as one
critic said of the delicious,
550
00:27:44,710 --> 00:27:47,380
it has "sweetness
without dimension."
551
00:27:47,650 --> 00:27:49,600
The problem is, it's boring,
552
00:27:49,950 --> 00:27:52,480
sweetness --
if that's all you get.
553
00:27:54,420 --> 00:27:56,050
In Lebanon,
New Hampshire,
554
00:27:56,050 --> 00:27:58,540
one grower is trying to solve
that problem
555
00:27:58,650 --> 00:28:01,510
by reaching back
into the apple's past.
556
00:28:01,730 --> 00:28:05,020
Stephen Wood is the owner of
Poverty Lane orchards.
557
00:28:05,170 --> 00:28:07,460
He used to grow mostly
standard varieties,
558
00:28:07,530 --> 00:28:09,100
like macs and cortlands --
559
00:28:09,170 --> 00:28:10,970
but found he couldn't match
the prices
560
00:28:10,970 --> 00:28:12,850
of the big commercial growers.
561
00:28:13,620 --> 00:28:15,620
We realized
in the late '80s
562
00:28:15,620 --> 00:28:16,620
that what we'd always done
563
00:28:16,620 --> 00:28:18,170
wasn't going to work
any longer,
564
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,650
and that we either had to change
quite dramatically
565
00:28:21,650 --> 00:28:24,970
what we were doing, or stop
growing apples altogether.
566
00:28:25,620 --> 00:28:26,880
But for Wood,
567
00:28:26,950 --> 00:28:30,250
giving up on his orchard
seemed inconceivable.
568
00:28:30,340 --> 00:28:33,570
You know, some people adore
antique clocks,
569
00:28:33,570 --> 00:28:35,020
I adore apple trees.
570
00:28:40,820 --> 00:28:42,910
How are we doing on water core?
571
00:28:43,020 --> 00:28:45,870
We started some grafting trials
572
00:28:45,940 --> 00:28:49,410
of what I guess you could call
"antique" varieties --
573
00:28:49,470 --> 00:28:51,410
varieties that are not
commonly grown anymore,
574
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:52,680
but once were.
575
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:54,970
This is Wickson.
576
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,750
This apple originated
in the Pacific Northwest
577
00:28:58,770 --> 00:29:00,220
in the late 19th century.
578
00:29:03,450 --> 00:29:05,420
It's got a beautiful acidity.
579
00:29:05,820 --> 00:29:07,420
This is pomme grise.
580
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:13,500
It has very low acid,
high sugar,
581
00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,130
and a sort of...
a sort of nutty flavor.
582
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,940
This apple is
calville blanc d'hiver.
583
00:29:22,170 --> 00:29:25,280
It's got a little bit of
sweetness behind the acid.
584
00:29:25,340 --> 00:29:28,740
You look at 17th-century
French still-lifes,
585
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:30,880
this is the apple you see
586
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,180
beside the dead pheasant
and the bottle of wine.
587
00:29:33,450 --> 00:29:36,290
There's a huge number of
apple varieties --
588
00:29:36,350 --> 00:29:38,340
it's almost infinite.
589
00:29:41,620 --> 00:29:43,230
But it's tough to
make a living
590
00:29:43,290 --> 00:29:45,280
selling only
antique eating apples.
591
00:29:45,450 --> 00:29:47,400
So Wood turned his attention to
592
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:49,680
another lost chapter
in apple history.
593
00:29:50,140 --> 00:29:52,540
Most of his orchard
is now producing apples...
594
00:29:52,650 --> 00:29:54,110
for hard cider.
595
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,280
It is a gamble to plant
596
00:29:57,310 --> 00:29:59,820
acres and acres
of inedible apples...
597
00:30:00,420 --> 00:30:03,170
Many of the best cider apples
are disgusting --
598
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:05,170
bitter, astringent apples.
599
00:30:07,340 --> 00:30:09,340
The decision to plant
600
00:30:09,340 --> 00:30:10,620
not just a few trees,
601
00:30:10,620 --> 00:30:13,220
but thousands and thousands
of those trees,
602
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,860
could be quite a good joke
if the cider doesn't make it,
603
00:30:16,930 --> 00:30:19,110
because these apples are not
going to wind up
604
00:30:19,110 --> 00:30:20,170
in a kid's lunch box.
605
00:30:20,170 --> 00:30:22,450
There's no secondary market
for this stuff.
606
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:34,980
Wonderful breakfast drink.
607
00:30:37,020 --> 00:30:40,850
We are trying,
with a few other colleagues,
608
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:45,740
basically to create a category
in the U.S. Wine trade
609
00:30:45,850 --> 00:30:47,370
of "fine ciders."
610
00:30:47,940 --> 00:30:49,880
I think we're doing
quite well in that,
611
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,030
But the jury is still out.
612
00:30:55,170 --> 00:30:57,510
There are a lot of fruits
613
00:30:57,540 --> 00:30:58,940
that have gotten ahead in life
614
00:30:58,940 --> 00:31:01,600
by being sweet
and gratifying the sweet tooth
615
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:03,000
of mammals like us.
616
00:31:03,140 --> 00:31:04,710
But there's something
about the apple,
617
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:06,170
you know -- it's so iconic
618
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:07,820
in western civilization,
619
00:31:07,820 --> 00:31:10,570
and so enduring
in its relationship,
620
00:31:10,570 --> 00:31:14,510
and its ability, really, to
gratify our changing desires
621
00:31:14,540 --> 00:31:17,450
for alcohol, and for
a wonderfully sweet food
622
00:31:17,620 --> 00:31:21,970
that my guess is, it will
succeed for many years to come.
623
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,110
The mystery is, why...
624
00:31:49,450 --> 00:31:53,200
things that
bees regard as beautiful,
625
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,220
we also regard
as beautiful --
626
00:31:55,220 --> 00:31:57,880
I mean, what are the odds that
we would have the same taste
627
00:31:57,940 --> 00:31:59,710
as this little bug?
628
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,650
When I say the bee has a concept
of beauty,
629
00:32:03,740 --> 00:32:05,570
I mean, I'm being metaphorical.
630
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,510
But the bee and ourselves
have a lot in common.
631
00:32:10,020 --> 00:32:11,940
We really like symmetry.
632
00:32:13,020 --> 00:32:14,850
We like certain patterns
633
00:32:14,850 --> 00:32:19,000
of color, and certain scents --
we agree about scent, as well.
634
00:32:19,940 --> 00:32:22,600
The bee loves this flower
and moves toward it,
635
00:32:22,620 --> 00:32:24,890
and this flower has evolved
to attract it.
636
00:32:25,340 --> 00:32:28,020
Well, this plant has also
evolved to attract us
637
00:32:32,510 --> 00:32:35,110
to the extent that
a flower can gratify
638
00:32:35,140 --> 00:32:37,310
our ideas of a beautiful color,
639
00:32:37,310 --> 00:32:39,570
a beautiful shape,
a beautiful smell.
640
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,910
It will dominate the landscape,
641
00:32:42,910 --> 00:32:45,050
dominate the flower industry,
642
00:32:45,050 --> 00:32:47,340
get many more copies
of itself made,
643
00:32:47,370 --> 00:32:48,880
and take over the world.
644
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:51,420
And few flowers
645
00:32:51,420 --> 00:32:53,770
have traveled the road from
obscurity to fame
646
00:32:53,770 --> 00:32:56,850
more spectacularly than
the tulip.
647
00:33:04,230 --> 00:33:06,030
59 years ago,
648
00:33:06,100 --> 00:33:08,680
I saw first tulip
in my life.
649
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,800
And that was in the garden
of my father.
650
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,310
And now my whole life
is with tulips.
651
00:33:20,810 --> 00:33:24,050
Nobody knows tulips
better than the Dutch --
652
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:28,320
and few Dutchmen know them
better than Joop Zonneveld,
653
00:33:28,390 --> 00:33:32,760
but he has a curious way of
describing their effect on him.
654
00:33:33,020 --> 00:33:36,930
You look after every
tulip, step by step,
655
00:33:37,620 --> 00:33:39,600
You get the tulip fever --
656
00:33:39,710 --> 00:33:43,510
It becomes worse, worse,
and worse.
657
00:33:44,170 --> 00:33:49,400
For me, it was something,
it's in me, it never stops.
658
00:33:51,340 --> 00:33:54,140
Zonneveld's been
a tulip buyer, a salesman,
659
00:33:54,140 --> 00:33:55,740
And now he's conservator
660
00:33:55,740 --> 00:33:58,740
of one of the most famous
tulip gardens in the world --
661
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,090
Hortus Bulborum
in the Netherlands,
662
00:34:01,150 --> 00:34:03,680
a showplace for
the remarkable diversity
663
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,970
of this sometimes
under-appreciated flower.
664
00:34:18,210 --> 00:34:19,510
In this garden,
665
00:34:19,620 --> 00:34:23,220
we have 2,300 varieties.
666
00:34:24,140 --> 00:34:26,820
You have dark purple colors,
667
00:34:26,970 --> 00:34:29,250
You have almost black tulips,
668
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:31,880
You have lily flowering tulips,
669
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,250
There's a tulip
that has the shape like this,
670
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:35,940
like a lily flower.
671
00:34:36,570 --> 00:34:38,940
You have yellow, red,
672
00:34:39,050 --> 00:34:42,200
pink, orange, bicolored,
673
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,230
single earlies,
single late, double late --
674
00:34:46,420 --> 00:34:50,340
so there are so many things
in the tulips
675
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:52,880
that once you start,
676
00:34:53,220 --> 00:34:58,220
you discover every day.
Even myself, I discover
677
00:34:58,310 --> 00:35:00,110
every day new things.
678
00:35:02,050 --> 00:35:04,310
Today, Zonneveld is
giving a tour
679
00:35:04,310 --> 00:35:07,680
to photographer Ruth Dundas
and writer Justin Spring --
680
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:09,140
two Americans who have
681
00:35:09,140 --> 00:35:12,080
come to Hortus to gather
material for a new book.
682
00:35:12,170 --> 00:35:14,310
This is a lovely
viridiflora.
683
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,680
Tulips are about the last
subject they thought
684
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:19,970
would ever capture
their interest.
685
00:35:21,020 --> 00:35:22,740
I have to say, honestly,
686
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:24,540
that when I first started
to photograph,
687
00:35:24,540 --> 00:35:27,340
the last thing I wanted to
photograph was tulips.
688
00:35:27,710 --> 00:35:28,840
It's pretty boring,
689
00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:28,850
It's a lollipop
on top of a stick,
It's pretty boring,
690
00:35:28,850 --> 00:35:30,850
It's a lollipop
on top of a stick,
691
00:35:30,910 --> 00:35:33,200
you know, you get
different colors, but that's it.
692
00:35:33,250 --> 00:35:35,000
It's only once
you come to gardens
693
00:35:35,020 --> 00:35:37,220
such as the Hortus Bulborum here
694
00:35:37,250 --> 00:35:38,500
that you start to understand
695
00:35:38,510 --> 00:35:40,770
that this is
a very varied flower,
696
00:35:40,770 --> 00:35:43,310
and it's adapted and mutated
697
00:35:43,340 --> 00:35:45,250
into many different forms.
698
00:35:46,450 --> 00:35:48,600
It's a lot of fun
to photograph,
699
00:35:48,710 --> 00:35:50,280
That there's
a constant challenge
700
00:35:50,310 --> 00:35:52,080
to look into this flower
701
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,680
and be able to see new color,
new light.
702
00:35:56,970 --> 00:35:58,940
You can take a bouquet of tulips
703
00:35:58,940 --> 00:36:01,710
and photograph it
every hour of the day.
704
00:36:01,710 --> 00:36:04,020
and it's something quite
different each time.
705
00:36:04,850 --> 00:36:06,370
Perfect, gorgeous.
706
00:36:07,210 --> 00:36:09,710
It just seems so amazing
that you have
707
00:36:09,710 --> 00:36:12,810
this extraordinary variety
that's been cultivated
708
00:36:12,820 --> 00:36:15,400
over centuries,
and somehow you grew up
709
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:17,020
not knowing a thing about it.
710
00:36:17,740 --> 00:36:20,020
Flowers began
flaunting their beauty
711
00:36:20,020 --> 00:36:21,620
long before there were people.
712
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,420
It was more than
100 million years ago
713
00:36:24,420 --> 00:36:26,910
when the class of plants
that flowers belong to --
714
00:36:26,970 --> 00:36:30,000
the angiosperms --
first appeared on the earth.
715
00:36:33,650 --> 00:36:36,110
The great revolution in
natural history
716
00:36:36,110 --> 00:36:38,220
is the rise of the angiosperms.
717
00:36:39,340 --> 00:36:42,800
This is the class of plants
that makes conspicuous flowers,
718
00:36:42,820 --> 00:36:44,680
forms fruit and seed.
719
00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,200
This was a new way of doing
business in nature.
720
00:36:51,140 --> 00:36:53,020
The flower of
an angiosperm
721
00:36:53,020 --> 00:36:56,370
has a male part, the stamen,
which produces pollen.
722
00:36:57,570 --> 00:37:00,670
whether transported by wind,
bees, or humans,
723
00:37:00,730 --> 00:37:03,340
when pollen lands on
the flower's female part,
724
00:37:03,370 --> 00:37:05,370
The pistil, it gets fertilized,
725
00:37:05,370 --> 00:37:07,480
and gives rise to seeds.
726
00:37:08,220 --> 00:37:10,620
The seeds contain
a mix of genes
727
00:37:10,620 --> 00:37:12,570
from both the mother
and the father.
728
00:37:13,510 --> 00:37:17,450
Before that, you had this
greener, sleepier world
729
00:37:17,510 --> 00:37:20,200
where things reproduce
usually by cloning,
730
00:37:20,220 --> 00:37:23,120
by spores that were genetically
identical to their parents.
731
00:37:23,190 --> 00:37:25,590
Evolution proceeded in
a kind of pokey pace.
732
00:37:25,620 --> 00:37:27,620
You didn't have
as much variation.
733
00:37:30,220 --> 00:37:33,540
And then you have this
incredible explosion
734
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,820
of diversity that happens
with this new strategy.
735
00:37:39,340 --> 00:37:41,840
It was incredibly
successful strategy.
736
00:37:42,770 --> 00:37:44,910
It allowed you
to move your genes around.
737
00:37:44,940 --> 00:37:47,340
It allowed you to evolve
much quicker
738
00:37:47,450 --> 00:37:50,080
because sex creates variation.
739
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:52,450
And the more new combinations
you try,
740
00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:55,220
the quicker you can adapt to
whatever the environment is.
741
00:37:56,710 --> 00:38:00,310
And one particular group
of these angiosperms
742
00:38:00,310 --> 00:38:03,000
came up with a really, really
clever strategy --
743
00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:04,480
and that was
744
00:38:04,570 --> 00:38:06,970
to appeal not to, you know,
745
00:38:07,020 --> 00:38:08,740
bugs or birds or bees,
746
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:10,100
but appeal to us.
747
00:38:12,570 --> 00:38:15,340
The first
wild tulips, scientists think,
748
00:38:15,340 --> 00:38:18,650
sprang up in the same place
where the apple originated --
749
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:21,420
the mountains
of central Asia.
750
00:38:23,140 --> 00:38:27,140
It was typically kind of
more open than our tulip,
751
00:38:27,140 --> 00:38:29,860
so it had a kind of
hourglassy shape,
752
00:38:30,570 --> 00:38:32,020
often had a scent,
753
00:38:32,050 --> 00:38:34,650
often had a slightly different
color inside.
754
00:38:37,230 --> 00:38:40,110
Drawn by the beauty
of these wild flowers,
755
00:38:40,140 --> 00:38:42,420
people learned
how to cultivate them.
756
00:38:43,110 --> 00:38:46,110
Under our attention,
the flower got bigger.
757
00:38:46,170 --> 00:38:48,840
The colors very often
got brighter.
758
00:38:48,910 --> 00:38:52,640
And then we started
experimenting with variation.
759
00:38:58,940 --> 00:39:00,340
From central Asia,
760
00:39:00,340 --> 00:39:02,370
the tulip made its way
to Turkey.
761
00:39:03,250 --> 00:39:05,490
It was there that
this beautiful flower
762
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:08,420
bewitched one of the most
powerful men in the world,
763
00:39:08,540 --> 00:39:11,060
The sultan
of the Ottoman empire.
764
00:39:12,650 --> 00:39:14,710
The Turks
at various times in history
765
00:39:14,710 --> 00:39:15,940
revered tulips.
766
00:39:16,910 --> 00:39:20,170
Sultan Ahmed III
was famous
767
00:39:20,170 --> 00:39:21,850
for his love of tulips,
768
00:39:22,020 --> 00:39:24,710
And when they were in bloom
every year,
769
00:39:24,710 --> 00:39:26,170
there was a festival.
770
00:39:27,420 --> 00:39:29,650
Every night there would be
some sort of performance
771
00:39:29,650 --> 00:39:31,370
to celebrate tulips.
772
00:39:32,710 --> 00:39:34,600
It was so extravagant,
in fact,
773
00:39:34,620 --> 00:39:37,140
that this helped bring down
the sultan.
774
00:39:39,370 --> 00:39:41,080
For his spending on tulips
775
00:39:41,110 --> 00:39:43,200
and other perceived failings,
776
00:39:43,340 --> 00:39:46,050
the sultan was toppled
from his throne.
777
00:39:47,540 --> 00:39:49,200
But it wasn't only royalty
778
00:39:49,220 --> 00:39:50,850
that got seduced
by the tulip.
779
00:39:51,070 --> 00:39:53,050
In the early 17th century,
780
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,680
the flower caused a whole
country to go mad.
781
00:39:56,940 --> 00:39:59,000
It was completely irrational.
782
00:39:59,910 --> 00:40:02,770
And I don't think
you can explain it
783
00:40:02,770 --> 00:40:04,450
according to any logical scheme
784
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:07,170
that this entire society
went nuts.
785
00:40:10,020 --> 00:40:13,200
Between 1634 and 1637,
786
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:16,450
Tulips swept the Dutch
into a collective frenzy
787
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,000
that has become known as
"tulip mania."
788
00:40:19,270 --> 00:40:20,730
Their passion for the flower
789
00:40:20,740 --> 00:40:23,840
spurred one of the biggest
investment bubbles in history,
790
00:40:23,900 --> 00:40:25,340
and for a brief time,
791
00:40:25,410 --> 00:40:27,960
made the tulip one of
the most valuable commodities
792
00:40:27,970 --> 00:40:29,000
in the world.
793
00:40:29,450 --> 00:40:31,940
It was a pure financial
794
00:40:31,970 --> 00:40:33,150
speculative bubble --
795
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,800
and it was about a flower!
I mean, how amazing is that?
796
00:40:37,850 --> 00:40:41,020
It was a time when
the Dutch dominated world trade.
797
00:40:41,090 --> 00:40:43,940
and a lot of them
were getting rich.
798
00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:47,510
It became fashionable
to grow flower gardens --
799
00:40:47,650 --> 00:40:50,880
and nothing said "success"
like a tulip.
800
00:40:51,770 --> 00:40:53,230
In the beginning,
801
00:40:53,300 --> 00:40:55,250
the rich people in Holland,
802
00:40:55,420 --> 00:40:56,970
they have big houses,
803
00:40:56,970 --> 00:40:59,170
and they want to show
they're wealthy.
804
00:40:59,240 --> 00:41:01,270
At that time, were tulips.
805
00:41:04,510 --> 00:41:06,770
It really was about
the display of
806
00:41:06,770 --> 00:41:08,740
the extraordinary,
the gem.
807
00:41:10,110 --> 00:41:14,280
And you picture, you know,
kind of a gray, cloudy,
808
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:16,620
Dutch spring afternoon,
809
00:41:16,620 --> 00:41:19,460
and that color against
that steel sky
810
00:41:19,530 --> 00:41:20,890
is a powerful thing.
811
00:41:21,450 --> 00:41:23,770
For the tulip,
the Dutch flower gardens
812
00:41:23,770 --> 00:41:26,310
offered a chance
to strut its stuff --
813
00:41:26,970 --> 00:41:29,530
And no tulips did so
more dramatically
814
00:41:29,540 --> 00:41:32,140
than the type known as
broken tulips.
815
00:41:32,210 --> 00:41:34,170
They were extremely rare,
816
00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:36,680
but, back then,
no one knew why.
817
00:41:37,340 --> 00:41:38,810
A break was when
818
00:41:38,820 --> 00:41:41,140
the background color,
the solid, matte,
819
00:41:41,140 --> 00:41:42,820
saturated color
of a tulip
820
00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:45,620
gets a kind of flame
of a second color.
821
00:41:45,690 --> 00:41:47,370
And when this happened,
822
00:41:47,450 --> 00:41:51,110
this was considered, you know,
the most beautiful tulip.
823
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:54,420
The most prized of
all the broken tulips
824
00:41:54,420 --> 00:41:58,060
was one of the rarest --
the Semper Augustus.
825
00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:03,470
It was a big,
white tulip
826
00:42:03,540 --> 00:42:05,850
with a splash of carmine red
on it,
827
00:42:05,910 --> 00:42:07,770
which was really,
by general account,
828
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,140
considered the greatest tulip
ever found.
829
00:42:14,510 --> 00:42:17,370
This was the epitome
of tulip beauty
830
00:42:17,370 --> 00:42:18,820
in the eye of the Dutch.
831
00:42:19,710 --> 00:42:21,740
If you wanted
a Semper Augustus
832
00:42:21,740 --> 00:42:22,850
to bloom in your garden,
833
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:25,890
You'd need to get your hands on
a Semper Augustus bulb.
834
00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:29,190
That's the part of the tulip
that lives beneath the soil --
835
00:42:29,260 --> 00:42:31,400
and planting a bulb
is the only way
836
00:42:31,460 --> 00:42:33,130
to make sure a tulip offspring
837
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:35,170
will look the same as
its parent.
838
00:42:35,740 --> 00:42:37,620
But in 17th-century Holland,
839
00:42:37,650 --> 00:42:40,570
Semper Augustus bulbs
were very scarce.
840
00:42:43,620 --> 00:42:46,280
At that time,
only one merchant in Amsterdam
841
00:42:46,310 --> 00:42:48,210
had examples of this bulb.
842
00:42:48,510 --> 00:42:51,850
Eventually one man prevailed
upon him to sell a single bulb,
843
00:42:51,850 --> 00:42:55,170
which was valued at the time
at 10,000 florins.
844
00:42:55,450 --> 00:42:57,940
This was at a time when
the average Dutch worker
845
00:42:57,940 --> 00:43:01,620
would survive with his family
for a year on about 300.
846
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,600
And the fact that such sales
were being made
847
00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:07,400
and for such colossal sums
of money
848
00:43:07,510 --> 00:43:09,570
gradually became
more widely known,
849
00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:12,080
and this really was
the foundation stone
850
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:13,810
of what became
the tulip mania.
851
00:43:16,110 --> 00:43:18,140
At the height
of the tulip mania,
852
00:43:18,370 --> 00:43:23,480
one tulip sold for an amount
equivalent to the price
853
00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:27,480
of one of the grandest
canal houses in Amsterdam.
854
00:43:28,850 --> 00:43:31,080
Now, just to put it
in contemporary terms,
855
00:43:31,090 --> 00:43:35,050
this is equivalent to, say,
a townhouse on 5th avenue.
856
00:43:35,110 --> 00:43:39,370
$10 million to $15 million
for a single tulip bulb.
857
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:50,940
The tulip bulb market
hit its peak in February 1637.
858
00:43:51,370 --> 00:43:53,620
There were
40 million guilders' worth
859
00:43:53,620 --> 00:43:55,600
of tulip deals outstanding,
860
00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:58,740
more than six times
the total amount of money
861
00:43:58,740 --> 00:44:00,350
there was in circulation.
862
00:44:01,710 --> 00:44:05,220
There was an auction
held in the winter of 1637,
863
00:44:05,570 --> 00:44:10,220
and some great tulip was put on
the market at a certain price.
864
00:44:10,630 --> 00:44:12,570
And it didn't get that price.
865
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:16,310
And the auctioneer offered
1,000 guilders less,
866
00:44:16,340 --> 00:44:18,020
1,000 guilders
below that,
867
00:44:18,140 --> 00:44:19,300
and nobody bid.
868
00:44:27,570 --> 00:44:30,080
The flowers were
very overvalued.
869
00:44:30,150 --> 00:44:32,740
and people were risking fortunes,
870
00:44:32,910 --> 00:44:36,400
and of course the whole thing
came crashing down at once.
871
00:44:40,540 --> 00:44:42,450
And, so
very soon after that,
872
00:44:42,510 --> 00:44:44,540
all these tulips
were worthless,
873
00:44:44,620 --> 00:44:47,280
and all these people
were ruined.
874
00:44:49,650 --> 00:44:51,740
They had put their fortunes
in these flowers,
875
00:44:51,770 --> 00:44:52,770
and now they were worthless --
876
00:44:52,770 --> 00:44:54,910
They were just bulbs of plants.
877
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:57,820
And that was the end
of the tulip mania.
878
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:04,820
Suddenly, the flower
that was loved for its beauty
879
00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:07,320
became a symbol
of human folly.
880
00:45:07,850 --> 00:45:09,080
There was a period of
881
00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:12,620
tulip hatred in Holland
after the collapse,
882
00:45:12,620 --> 00:45:17,280
because it was blamed for
this economic disaster.
883
00:45:17,740 --> 00:45:19,940
There was a famous professor
in Leiden
884
00:45:19,970 --> 00:45:22,200
who'd run around with a stick
beating tulips
885
00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:23,500
and destroying them,
886
00:45:23,570 --> 00:45:27,800
and there were all these
pamphlets and broadsides
887
00:45:27,820 --> 00:45:29,770
about the evils
of the tulip mania
888
00:45:29,770 --> 00:45:32,140
and the great
whore goddess Flora
889
00:45:32,140 --> 00:45:34,280
who was blamed for
bringing the Dutch down,
890
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:37,020
as if, you know, it was
the flower that did it to them.
891
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:40,570
It's an extraordinary
historical episode,
892
00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:43,600
and we look back and we
look down, and we say,
893
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:45,400
"How could they do this?"
but of course we've been through
894
00:45:45,420 --> 00:45:46,680
our own speculative bubbles,
895
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:48,600
And it doesn't really matter
what you're trading --
896
00:45:48,740 --> 00:45:51,860
As long as the price is going up
really fast, everybody wants in.
897
00:45:51,930 --> 00:45:54,710
And as long as
there's a greater fool,
898
00:45:55,420 --> 00:45:57,140
a lot of money can be made.
899
00:45:57,200 --> 00:45:58,500
You just don't want to be left
900
00:45:58,570 --> 00:46:00,880
holding the bag or the bulb
at the end of it.
901
00:46:01,650 --> 00:46:03,340
What none of
the ruined investors
902
00:46:03,340 --> 00:46:05,970
could possibly have known
was that the breaks in color
903
00:46:05,970 --> 00:46:08,140
they saw as
the epitome of beauty
904
00:46:08,250 --> 00:46:10,880
were actually caused
by a virus.
905
00:46:11,620 --> 00:46:13,310
The tulip bulbs that sold for
906
00:46:13,310 --> 00:46:15,750
the price of
5th avenue townhouses
907
00:46:15,820 --> 00:46:17,860
turned out to be damaged goods.
908
00:46:18,620 --> 00:46:19,650
Well, this is something
909
00:46:19,650 --> 00:46:21,740
that nobody understood
at the time --
910
00:46:21,740 --> 00:46:24,570
I mean, no one in the 1600s
and the 1700s
911
00:46:24,570 --> 00:46:26,730
had any notion of
plant diseases,
912
00:46:26,770 --> 00:46:30,000
or any idea that the variation
in a flower
913
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:32,710
could be caused by something
like a disease.
914
00:46:34,540 --> 00:46:36,340
Today,
viruses like the one
915
00:46:36,340 --> 00:46:39,080
that once drove the tulip's
value to record heights
916
00:46:39,150 --> 00:46:41,280
are the enemy of
the global tulip trade,
917
00:46:41,350 --> 00:46:44,540
because infected bulbs
cannot be exported.
918
00:46:45,370 --> 00:46:48,880
So plant physiologists
like Henk Gude are working hard
919
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:50,080
to combat them.
920
00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:53,860
A tulip that is infected
with a virus
921
00:46:54,340 --> 00:46:56,140
is not a healthy tulip.
922
00:46:56,220 --> 00:46:59,220
It costs lots of energy
for the plant
923
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:01,480
to cope with the virus.
924
00:47:02,170 --> 00:47:05,450
And if you replant the bulb
year after year,
925
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:09,480
then its growing potential will
decline over the years.
926
00:47:09,540 --> 00:47:13,050
So, in a few years, you will not
have a tulip left.
927
00:47:14,250 --> 00:47:15,340
Gude works for
928
00:47:15,350 --> 00:47:17,220
the Applied Plant
Research Center
929
00:47:17,220 --> 00:47:20,480
at Wageningen University
in the Netherlands.
930
00:47:20,950 --> 00:47:22,710
To find out if a plant is
931
00:47:22,740 --> 00:47:26,490
infected by a virus,
we have to homogenize it,
932
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:28,530
to squeeze juice from it,
933
00:47:28,910 --> 00:47:31,280
and we can detect the presence
934
00:47:31,310 --> 00:47:33,170
of the virus in the juice
935
00:47:33,170 --> 00:47:35,480
with lab techniques.
936
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:40,310
When we understand
how the plant grows,
937
00:47:40,370 --> 00:47:43,370
we can try to make the plant do
938
00:47:43,370 --> 00:47:45,000
what we want it to do --
939
00:47:45,220 --> 00:47:47,950
and immediately apply it
940
00:47:48,010 --> 00:47:51,820
for the benefit of growers
and breeders and exporters.
941
00:47:53,510 --> 00:47:55,940
One of these people
is Jan Ligthart,
942
00:47:55,970 --> 00:47:58,820
who has been growing tulips
for more than 30 years
943
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:02,130
and has become one of Holland's
most successful breeders.
944
00:48:04,050 --> 00:48:06,080
What you see
from here to there
945
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:07,850
is all new seedlings.
946
00:48:08,540 --> 00:48:11,310
This is the first time
I see them flowering.
947
00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:16,170
I wanted to be a carpenter,
948
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:20,220
just like my father,
working with wood.
949
00:48:20,910 --> 00:48:24,450
And when I saw the tulips,
I was astonished.
950
00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:27,310
I said, "Ah! That's what
I want to be!"
951
00:48:27,650 --> 00:48:29,690
Tulip gardener.
952
00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:33,820
Ligthart's first step
in breeding a new variety
953
00:48:33,850 --> 00:48:36,260
is to act like
a human bumblebee,
954
00:48:36,330 --> 00:48:39,430
moving pollen
from one place to another.
955
00:48:42,050 --> 00:48:45,000
The process
is quite simple.
956
00:48:45,850 --> 00:48:49,000
We use one tulip as the father
957
00:48:49,110 --> 00:48:51,640
and the other just like
the mother.
958
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:53,970
and we make pollination.
959
00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:56,980
The breeders
of tulips today
960
00:48:57,050 --> 00:48:59,380
are interested
in new combinations.
961
00:48:59,450 --> 00:49:01,420
They're sex crazy,
right?
962
00:49:01,490 --> 00:49:04,720
They're operating these,
you know, plant brothels.
963
00:49:04,790 --> 00:49:08,190
And out of that comes
a great deal of variation.
964
00:49:08,260 --> 00:49:11,880
And out of that variation
is the future of the species.
965
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:15,800
Dabbing the pollen
takes just a few seconds.
966
00:49:16,110 --> 00:49:18,680
But it can take years
before Ligthart can be sure
967
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,650
that his new variety will
consistently produce flowers
968
00:49:21,650 --> 00:49:23,820
with the qualities
the market demands --
969
00:49:23,910 --> 00:49:27,880
like durability,
disease resistance, and beauty.
970
00:49:27,950 --> 00:49:29,510
That's enough.
971
00:49:30,050 --> 00:49:32,310
One
of the thousand seedlings
972
00:49:32,650 --> 00:49:34,570
are what I want.
973
00:49:34,650 --> 00:49:36,680
The rest is not good enough.
974
00:49:39,740 --> 00:49:41,420
That's the hardest part.
975
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:43,530
You have to look out
976
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:46,420
for the first,
the only good one.
977
00:49:47,420 --> 00:49:49,940
This year,
Ligthart is pinning his hopes
978
00:49:49,940 --> 00:49:53,800
on the bulbs from one of his
latest breeding experiments.
979
00:49:58,170 --> 00:50:00,310
This tulip,
that is my favorite.
980
00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:03,080
I give it a big future.
981
00:50:06,510 --> 00:50:08,050
Just the right color.
982
00:50:08,820 --> 00:50:09,950
Pure pink.
983
00:50:10,540 --> 00:50:12,170
This one I started
984
00:50:12,250 --> 00:50:15,220
nine years ago with seeds.
985
00:50:15,690 --> 00:50:19,400
When I saw this tulip blooming
for the first time,
986
00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:22,740
in my seedlings,
I was just amazed.
987
00:50:23,820 --> 00:50:25,250
I sat there on my knees
988
00:50:25,510 --> 00:50:27,680
and looked at them
for a long time.
989
00:50:36,620 --> 00:50:39,480
Other tulips, you walk by
990
00:50:39,550 --> 00:50:42,080
and it doesn't venture to do
anything to you.
991
00:50:42,390 --> 00:50:44,050
And when you see this one,
992
00:50:44,690 --> 00:50:46,510
Your heart gets...
Ck-ck!
993
00:50:47,090 --> 00:50:49,030
This makes a difference.
994
00:50:52,020 --> 00:50:53,740
Each time I look at it...
995
00:50:55,600 --> 00:50:57,400
I fell in love on the tulip.
996
00:51:06,250 --> 00:51:09,400
But Ligthart's love
for his tulips doesn't stop him
997
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:11,420
and his family from ripping
the flowers
998
00:51:11,420 --> 00:51:13,220
off their stalks
every spring.
999
00:51:13,820 --> 00:51:14,910
If they didn't,
1000
00:51:14,940 --> 00:51:17,740
the flowers would divert
nutrients from the bulbs,
1001
00:51:17,740 --> 00:51:19,770
which, for a breeder
like Ligthart,
1002
00:51:19,910 --> 00:51:21,660
are what brings in
the money.
1003
00:51:22,310 --> 00:51:23,910
What I want to do
for a tulip
1004
00:51:24,020 --> 00:51:27,200
is to create a much bigger
market for the whole world.
1005
00:51:27,540 --> 00:51:29,770
Because a tulip must make money.
1006
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:32,420
It's a business.
1007
00:51:32,710 --> 00:51:34,270
You can't have them for fun
1008
00:51:34,340 --> 00:51:36,140
because we have to make
a living.
1009
00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:43,950
Ligthart's
best tulips
1010
00:51:44,020 --> 00:51:46,480
often get introduced to
the rest of the world here,
1011
00:51:46,620 --> 00:51:49,170
at the Keukenhof gardens
near Amsterdam.
1012
00:52:05,770 --> 00:52:08,050
Every spring,
half a million visitors
1013
00:52:08,050 --> 00:52:10,650
flock here to see the four
and a half million bulbs.
1014
00:52:10,650 --> 00:52:13,740
That make it the largest
tulip garden in the world.
1015
00:52:22,940 --> 00:52:26,170
The Dutch have mastered
the propagation of tulips.
1016
00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:28,280
And there are people in Holland
1017
00:52:28,310 --> 00:52:31,770
making great fortunes
off of tulips yet again.
1018
00:52:31,970 --> 00:52:35,510
It's not a bubble anymore,
it's a mature industry.
1019
00:52:37,370 --> 00:52:39,770
And
a very lucrative one,
1020
00:52:39,840 --> 00:52:41,740
whose bustling
nerve center proves
1021
00:52:41,740 --> 00:52:43,820
just how hard we're willing
to work
1022
00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:45,970
to spread flowers
around the world.
1023
00:52:55,850 --> 00:52:59,220
One out of every three flowers
bought and sold in the world
1024
00:52:59,450 --> 00:53:00,850
passes through here.
1025
00:53:04,340 --> 00:53:08,100
This is the flower auction
in the Dutch town of Aalsmeer.
1026
00:53:13,600 --> 00:53:15,710
You're not allowed
on the auction floor,
1027
00:53:15,710 --> 00:53:18,540
because there are
a million carts zipping around
1028
00:53:18,540 --> 00:53:21,020
at alarmingly high speeds.
1029
00:53:21,110 --> 00:53:24,350
And it is like a sea
of flowers.
1030
00:53:24,420 --> 00:53:27,570
It's almost like watching paint
being mixed on a palette.
1031
00:53:27,570 --> 00:53:29,020
You know,
you watch this line
1032
00:53:29,020 --> 00:53:31,340
of yellow sunflowers
snaking their way
1033
00:53:31,340 --> 00:53:34,080
through this ocean
of red tulips.
1034
00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:36,480
It's just dazzling
in that way.
1035
00:53:40,250 --> 00:53:42,620
The floor
of the flower auction covers
1036
00:53:42,620 --> 00:53:45,620
an area
bigger than 200 football fields,
1037
00:53:45,710 --> 00:53:48,710
making it one of the largest
buildings on the planet.
1038
00:53:51,240 --> 00:53:53,170
Some 19 million flowers
1039
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:55,650
from all over the world
change hands here
1040
00:53:55,650 --> 00:53:56,820
every day.
1041
00:53:59,050 --> 00:54:01,340
It's an extraordinarily
complex system,
1042
00:54:01,450 --> 00:54:02,950
with a very simple purpose --
1043
00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:06,050
To move flowers from
the field to the home
1044
00:54:06,110 --> 00:54:07,790
as quickly as possible.
1045
00:54:10,030 --> 00:54:12,660
In flower business,
three things are very important,
1046
00:54:12,730 --> 00:54:15,820
And that's being fast,
being fast, and being fast,
1047
00:54:15,850 --> 00:54:18,480
because the flower that's
fresh today
1048
00:54:18,570 --> 00:54:22,910
will lose 15%
of its value tomorrow.
1049
00:54:24,140 --> 00:54:26,540
The minute you cut it,
it starts to die.
1050
00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:29,680
There is this race on
to get it to market.
1051
00:54:31,940 --> 00:54:33,480
Once the deal is struck,
1052
00:54:33,680 --> 00:54:36,940
the perishable flowers are
rushed to the Amsterdam airport
1053
00:54:37,050 --> 00:54:40,280
and from there to flower shops
all over the world.
1054
00:54:41,570 --> 00:54:45,370
This incessant,
unrelenting movement
1055
00:54:45,370 --> 00:54:47,770
of flowers and money
1056
00:54:47,830 --> 00:54:49,880
doesn't let up for a second.
1057
00:54:52,200 --> 00:54:53,770
All for a product
1058
00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:56,940
that has absolutely
no practical value.
1059
00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:00,570
Flowers
are exquisitely useless.
1060
00:55:00,650 --> 00:55:04,140
They're this great froth
or extravagance in our lives.
1061
00:55:04,770 --> 00:55:07,280
But that there is
a multi-billion-dollar trade
1062
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:09,000
in these wonderfully useless,
1063
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:11,190
beautiful things
is kind of great.
1064
00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:25,400
When you begin to look
at the plant's point of view,
1065
00:55:25,480 --> 00:55:28,040
I suppose the greatest threat
to your survival
1066
00:55:28,110 --> 00:55:29,620
is people losing interest
in you,
1067
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:31,310
Falling out of fashion.
1068
00:55:31,770 --> 00:55:33,850
You know,
the gillyflower or the pink --
1069
00:55:33,850 --> 00:55:36,170
these were important
Victorian flowers.
1070
00:55:36,220 --> 00:55:37,800
I don't even know
what they look like.
1071
00:55:38,620 --> 00:55:41,220
So the flower has to keep us
interested.
1072
00:55:41,220 --> 00:55:44,110
and one of the ways a flower
keeps us interested is changing.
1073
00:55:44,620 --> 00:55:46,060
The really ingenious ones
1074
00:55:46,080 --> 00:55:47,340
are the ones
that figure out ways
1075
00:55:47,340 --> 00:55:50,630
to reengage us
every generation.
1076
00:56:04,200 --> 00:56:05,480
In the plant world,
1077
00:56:05,540 --> 00:56:08,780
just like our own,
not everyone can be beautiful,
1078
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:10,510
or sweet.
1079
00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:14,750
But even a lowly weed can get us
to work for it,
1080
00:56:14,820 --> 00:56:16,820
and quite slavishly,
at that,
1081
00:56:16,970 --> 00:56:19,420
If it's clever enough
to cash in on a skill
1082
00:56:19,420 --> 00:56:21,560
that every plant
is born with --
1083
00:56:21,820 --> 00:56:24,220
Its ability
to make chemicals.
1084
00:56:24,800 --> 00:56:26,370
The genius
of plants
1085
00:56:26,540 --> 00:56:29,220
is really the arts
of biochemistry,
1086
00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:31,740
creating these really
interesting,
1087
00:56:31,740 --> 00:56:34,170
complicated,
original molecules.
1088
00:56:34,510 --> 00:56:37,420
Some are designed
to produce flavors.
1089
00:56:37,910 --> 00:56:40,970
Others are designed
to produce great beauty.
1090
00:56:42,850 --> 00:56:45,310
And then you've got
this class of plants
1091
00:56:45,340 --> 00:56:48,310
that is producing
these molecules
1092
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:51,080
that, incredibly,
have the power
1093
00:56:51,170 --> 00:56:53,820
to alter what goes on
in the human mind.
1094
00:56:54,710 --> 00:56:57,710
This plant,
by making just such a molecule,
1095
00:56:57,820 --> 00:56:59,400
has gotten us to spread it
1096
00:56:59,420 --> 00:57:00,880
all over the world.
1097
00:57:01,620 --> 00:57:04,000
Scientists call it
cannabis.
1098
00:57:04,110 --> 00:57:06,510
It is better known
as marijuana.
1099
00:57:07,340 --> 00:57:10,280
Cannabis recognized,
metaphorically speaking,
1100
00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:12,710
that this was its path
to world domination.
1101
00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:15,770
Produce more
of this molecule,
1102
00:57:15,910 --> 00:57:18,080
and there will be
more marijuana plants
1103
00:57:18,110 --> 00:57:20,770
given more habitat
by this creature who likes
1104
00:57:20,770 --> 00:57:22,600
what this molecule
seems to do.
1105
00:57:22,850 --> 00:57:24,540
And by trying
to figure out
1106
00:57:24,570 --> 00:57:26,650
just how that molecule works,
1107
00:57:26,770 --> 00:57:29,620
scientists stumbled
on an amazing discovery
1108
00:57:29,650 --> 00:57:32,140
about the workings
of our brains.
1109
00:57:32,850 --> 00:57:35,020
This plant has opened up
1110
00:57:35,050 --> 00:57:37,540
this very fruitful
path of inquiry
1111
00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:39,340
into understanding
how memory works,
1112
00:57:39,370 --> 00:57:41,650
how consciousness works,
how emotion works.
1113
00:57:42,050 --> 00:57:44,170
We have unlocked
this whole mechanism
1114
00:57:44,200 --> 00:57:45,600
which we didn't know existed --
1115
00:57:45,650 --> 00:57:49,480
and we would not know existed,
if not for this plant.
1116
00:57:51,570 --> 00:57:55,280
Human beings are born
with an innate drive
1117
00:57:55,280 --> 00:57:59,110
to experience other states
of consciousness periodically.
1118
00:58:00,450 --> 00:58:02,600
I think you can see this
in young kids,
1119
00:58:02,650 --> 00:58:05,880
who begin spinning
at early ages.
1120
00:58:07,730 --> 00:58:10,800
Amusement park rides
serve the same purpose.
1121
00:58:11,450 --> 00:58:13,770
There's an endless stream
of activities
1122
00:58:13,770 --> 00:58:17,310
that can shift consciousness --
everything from singing,
1123
00:58:17,340 --> 00:58:20,110
dancing, having sex,
jumping out of airplanes.
1124
00:58:20,740 --> 00:58:24,800
And drugs are clearly one way
of getting these experiences.
1125
00:58:26,510 --> 00:58:30,200
People like to have
that altered consciousness.
1126
00:58:30,420 --> 00:58:33,190
I'm not saying that's good,
but it's --
1127
00:58:33,260 --> 00:58:35,130
individuals seek it out.
1128
00:58:38,820 --> 00:58:40,560
Marijuana
seems to have made
1129
00:58:40,570 --> 00:58:42,680
an evolutionary decision
long ago that it was
1130
00:58:42,680 --> 00:58:45,740
going to throw its lot in
with human beings.
1131
00:58:46,570 --> 00:58:48,400
From the plant's point of view,
1132
00:58:48,540 --> 00:58:52,510
The psychoactivity is
an attractive characteristic
1133
00:58:52,600 --> 00:58:55,200
which has brought the plant
great success.
1134
00:58:55,940 --> 00:58:58,480
There's a lot more marijuana
being grown today,
1135
00:58:58,510 --> 00:59:00,950
and the reason is that
humans like it.
1136
00:59:01,020 --> 00:59:03,120
They like it
because it gets them high.
1137
00:59:04,450 --> 00:59:06,740
But cannabis
can also get them
1138
00:59:06,800 --> 00:59:08,000
locked up.
1139
00:59:08,390 --> 00:59:09,590
There are about
1140
00:59:09,660 --> 00:59:14,770
750,000 arrests a year
for cannabis possession,
1141
00:59:15,280 --> 00:59:17,850
makes it about third
among all crimes.
1142
00:59:18,540 --> 00:59:21,000
And so you've got
25,000 or 30,000
1143
00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:21,020
people behind bars
at any one time
And so you've got
25,000 or 30,000
1144
00:59:21,020 --> 00:59:23,340
people behind bars
at any one time
1145
00:59:23,510 --> 00:59:25,310
for cannabis offenses.
1146
00:59:26,310 --> 00:59:28,740
But marijuana still entices
1147
00:59:28,740 --> 00:59:30,740
nearly 15 million Americans
1148
00:59:30,740 --> 00:59:32,970
to smoke it every month.
1149
00:59:33,940 --> 00:59:37,250
And nearly 100 million
have tried it.
1150
00:59:39,140 --> 00:59:40,990
To keep up
with that demand,
1151
00:59:41,060 --> 00:59:44,200
Cannabis growers cater
to the plant's every whim...
1152
00:59:44,200 --> 00:59:45,910
We're going to lose
that tap, aren't we?
1153
00:59:47,200 --> 00:59:49,900
Pampering it
like a spoiled child.
1154
00:59:50,450 --> 00:59:51,370
Nice and healthy.
1155
00:59:51,370 --> 00:59:53,250
We do anything
it tells us to.
1156
00:59:53,310 --> 00:59:55,370
If the plant says
it wants something,
1157
00:59:55,420 --> 00:59:57,310
we listen and we give it
to it.
1158
00:59:57,880 --> 00:59:59,180
And that's the whole thing --
1159
00:59:59,340 --> 01:00:01,940
Listening carefully --
and we're listening all the time
1160
01:00:02,020 --> 01:00:03,450
and observing all the time.
1161
01:00:04,250 --> 01:00:05,940
We work for them.
1162
01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:08,450
This man and woman
live in a state
1163
01:00:08,450 --> 01:00:11,590
where growing marijuana
for medical use is legal.
1164
01:00:12,740 --> 01:00:15,020
We agreed to conceal
their identities,
1165
01:00:15,020 --> 01:00:18,340
because they still risk
prosecution under federal law.
1166
01:00:18,600 --> 01:00:20,000
Yeah,
that's a beauty.
1167
01:00:20,220 --> 01:00:22,110
But whatever
the legal risks,
1168
01:00:22,140 --> 01:00:24,360
the horticultural challenges
they face
1169
01:00:24,370 --> 01:00:27,510
would be familiar
to any farmer or gardener.
1170
01:00:27,770 --> 01:00:29,770
It's a daily effort,
1171
01:00:29,840 --> 01:00:31,310
and there are things like,
1172
01:00:31,380 --> 01:00:34,200
"Oh, did we over-nutriate
the water?
1173
01:00:34,420 --> 01:00:37,880
Did we under-nutriate
the water?"
1174
01:00:38,720 --> 01:00:40,920
Everything has
really tight parameters,
1175
01:00:40,990 --> 01:00:43,790
and we try to keep as tight
as control as possible,
1176
01:00:43,860 --> 01:00:46,050
but it's --
it's a battle.
1177
01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:49,990
My associate
is really the green thumb
1178
01:00:50,060 --> 01:00:51,660
In this enterprise.
1179
01:00:52,480 --> 01:00:55,250
And I've noticed
that when she's
1180
01:00:55,250 --> 01:00:57,110
not around
for a couple of days,
1181
01:00:57,220 --> 01:00:58,600
the plants know it.
1182
01:00:58,740 --> 01:01:00,110
I mean, I'm not
making that up.
1183
01:01:00,110 --> 01:01:01,440
They literally know it.
1184
01:01:01,710 --> 01:01:04,620
I mean, I almost hear them
whispering, "Where is she?"
1185
01:01:04,970 --> 01:01:06,620
They don't do as well,
you know,
1186
01:01:06,620 --> 01:01:08,000
they don't seem
as happy.
1187
01:01:08,820 --> 01:01:12,320
Strange as it may
seem, these cannabis growers
1188
01:01:12,380 --> 01:01:15,110
are part
of a very long tradition.
1189
01:01:15,680 --> 01:01:18,920
In every culture
and in every age of history,
1190
01:01:18,990 --> 01:01:22,490
an enormous amount
of human energy has gone into
1191
01:01:22,540 --> 01:01:25,820
the production, distribution,
and consumption
1192
01:01:25,970 --> 01:01:28,220
of psychoactive plants.
1193
01:01:29,080 --> 01:01:32,200
The only society
that we know of
1194
01:01:32,270 --> 01:01:35,480
For whom there is
no native intoxicant
1195
01:01:35,480 --> 01:01:38,340
are the Inuits,
and that's simply because
1196
01:01:38,410 --> 01:01:42,380
nothing grows up there
that they could use.
1197
01:01:42,770 --> 01:01:44,950
In almost every society,
1198
01:01:45,140 --> 01:01:48,850
one or two or a small number
of intoxicants
1199
01:01:48,850 --> 01:01:51,570
are accepted --
and not only accepted,
1200
01:01:51,570 --> 01:01:53,740
but their use
is actively promoted --
1201
01:01:53,820 --> 01:01:56,590
and the rest are condemned.
1202
01:01:57,600 --> 01:01:59,880
But there's no agreement
from culture to culture
1203
01:01:59,880 --> 01:02:02,310
as to which are the good ones
and which are the bad ones.
1204
01:02:03,510 --> 01:02:05,050
So you have alcohol,
1205
01:02:05,050 --> 01:02:08,170
which is an everyday drug
used in our society --
1206
01:02:08,250 --> 01:02:11,800
that has a taboo on it
in Islamic society.
1207
01:02:12,420 --> 01:02:15,770
And though cannabis
is illegal in most places today,
1208
01:02:15,910 --> 01:02:19,420
many cultures throughout history
have tolerated it.
1209
01:02:20,170 --> 01:02:22,360
From the time the plant
was first discovered
1210
01:02:22,370 --> 01:02:25,450
in India and China
thousands of years ago,
1211
01:02:25,710 --> 01:02:29,370
people have seen it as more
than just an intoxicant.
1212
01:02:30,370 --> 01:02:32,970
Long before the discovery
of aspirin,
1213
01:02:33,140 --> 01:02:35,850
cannabis was used
as a medical treatment
1214
01:02:36,020 --> 01:02:37,940
for relieving pain.
1215
01:02:38,400 --> 01:02:39,770
Dealing with pain --
you know,
1216
01:02:39,770 --> 01:02:43,000
that is a tremendous part
of human life.
1217
01:02:43,220 --> 01:02:46,450
And it was a bigger part
before modern times.
1218
01:02:46,970 --> 01:02:48,650
We all did physical labor.
1219
01:02:48,710 --> 01:02:50,420
We didn't have many painkillers.
1220
01:02:50,420 --> 01:02:52,110
We didn't have antibiotics.
1221
01:02:52,310 --> 01:02:55,420
And a lot of intoxicants,
even if they don't
1222
01:02:55,490 --> 01:02:58,050
diminish pain,
the way opium does,
1223
01:02:58,080 --> 01:02:59,450
they take your mind off it.
1224
01:02:59,540 --> 01:03:01,220
And that's very, very important.
1225
01:03:01,970 --> 01:03:04,170
In 19th-century America,
1226
01:03:04,250 --> 01:03:06,680
cannabis was a popular treatment
for conditions
1227
01:03:06,710 --> 01:03:10,450
such as labor pains, asthma,
and rheumatism.
1228
01:03:10,740 --> 01:03:12,740
You could walk
into any drug store
1229
01:03:12,740 --> 01:03:15,570
in America and buy
tinctures of cannabis.
1230
01:03:16,020 --> 01:03:19,510
Cannabis was included in all
sorts of medical preparations.
1231
01:03:19,580 --> 01:03:21,010
And it was legal.
1232
01:03:21,510 --> 01:03:24,250
But everything would
change in the 20th century,
1233
01:03:24,340 --> 01:03:27,340
when the plant got
its new name, marijuana.
1234
01:03:27,710 --> 01:03:29,290
The name came from Mexico,
1235
01:03:29,350 --> 01:03:32,200
where cannabis
was a popular intoxicant.
1236
01:03:32,280 --> 01:03:34,400
In fact, Pancho Villa's
rebel army
1237
01:03:34,420 --> 01:03:36,870
sang a marching song
about a cockroach
1238
01:03:36,880 --> 01:03:39,730
who fueled himself
with marijuana.
1239
01:03:48,880 --> 01:03:51,530
During the 1920s, many Mexicans
1240
01:03:51,540 --> 01:03:53,440
immigrated to the United States.
1241
01:03:53,680 --> 01:03:55,050
And some brought the custom
1242
01:03:55,050 --> 01:03:57,080
of marijuana smoking
with them.
1243
01:03:57,880 --> 01:03:59,480
Cannabis was certainly
1244
01:03:59,480 --> 01:04:01,990
more common among
Mexican Americans,
1245
01:04:02,050 --> 01:04:04,600
and to some extent,
among African Americans
1246
01:04:04,820 --> 01:04:07,660
in the '20s and '30s
than it was among whites.
1247
01:04:07,730 --> 01:04:09,990
I mean, you'd find it,
you know, very popular
1248
01:04:10,020 --> 01:04:11,680
in the music scene
in New Orleans,
1249
01:04:11,710 --> 01:04:14,510
very popular among
African American musicians.
1250
01:04:14,650 --> 01:04:18,140
The jazz world was really
soaked in cannabis.
1251
01:04:18,480 --> 01:04:20,340
The great
Louis Armstrong
1252
01:04:20,340 --> 01:04:23,620
felt marijuana enhanced
his ability to improvise.
1253
01:04:25,850 --> 01:04:27,850
Cannabis proposes
this idea
1254
01:04:27,850 --> 01:04:32,800
of time stopping,
being able to explore
1255
01:04:32,800 --> 01:04:36,500
the present moment -- forget
the past, forget the future,
1256
01:04:36,540 --> 01:04:39,220
just be there and see
what you can come up with.
1257
01:04:45,310 --> 01:04:46,940
Even if it's a song
you've played
1258
01:04:46,940 --> 01:04:49,740
a million times before,
it becomes new,
1259
01:04:49,880 --> 01:04:52,220
strange, wonderful.
1260
01:04:52,540 --> 01:04:56,020
You see new possibilities
in it that weren't there before.
1261
01:05:01,020 --> 01:05:05,370
In the 1960s,
use of marijuana soared.
1262
01:05:05,820 --> 01:05:08,620
The drug had been illegal
for more than 20 years.
1263
01:05:09,310 --> 01:05:13,420
But that didn't stop an entire
generation from embracing it.
1264
01:05:13,820 --> 01:05:15,670
It was well suited
1265
01:05:15,680 --> 01:05:17,620
To the spirit
of that time.
1266
01:05:18,420 --> 01:05:20,650
You know, every drug
has its character,
1267
01:05:20,680 --> 01:05:22,110
and cannabis's character
1268
01:05:22,110 --> 01:05:24,940
is not about being hyper
and working really hard.
1269
01:05:25,910 --> 01:05:30,080
It is a drug that makes you
not want to strive.
1270
01:05:31,080 --> 01:05:34,750
It's about kicking back,
listening to music.
1271
01:05:35,200 --> 01:05:37,980
So it just kind of fit
the spirit of the '60s.
1272
01:05:39,650 --> 01:05:42,820
Marijuana seems
to second the motion,
1273
01:05:42,850 --> 01:05:45,110
No matter what the motion is.
1274
01:05:46,850 --> 01:05:48,510
To many Americans,
1275
01:05:48,600 --> 01:05:50,570
the fact that millions
of young people
1276
01:05:50,570 --> 01:05:52,000
were smoking marijuana
1277
01:05:52,050 --> 01:05:54,740
threatened the very fabric
of society.
1278
01:05:55,200 --> 01:05:57,020
Those fears prompted
the government
1279
01:05:57,020 --> 01:05:58,450
to take action.
1280
01:05:58,740 --> 01:06:00,940
Operation Intercept
is designed to make it
1281
01:06:00,940 --> 01:06:02,570
more difficult
to bring marijuana
1282
01:06:02,570 --> 01:06:03,850
into the country.
1283
01:06:03,970 --> 01:06:06,710
Most of the marijuana
was coming in from Mexico,
1284
01:06:06,820 --> 01:06:10,140
And the plant soon found itself
under attack.
1285
01:06:10,400 --> 01:06:14,020
The weapon -- a toxic chemical
called Paraquat.
1286
01:06:14,280 --> 01:06:16,650
We have to remember that
in the evolution of a species,
1287
01:06:16,720 --> 01:06:19,520
everything counts as a factor
of natural selection,
1288
01:06:19,590 --> 01:06:22,200
including things like,
oh, the decision
1289
01:06:22,220 --> 01:06:24,570
by the United States government
in the '70s
1290
01:06:24,570 --> 01:06:26,140
to pressure Mexico to spray
1291
01:06:26,140 --> 01:06:28,080
herbicide on their pot fields.
1292
01:06:28,710 --> 01:06:33,140
From 1975 to 1983,
Mexican pilots
1293
01:06:33,140 --> 01:06:36,220
doused the country's
cannabis fields with the poison.
1294
01:06:37,020 --> 01:06:38,740
There was some concern
that it would
1295
01:06:38,740 --> 01:06:41,140
get into the product
coming north
1296
01:06:41,140 --> 01:06:43,010
if it was cut
right after it was sprayed,
1297
01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:45,310
and that, as people
inhaled this, it probably
1298
01:06:45,310 --> 01:06:46,400
wasn't very good for you.
1299
01:06:46,510 --> 01:06:48,110
This isa drug-testing lab
1300
01:06:48,110 --> 01:06:49,850
in Palo Alto, California.
1301
01:06:49,880 --> 01:06:51,400
The people here are receiving
1302
01:06:51,420 --> 01:06:54,570
300 samples of marijuana a dayfrom smokers
1303
01:06:54,570 --> 01:06:57,080
who want to knowif their pot is contaminated.
1304
01:06:57,110 --> 01:06:58,390
People are extremely
1305
01:06:58,400 --> 01:06:59,770
Anxious about this problem,
1306
01:06:59,770 --> 01:07:01,710
and frankly,
I don't blame them.
1307
01:07:01,880 --> 01:07:03,400
Mexican marijuana
1308
01:07:03,420 --> 01:07:06,650
began to develop
a very bad name.
1309
01:07:06,970 --> 01:07:09,880
This had
the unintended consequence
1310
01:07:09,880 --> 01:07:13,000
of creating a domestic
marijuana industry
1311
01:07:13,000 --> 01:07:14,680
that hadn't really
existed before.
1312
01:07:14,680 --> 01:07:15,110
It was concentrated
that hadn't really
existed before.
1313
01:07:15,110 --> 01:07:16,500
It was concentrated
1314
01:07:16,510 --> 01:07:19,250
in California, Hawaii,
and other states
1315
01:07:19,250 --> 01:07:22,340
whose climate was favorable
for the tropical plant.
1316
01:07:22,850 --> 01:07:26,070
Once this American
marijuana agriculture
1317
01:07:26,080 --> 01:07:28,540
got started,
it was very, very successful,
1318
01:07:28,540 --> 01:07:31,280
and the government was
kind of shocked to find one year
1319
01:07:31,400 --> 01:07:33,220
that the total amount seized
1320
01:07:33,220 --> 01:07:36,970
exceeded their estimate
of the total size of the crop.
1321
01:07:37,800 --> 01:07:40,540
And they realized, "Ooh, I think
we're missing something.
1322
01:07:40,770 --> 01:07:43,140
There must be
a lot more marijuana out there."
1323
01:07:43,310 --> 01:07:45,970
And indeed, there was,
all over the west coast.
1324
01:07:47,110 --> 01:07:49,300
The government
dispatched helicopters
1325
01:07:49,310 --> 01:07:52,400
to find the fields and force
the growers out of business.
1326
01:07:52,420 --> 01:07:54,200
When local and federalagents raided
1327
01:07:54,200 --> 01:07:56,820
this marijuana fieldin northern California today,
1328
01:07:56,820 --> 01:07:58,970
they foundmore than $50,000 worth
1329
01:07:58,970 --> 01:08:01,140
of marijuanaready to be harvested.
1330
01:08:01,170 --> 01:08:04,090
A task force is wagingan all-out war against pot.
1331
01:08:04,160 --> 01:08:06,230
So, with the rise
of the drug war, in a way,
1332
01:08:06,300 --> 01:08:08,280
you've got a threat
to this plant.
1333
01:08:08,570 --> 01:08:10,050
And it's very interesting
to see
1334
01:08:10,050 --> 01:08:10,080
how the plant coped.
And it's very interesting
to see
1335
01:08:10,080 --> 01:08:11,570
how the plant coped.
1336
01:08:12,100 --> 01:08:14,970
Cannabis,
as plants so often do,
1337
01:08:15,250 --> 01:08:17,800
found a way not only to survive
the threat,
1338
01:08:17,820 --> 01:08:19,880
but to come out ahead.
1339
01:08:21,020 --> 01:08:22,200
And what happened?
1340
01:08:22,250 --> 01:08:24,380
Well, the growers
and the plant
1341
01:08:24,450 --> 01:08:26,880
adapted --
they moved indoors.
1342
01:08:27,220 --> 01:08:28,910
The problem
with moving indoors is,
1343
01:08:28,910 --> 01:08:30,950
this is a 12-foot-tall plant.
1344
01:08:31,620 --> 01:08:33,770
So what they needed were
1345
01:08:33,770 --> 01:08:37,280
the genes of a shorter
cannabis plant
1346
01:08:37,370 --> 01:08:39,850
to breed
with their tall plant.
1347
01:08:40,420 --> 01:08:43,020
So the pioneers
of indoor growing
1348
01:08:43,050 --> 01:08:47,270
cross-bred the tall warm-weather
species, Cannabis Sativa,
1349
01:08:47,340 --> 01:08:50,940
with a low-growing mountain
species found mostly in Asia,
1350
01:08:51,010 --> 01:08:52,610
Cannabis Indica.
1351
01:08:53,280 --> 01:08:56,370
They brought together
these two great strains
1352
01:08:56,370 --> 01:08:57,950
in the marijuana family
1353
01:08:58,020 --> 01:09:03,310
And created a plant that was
short, fast, and strong.
1354
01:09:04,220 --> 01:09:05,880
The plant, which had once
1355
01:09:05,880 --> 01:09:08,420
been a skinny little
piece of ditch weed,
1356
01:09:08,600 --> 01:09:12,540
is now a pampered,
spectacularly good-looking,
1357
01:09:12,540 --> 01:09:16,650
multi-colored,
rich, resinous being.
1358
01:09:17,000 --> 01:09:20,450
Hardly the species it was before
at all.
1359
01:09:20,480 --> 01:09:23,170
It's turned completely
into something else.
1360
01:09:23,880 --> 01:09:26,980
Nurtured by creative
indoor gardeners,
1361
01:09:27,040 --> 01:09:29,600
cannabis is now
a far more potent plant
1362
01:09:29,620 --> 01:09:31,650
than it was
a generation ago.
1363
01:09:32,800 --> 01:09:35,690
The key to that transformation
was stripping away
1364
01:09:35,750 --> 01:09:39,320
the rule of nature
and replacing it with our own.
1365
01:09:40,250 --> 01:09:41,740
It's an artificial
environment,
1366
01:09:41,740 --> 01:09:43,050
completely artificial.
1367
01:09:43,420 --> 01:09:45,760
Everything
about our natural world
1368
01:09:45,770 --> 01:09:47,620
is unnatural, everything.
1369
01:09:48,110 --> 01:09:50,230
It's really
like a super-plant.
1370
01:09:50,300 --> 01:09:53,220
In the natural world,
the plants here would be
1371
01:09:53,310 --> 01:09:57,370
six to nine months
from seed to harvest.
1372
01:09:57,940 --> 01:09:59,570
That's just simply
inefficient.
1373
01:09:59,570 --> 01:10:01,960
You couldn't justify
an operation
1374
01:10:01,970 --> 01:10:03,610
with such a slow turnaround.
1375
01:10:03,680 --> 01:10:06,940
So, instead of six to nine
months, in my world,
1376
01:10:06,970 --> 01:10:10,800
these plants live their entire
life cycle in 90 days.
1377
01:10:11,710 --> 01:10:13,190
To get them
to do that,
1378
01:10:13,420 --> 01:10:14,660
the plants are subjected
1379
01:10:14,730 --> 01:10:17,880
to precisely controlled amounts
of nutrients, water,
1380
01:10:17,910 --> 01:10:18,970
and light.
1381
01:10:19,450 --> 01:10:23,820
They're under lights
that are blindingly bright,
1382
01:10:23,910 --> 01:10:27,280
thousands of watts,
24 hours a day.
1383
01:10:27,310 --> 01:10:29,110
And these plants
are just, like,
1384
01:10:29,110 --> 01:10:31,110
Soaking up this light --
they love it.
1385
01:10:31,200 --> 01:10:34,400
I mean, they're just bathing
in light and growing so fast,
1386
01:10:34,510 --> 01:10:36,820
you can almost hear
the creak of their cells
1387
01:10:36,820 --> 01:10:38,620
as they stretch
and divide.
1388
01:10:39,480 --> 01:10:41,310
All that light generates
1389
01:10:41,310 --> 01:10:43,540
a tremendous amount of heat.
1390
01:10:44,020 --> 01:10:46,670
If I didn't have
air conditioning
1391
01:10:46,680 --> 01:10:49,510
and air circulation
and ventilation fans
1392
01:10:49,600 --> 01:10:51,490
moving the heat
out of that room,
1393
01:10:51,680 --> 01:10:54,600
these plants would cook
in a matter of hours.
1394
01:10:55,340 --> 01:10:58,770
It's so complicated,
we're not smart enough to do it.
1395
01:10:59,880 --> 01:11:02,820
We have to have a full-time
electronic nanny
1396
01:11:02,940 --> 01:11:05,200
watching the plants
all the time.
1397
01:11:06,020 --> 01:11:08,020
So these aren't normal plants.
1398
01:11:08,140 --> 01:11:11,110
These are super-hyper plants
1399
01:11:11,220 --> 01:11:14,570
that are right on the edge
at all times.
1400
01:11:15,280 --> 01:11:17,340
It's not just
a quicker harvest
1401
01:11:17,340 --> 01:11:18,620
the growers are after,
1402
01:11:18,800 --> 01:11:21,850
but a bigger bud
and a stronger high.
1403
01:11:23,140 --> 01:11:24,450
To achieve that,
1404
01:11:24,570 --> 01:11:27,560
they interfere
with the natural process.
1405
01:11:28,170 --> 01:11:31,740
Female marijuana plants produce
a sticky resin
1406
01:11:31,800 --> 01:11:34,970
that catches the pollen
that male plants produce.
1407
01:11:35,420 --> 01:11:38,880
That resin is
highly psychoactive.
1408
01:11:39,910 --> 01:11:42,620
To trick the females
into making more of it,
1409
01:11:42,650 --> 01:11:47,140
the growers keep male plants
exiled from the grow room.
1410
01:11:48,110 --> 01:11:50,080
So, in essence,
what you're seeing
1411
01:11:50,140 --> 01:11:53,280
is extreme sexual frustration.
1412
01:11:54,510 --> 01:11:55,820
This is a room full of women
1413
01:11:55,820 --> 01:11:58,370
who are looking for some guy
to come by
1414
01:11:58,510 --> 01:12:01,600
and give them some pollen
so they can create seeds.
1415
01:12:01,740 --> 01:12:05,710
And they try harder and harder
as time passes,
1416
01:12:05,820 --> 01:12:08,910
and the more unsuccessful
they are,
1417
01:12:09,020 --> 01:12:11,740
the more the production
of the resins
1418
01:12:11,740 --> 01:12:14,110
that is intended
to attract pollen
1419
01:12:14,370 --> 01:12:16,910
increase, and that increases
1420
01:12:16,910 --> 01:12:19,880
the psychoactive elements
of the plant.
1421
01:12:23,200 --> 01:12:25,800
They are the best
gardeners of my generation,
1422
01:12:25,850 --> 01:12:27,570
I realized at a certain point.
1423
01:12:28,000 --> 01:12:29,880
You know, the best gardeners
of my generation
1424
01:12:29,880 --> 01:12:32,740
are not hybridizing roses,
are not, you know,
1425
01:12:32,740 --> 01:12:34,000
working with orchids.
1426
01:12:34,020 --> 01:12:36,220
They're working with this
incredibly valuable,
1427
01:12:36,220 --> 01:12:37,970
incredibly interesting plant
called cannabis.
1428
01:12:37,970 --> 01:12:39,820
If this turns
into anything good,
1429
01:12:39,830 --> 01:12:40,940
though, look at it,
I mean,
1430
01:12:40,940 --> 01:12:42,600
this is how thick
the stalk is
1431
01:12:42,600 --> 01:12:44,250
when it's just
gone to bloom.
1432
01:12:44,250 --> 01:12:46,000
It's got
a beautiful shape.
It is nice.
1433
01:12:46,000 --> 01:12:46,740
I mean, think about it.
1434
01:12:46,740 --> 01:12:49,400
This thing's a weed.
It's a weed.
1435
01:12:50,570 --> 01:12:53,220
It's a weed that's worth,
you know, in the open market,
1436
01:12:53,220 --> 01:12:53,280
like, you know,
$6,000, $7,000 a pound.
It's a weed that's worth,
you know, in the open market,
1437
01:12:53,280 --> 01:12:56,120
like, you know,
$6,000, $7,000 a pound.
1438
01:12:56,480 --> 01:12:58,280
Pretty good for a weed, huh?
1439
01:12:59,140 --> 01:13:02,050
But cannabis only
fetches that price
1440
01:13:02,170 --> 01:13:05,110
because of that one particular
molecule it makes
1441
01:13:05,140 --> 01:13:06,910
that gets people high.
1442
01:13:07,800 --> 01:13:11,300
Its name is THC,
and it was discovered
1443
01:13:11,310 --> 01:13:12,800
back in 1964
1444
01:13:12,820 --> 01:13:16,800
in a lab in Jerusalem
by chemist Raphael Mechoulam.
1445
01:13:17,220 --> 01:13:19,910
Cannabis had not
been well investigated,
1446
01:13:19,940 --> 01:13:22,650
which was strange -- after all,
it was being used
1447
01:13:22,650 --> 01:13:26,650
illegally or legally
by millions of people
1448
01:13:26,650 --> 01:13:28,520
and yet we didn't know
that much about it.
1449
01:13:28,740 --> 01:13:32,050
So I thought, it's a good idea
to look at it again
1450
01:13:32,050 --> 01:13:33,600
from a modern point of view.
1451
01:13:34,170 --> 01:13:36,680
In the lab,
Mechoulam and his colleagues
1452
01:13:36,680 --> 01:13:39,020
broke cannabis down
and zeroed in
1453
01:13:39,020 --> 01:13:42,700
on the chemical components that
might be causing its effects.
1454
01:13:43,600 --> 01:13:46,340
We isolated
about 10 compounds.
1455
01:13:46,480 --> 01:13:50,250
Surprisingly, out of
the 10 compounds we isolated,
1456
01:13:50,370 --> 01:13:51,480
only one,
1457
01:13:51,540 --> 01:13:52,740
which now is known as
1458
01:13:52,740 --> 01:13:56,400
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol,
in short, THC,
1459
01:13:56,450 --> 01:14:01,250
only one causes
the well-known high.
1460
01:14:01,850 --> 01:14:05,970
We tested it in humans --
many of my friends.
1461
01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:09,170
And we saw that the compound
is effective,
1462
01:14:09,200 --> 01:14:11,370
as we expected it to be.
1463
01:14:11,940 --> 01:14:15,300
The identification
of THC answered one question,
1464
01:14:15,310 --> 01:14:18,480
but raised another --
just what did it do
1465
01:14:18,480 --> 01:14:19,570
to the brain?
1466
01:14:20,080 --> 01:14:21,510
I had always assumed
1467
01:14:21,510 --> 01:14:23,710
that people knew
how marijuana worked.
1468
01:14:23,770 --> 01:14:26,600
It surprised me, actually,
when I began
1469
01:14:26,600 --> 01:14:28,780
looking in the research
literature, that --
1470
01:14:29,370 --> 01:14:30,820
That it was really clear
1471
01:14:30,820 --> 01:14:33,140
that no one really knew
how it worked.
1472
01:14:34,020 --> 01:14:38,000
In 1988,
Allyn Howlett found the answer.
1473
01:14:38,540 --> 01:14:41,170
She discovered that,
deep inside the brain,
1474
01:14:41,200 --> 01:14:44,990
THC molecules activate
a previously unknown network
1475
01:14:45,060 --> 01:14:48,030
of specialized
chemical receptors.
1476
01:14:49,140 --> 01:14:50,970
So that was proof
that there is
1477
01:14:50,970 --> 01:14:53,500
a receptor protein
in the brain
1478
01:14:53,710 --> 01:14:57,880
that combined to the THC
like a key in a lock.
1479
01:14:57,910 --> 01:15:02,100
It was very exciting, because
what that meant to us was,
1480
01:15:02,110 --> 01:15:04,970
we had a tool that could be
used for studying,
1481
01:15:05,020 --> 01:15:07,880
and other researchers
could use it, as well.
1482
01:15:08,310 --> 01:15:12,490
And people could study where
the receptor was in the brain.
1483
01:15:13,000 --> 01:15:15,790
Howlett and other
scientists found the receptors
1484
01:15:15,860 --> 01:15:18,620
in the hippocampus,
which forms memories;
1485
01:15:18,800 --> 01:15:21,400
the cerebellum,
which controls movement;
1486
01:15:21,820 --> 01:15:24,570
and the frontal cortex,
where we think.
1487
01:15:25,280 --> 01:15:27,700
Here were these
receptors that this chemical
1488
01:15:27,770 --> 01:15:30,140
produced by a plant
out in the world
1489
01:15:30,340 --> 01:15:32,420
just so happened to have
1490
01:15:32,420 --> 01:15:35,600
the precise combination
to unlock.
1491
01:15:35,620 --> 01:15:37,510
What an extraordinary thing
that is.
1492
01:15:37,620 --> 01:15:41,250
Is that why that
receptor network existed,
1493
01:15:41,250 --> 01:15:42,850
so that people could get high?
1494
01:15:42,880 --> 01:15:44,480
We don't have those receptors
1495
01:15:44,480 --> 01:15:47,170
just so that people can get high
smoking pot.
1496
01:15:47,340 --> 01:15:49,080
Receptors are developed
1497
01:15:49,140 --> 01:15:51,510
in neurons so that
they can communicate
1498
01:15:51,600 --> 01:15:54,480
with a chemical
that the body makes.
1499
01:15:55,800 --> 01:15:59,020
So that was the logic
behind going in
1500
01:15:59,050 --> 01:16:02,400
and trying to extract
a compound in the brain
1501
01:16:02,400 --> 01:16:05,110
that would act just like
marijuana did.
1502
01:16:05,880 --> 01:16:09,050
And in 1992,
proof came that the brain
1503
01:16:09,050 --> 01:16:12,200
does make a compound
very much like THC.
1504
01:16:12,400 --> 01:16:15,680
It was discovered by none other
than Raphael Mechoulam,
1505
01:16:15,820 --> 01:16:17,920
who named it Anandamide.
1506
01:16:18,020 --> 01:16:23,170
We call it "the brain's own
marijuana" because the compound
1507
01:16:23,280 --> 01:16:25,740
that is made by the brain --
Anandamide --
1508
01:16:25,820 --> 01:16:27,370
shares all the properties,
1509
01:16:27,370 --> 01:16:31,050
in terms of at the receptor
level and cellular level,
1510
01:16:31,250 --> 01:16:34,740
that THC has.
1511
01:16:35,280 --> 01:16:37,250
It turns out
that when Anandamide
1512
01:16:37,250 --> 01:16:39,850
is released in the brain,
like marijuana,
1513
01:16:39,940 --> 01:16:44,780
it affects such basic things as
appetite, pain, and memory.
1514
01:16:46,370 --> 01:16:48,020
And it plays a critical role
1515
01:16:48,020 --> 01:16:51,310
in a sometimes underappreciated
mental function --
1516
01:16:51,600 --> 01:16:52,990
forgetting.
1517
01:16:53,450 --> 01:16:55,000
When I first heard that,
1518
01:16:55,050 --> 01:16:59,230
it didn't seem adaptive to me,
to have a drug for forgetting.
1519
01:16:59,420 --> 01:17:02,170
Memory, we understand,
has great survival utility.
1520
01:17:02,200 --> 01:17:04,910
You... you learn that that's
a poisonous mushroom
1521
01:17:04,910 --> 01:17:06,080
or that's a dangerous animal,
1522
01:17:06,080 --> 01:17:07,510
and you stay away
and you remember that.
1523
01:17:07,510 --> 01:17:09,050
But why would forgetting
be adaptive?
1524
01:17:09,050 --> 01:17:11,170
And I asked Mechoulam
this question.
1525
01:17:11,220 --> 01:17:14,940
And he said, "Well, tell me,
do you really want to remember
1526
01:17:14,970 --> 01:17:17,710
all the faces you saw
on the subway this morning?"
1527
01:17:19,600 --> 01:17:21,710
Forgetting well is almost
1528
01:17:21,710 --> 01:17:24,080
as important
as remembering well.
1529
01:17:25,480 --> 01:17:27,280
Forgetting is about editing.
1530
01:17:27,400 --> 01:17:30,820
It's about taking the flood,
the ocean
1531
01:17:30,880 --> 01:17:33,740
of sense information
coming at you
1532
01:17:35,220 --> 01:17:38,080
and forgetting everything
but what's important.
1533
01:17:41,220 --> 01:17:43,970
So life is not just about
accumulating new memories.
1534
01:17:43,970 --> 01:17:45,970
Memory can cripple us, too.
1535
01:17:49,680 --> 01:17:51,250
You have soldiers
1536
01:17:51,250 --> 01:17:52,800
returning from war zones,
1537
01:17:52,850 --> 01:17:55,140
that are traumatized
by experiences
1538
01:17:55,140 --> 01:17:57,800
that in effect
they can't unlearn.
1539
01:17:58,370 --> 01:18:01,560
So if you could help them
unlearn that --
1540
01:18:01,630 --> 01:18:04,480
essentially, a productive
kind of forgetting,
1541
01:18:04,600 --> 01:18:08,200
either with a drug
or some other kind of regime --
1542
01:18:08,310 --> 01:18:10,250
that would be
incredibly useful.
1543
01:18:11,540 --> 01:18:13,050
And that's exactly
1544
01:18:13,050 --> 01:18:15,450
what Aron Lichtman
is trying to do.
1545
01:18:15,820 --> 01:18:19,710
He's studying how mice
remember -- and forget.
1546
01:18:20,940 --> 01:18:24,680
First, he trains them to find
an underwater platform.
1547
01:18:25,000 --> 01:18:26,420
The mice
are natural swimmers,
1548
01:18:26,420 --> 01:18:27,800
but they're looking
for a way out.
1549
01:18:28,400 --> 01:18:30,120
They swim all around
the perimeter of the tank.
1550
01:18:30,120 --> 01:18:31,800
They're swimming, swimming,
swimming.
1551
01:18:31,880 --> 01:18:33,910
Sometimes they bump
into the platform by mistake
1552
01:18:33,910 --> 01:18:35,340
and they climb onto it.
1553
01:18:36,130 --> 01:18:38,020
Other times,
they never find it.
1554
01:18:38,110 --> 01:18:39,050
So at this point,
1555
01:18:39,050 --> 01:18:40,330
it's been at it
for a while.
1556
01:18:40,400 --> 01:18:42,730
And the experimenter
has to gently guide them to it
1557
01:18:42,730 --> 01:18:44,340
or place them on the platform.
1558
01:18:46,450 --> 01:18:49,540
Then, Lichtman takes
the platform away.
1559
01:18:50,170 --> 01:18:53,770
A normal mouse quickly realizes
the platform is gone.
1560
01:18:54,420 --> 01:18:57,410
But a mouse whose Anandamide
receptors have been blocked
1561
01:18:57,480 --> 01:18:59,420
is unable to forget.
1562
01:19:01,050 --> 01:19:02,340
They don't learn
1563
01:19:02,340 --> 01:19:03,280
to give up.
1564
01:19:03,310 --> 01:19:05,050
They keep on looking
for that platform,
1565
01:19:05,050 --> 01:19:06,340
even though it's gone.
1566
01:19:06,770 --> 01:19:08,510
Scientists like Lichtman
1567
01:19:08,570 --> 01:19:11,280
hope that learning how to
regulate Anandamide
1568
01:19:11,310 --> 01:19:13,400
may one day lead to treatments
for people
1569
01:19:13,400 --> 01:19:15,620
who are haunted
by their memories.
1570
01:19:17,140 --> 01:19:18,770
If they can elevate
1571
01:19:18,820 --> 01:19:21,050
naturally occurring Anandamide
in humans,
1572
01:19:21,200 --> 01:19:23,880
we might be able to have
whole new
1573
01:19:23,880 --> 01:19:27,140
therapeutic targets to treat
post-traumatic stress syndrome.
1574
01:19:30,220 --> 01:19:34,400
By using a plant
that has been around
1575
01:19:34,400 --> 01:19:37,590
for thousands of years,
we discovered
1576
01:19:37,800 --> 01:19:41,860
a new physiological system
of immense importance.
1577
01:19:42,220 --> 01:19:45,340
We wouldn't have been able
to get there
1578
01:19:45,340 --> 01:19:47,740
if we had not looked
at a plant.
1579
01:19:48,770 --> 01:19:50,820
These plants are
constantly undergoing
1580
01:19:50,820 --> 01:19:52,900
this revision
and this re-revision
1581
01:19:52,910 --> 01:19:54,650
in our cultural imagination,
1582
01:19:54,650 --> 01:19:57,110
depending on what uses
they're playing for us.
1583
01:19:57,820 --> 01:20:01,580
Are they demons or are they,
you know, saviors?
1584
01:20:02,140 --> 01:20:03,620
We see it with the apple,
1585
01:20:03,650 --> 01:20:06,250
which went from evil
to wholesome to evil.
1586
01:20:06,510 --> 01:20:09,880
and we see it with marijuana,
which also has had
1587
01:20:09,880 --> 01:20:11,420
these periods of evil
and this period
1588
01:20:11,420 --> 01:20:14,020
of being celebrated
by the counterculture.
1589
01:20:14,020 --> 01:20:15,940
Is it more uplifting
or more relaxing
1590
01:20:15,940 --> 01:20:17,430
for your body
that you're after?
1591
01:20:17,490 --> 01:20:19,020
Uplifting.
1592
01:20:19,140 --> 01:20:20,570
One place that's well known
1593
01:20:20,570 --> 01:20:22,910
for celebrating cannabis
is Amsterdam.
1594
01:20:22,910 --> 01:20:25,000
We have the shiva,
which is lovely.
1595
01:20:25,400 --> 01:20:28,170
Though marijuana is
not fully legal here,
1596
01:20:28,280 --> 01:20:30,770
it can be legally sold
and smoked
1597
01:20:30,840 --> 01:20:32,710
in licensed coffee shops,
1598
01:20:32,880 --> 01:20:34,680
drawing tourists
from around the world.
1599
01:20:36,000 --> 01:20:38,140
Fantastic,
let's do that for 10.
1600
01:20:38,510 --> 01:20:39,770
Wonderful.
1601
01:20:41,020 --> 01:20:42,770
You can walk
down the street
1602
01:20:42,770 --> 01:20:43,800
and catch the whiff
1603
01:20:43,800 --> 01:20:45,740
of marijuana smoke
coming out of bars --
1604
01:20:45,770 --> 01:20:47,220
"cafés," as they're called --
1605
01:20:47,250 --> 01:20:48,650
and you can choose exactly
1606
01:20:48,650 --> 01:20:50,170
what kind of experience
you want.
1607
01:20:50,220 --> 01:20:53,310
That's milder,
more dreamy.
1608
01:20:53,450 --> 01:20:54,850
I think just
the bud.
1609
01:20:55,020 --> 01:20:55,680
Thank you.
1610
01:20:55,680 --> 01:20:57,140
- Okay, bye.
- Bye bye.
1611
01:20:57,200 --> 01:20:57,940
Enjoy.
1612
01:20:57,940 --> 01:21:00,800
You look at the scene
and you marvel at it.
1613
01:21:00,940 --> 01:21:03,280
It is no different than people
sitting around,
1614
01:21:03,280 --> 01:21:05,710
enjoying their glass of wine
or cigarettes.
1615
01:21:07,510 --> 01:21:10,110
Amsterdam even has
special garden shops
1616
01:21:10,110 --> 01:21:11,650
for cannabis growers.
1617
01:21:11,650 --> 01:21:13,380
You repot it
into a bigger pot.
1618
01:21:13,450 --> 01:21:15,400
You put this one
straight in the pot.
1619
01:21:15,420 --> 01:21:17,820
- You don't have to break it or...
- No.
1620
01:21:17,970 --> 01:21:19,510
Its owner,
Tim A'Court,
1621
01:21:19,510 --> 01:21:21,110
came here from New Zealand,
1622
01:21:21,170 --> 01:21:23,250
where his passion
for growing cannabis
1623
01:21:23,280 --> 01:21:25,140
had run him afoul of the law.
1624
01:21:27,480 --> 01:21:29,370
We sell everything
for the home grower here,
1625
01:21:29,510 --> 01:21:31,220
from the smallest set-up
1626
01:21:31,280 --> 01:21:33,000
to really large set-ups.
1627
01:21:33,170 --> 01:21:37,470
And included in that is as much of
the high-tech stuff that we can get.
1628
01:21:38,000 --> 01:21:39,540
This one's
a nutrient monitor.
1629
01:21:39,710 --> 01:21:41,340
These are obviously
for two lights,
1630
01:21:41,340 --> 01:21:44,140
for four lights,
for six lights, eight lights.
1631
01:21:44,250 --> 01:21:47,400
This goes right up to
100 lights, if you so require.
1632
01:21:47,480 --> 01:21:48,800
That is a second timer.
1633
01:21:48,820 --> 01:21:51,820
Sometimes we need to have timers
right down to the second.
1634
01:21:51,880 --> 01:21:53,370
This is a camera.
1635
01:21:53,450 --> 01:21:55,540
And it's the same sort of camera
you would buy
1636
01:21:55,540 --> 01:21:58,620
from the spy shop for spying
on your wife or whatever.
1637
01:21:58,650 --> 01:21:59,700
In this case, we're spying
1638
01:21:59,710 --> 01:22:02,310
on our crop and making sure
people aren't coming in and out.
1639
01:22:02,800 --> 01:22:04,600
You can also buy seeds.
1640
01:22:04,670 --> 01:22:06,870
You can buy, you know,
all female seeds
1641
01:22:06,880 --> 01:22:08,680
of any given strain you want.
1642
01:22:09,080 --> 01:22:10,650
They're out there
in little six-packs,
1643
01:22:10,650 --> 01:22:12,940
just like at your garden center,
selling petunias.
1644
01:22:13,450 --> 01:22:14,400
I don't think
there would be
1645
01:22:14,400 --> 01:22:17,310
A plant on earth that comes near
to the amount
1646
01:22:17,370 --> 01:22:19,020
of equipment and technology
1647
01:22:19,020 --> 01:22:21,310
available to grow it
to its potential.
1648
01:22:21,850 --> 01:22:23,480
It's more than just a hobby.
1649
01:22:23,480 --> 01:22:25,000
It's a whole life's work.
1650
01:22:25,880 --> 01:22:27,800
Some people --
that is their whole life.
1651
01:22:27,800 --> 01:22:31,310
They're so enthusiastic
about their so-called hobby.
1652
01:22:31,940 --> 01:22:33,250
It's unexplainable.
1653
01:22:33,250 --> 01:22:36,400
It's not just something
about drugs or money,
1654
01:22:36,910 --> 01:22:39,540
but there really is
a deep fascination
1655
01:22:39,540 --> 01:22:41,280
With the marijuana plant.
1656
01:22:43,970 --> 01:22:45,110
The way
I see plants,
1657
01:22:45,110 --> 01:22:47,080
They're just as advanced
as we are,
1658
01:22:47,110 --> 01:22:49,080
from an evolutionary
point of view.
1659
01:22:49,880 --> 01:22:51,420
While we were working on
1660
01:22:51,420 --> 01:22:54,340
consciousness, language,
tool-making,
1661
01:22:54,370 --> 01:22:57,880
all these things we judge to be
so wonderful and important,
1662
01:22:58,110 --> 01:23:00,570
they were working on
different tools.
1663
01:23:00,600 --> 01:23:03,480
And their tools are just
as sophisticated as ours.
1664
01:23:04,850 --> 01:23:08,740
The fact that this plant,
cannabis, for example,
1665
01:23:08,800 --> 01:23:12,020
can actually change the texture
of consciousness -- you know,
1666
01:23:12,020 --> 01:23:13,770
this is ingenious.
1667
01:23:15,420 --> 01:23:18,080
We would not be the same,
if not for cannabis.
1668
01:23:18,480 --> 01:23:20,740
And cannabis certainly
is very different
1669
01:23:20,740 --> 01:23:22,710
for its relationship with us.
1670
01:23:23,970 --> 01:23:27,620
It's one of the great winners
in this dance of domestication.
1671
01:23:46,620 --> 01:23:48,510
Looking down
at it from the air,
1672
01:23:49,050 --> 01:23:52,200
you might not guess that
southern Idaho is a desert.
1673
01:23:53,340 --> 01:23:56,150
The big green circles
are crop fields.
1674
01:23:57,000 --> 01:24:00,280
They get their water from
a vast irrigation system
1675
01:24:00,340 --> 01:24:03,770
of underground pipes
and giant sprinklers.
1676
01:24:06,450 --> 01:24:09,140
This is one of the most
productive farm areas
1677
01:24:09,140 --> 01:24:10,530
in the United States,
1678
01:24:10,940 --> 01:24:12,480
And one of the principal sources
1679
01:24:12,480 --> 01:24:15,340
of a food crop that feeds
millions of people --
1680
01:24:16,820 --> 01:24:18,400
The potato.
1681
01:24:20,140 --> 01:24:22,250
The desire, I think,
that the potato
1682
01:24:22,250 --> 01:24:24,400
has evolved to gratify,
in large part,
1683
01:24:24,420 --> 01:24:28,000
is our desire for control --
control over our fate.
1684
01:24:29,110 --> 01:24:31,110
It gives us that by providing
1685
01:24:31,110 --> 01:24:34,050
an immense amount of food
per acre.
1686
01:24:35,680 --> 01:24:38,080
An individual with half an acre
of potatoes
1687
01:24:38,080 --> 01:24:40,170
can grow enough food
to keep himself alive
1688
01:24:40,170 --> 01:24:41,760
or his family alive
for a year.
1689
01:24:44,400 --> 01:24:46,140
It's kind of extraordinary.
1690
01:24:47,450 --> 01:24:50,200
When you lift up the soil
and you see these
1691
01:24:50,220 --> 01:24:53,370
beautiful potatoes
that are so nutritious
1692
01:24:53,370 --> 01:24:56,170
growing underneath them, it's
just -- it's really, you know,
1693
01:24:56,170 --> 01:25:00,370
exciting to see how productive
and how amazing this crop is,
1694
01:25:00,510 --> 01:25:02,280
That it can take
this little tiny plant
1695
01:25:02,280 --> 01:25:04,140
and produce this great food.
1696
01:25:05,650 --> 01:25:07,900
The story that we've
been telling so far
1697
01:25:07,910 --> 01:25:09,910
is the story
of the symbiotic relationship
1698
01:25:09,910 --> 01:25:11,710
between humans and plants.
1699
01:25:12,220 --> 01:25:13,570
But with the potato, we enter
1700
01:25:13,570 --> 01:25:16,110
into a very new chapter
in that relationship --
1701
01:25:16,140 --> 01:25:18,310
the genetic modification
of plants.
1702
01:25:20,370 --> 01:25:23,000
For the first time,
we are taking
1703
01:25:23,000 --> 01:25:25,370
genes from one distant species
1704
01:25:25,450 --> 01:25:27,840
and introducing it into another.
1705
01:25:28,420 --> 01:25:30,600
That represents
a real quantum change
1706
01:25:30,600 --> 01:25:32,370
in our relationship to plants.
1707
01:25:38,400 --> 01:25:40,250
Our relationship
to the potato
1708
01:25:40,250 --> 01:25:43,050
began in the Andes mountains
of south America.
1709
01:25:43,740 --> 01:25:46,340
in places like Pisac in Peru,
1710
01:25:46,510 --> 01:25:48,050
People have long depended
1711
01:25:48,050 --> 01:25:50,140
on the potato for survival.
1712
01:25:52,800 --> 01:25:55,450
To make sure they grow
enough potatoes,
1713
01:25:55,620 --> 01:25:57,920
they've developed
an astonishing degree
1714
01:25:57,920 --> 01:26:00,170
of agricultural creativity.
1715
01:26:02,170 --> 01:26:04,340
We reckon that there are
1716
01:26:04,510 --> 01:26:10,370
more than 5,000 different potato
varieties in the Andean region.
1717
01:26:11,080 --> 01:26:13,540
There are tremendous
combinations
1718
01:26:13,540 --> 01:26:16,170
of colors, as well as shapes.
1719
01:26:17,400 --> 01:26:20,710
You find very elongated
potato tubers
1720
01:26:20,820 --> 01:26:22,880
that don't look potatoes
at all,
1721
01:26:23,420 --> 01:26:25,800
to very, very strange,
1722
01:26:25,800 --> 01:26:28,820
with very different
protuberances,
1723
01:26:28,940 --> 01:26:31,420
That look very,
very strange to you.
1724
01:26:33,080 --> 01:26:34,880
It was in the Andes
that people,
1725
01:26:34,880 --> 01:26:39,250
first domesticated the potato
plant around 8,000 years ago.
1726
01:26:39,940 --> 01:26:43,620
To do that, they had to overcome
a big obstacle.
1727
01:26:43,880 --> 01:26:46,250
The potato in the wild
is poisonous.
1728
01:26:46,280 --> 01:26:49,450
You know, it's one of those
crops that produces Solanine,
1729
01:26:49,450 --> 01:26:51,200
which is an alkaloid
which is poisonous.
1730
01:26:51,200 --> 01:26:54,110
And, in fact, potatoes
still produce it, by the way.
1731
01:26:54,450 --> 01:26:56,900
If you allow your potato to get
exposed to light
1732
01:26:56,910 --> 01:26:58,910
and it turns green,
it's producing Solanine,
1733
01:26:58,910 --> 01:27:00,140
and you shouldn't eat it.
1734
01:27:01,200 --> 01:27:02,540
But in the plant world,
1735
01:27:02,620 --> 01:27:05,370
there are always
exceptions to the rule.
1736
01:27:05,820 --> 01:27:09,680
Genes inevitably mutate,
and plants change.
1737
01:27:10,600 --> 01:27:12,970
People did a lot
of trial and error,
1738
01:27:13,200 --> 01:27:15,500
tasting potatoes
and spitting them out,
1739
01:27:15,510 --> 01:27:16,600
or getting sick.
1740
01:27:16,620 --> 01:27:19,000
And then, eventually,
you find one --
1741
01:27:19,000 --> 01:27:21,000
like, "Hey, this one
doesn't have that taste.
1742
01:27:21,000 --> 01:27:22,370
maybe this one's all right."
1743
01:27:22,510 --> 01:27:25,090
And those would be
the potatoes that we would save.
1744
01:27:26,420 --> 01:27:28,800
Over time,
the Peruvians achieved
1745
01:27:28,800 --> 01:27:30,880
great success as potato farmers,
1746
01:27:31,110 --> 01:27:33,280
not by trying to control nature,
1747
01:27:33,400 --> 01:27:35,510
but by adapting to it.
1748
01:27:35,880 --> 01:27:38,160
Whenever you're moving
up in altitude,
1749
01:27:38,170 --> 01:27:40,880
you're having a radical change
in climate.
1750
01:27:41,020 --> 01:27:43,000
And one side of a hill will have
1751
01:27:43,000 --> 01:27:44,940
a very different climate
than another.
1752
01:27:46,480 --> 01:27:48,770
The way the early Peruvians
dealt with that
1753
01:27:48,770 --> 01:27:52,370
was to grow many different
varieties of potatoes
1754
01:27:52,800 --> 01:27:57,450
and preserve the diversity,
so that on a plot
1755
01:27:57,450 --> 01:28:00,250
of this kind of facing
toward the sun
1756
01:28:00,250 --> 01:28:02,710
at this kind of altitude,
you plant this one.
1757
01:28:02,820 --> 01:28:05,140
And on this plant -- just on
the other side of the hill,
1758
01:28:05,140 --> 01:28:06,700
you plant this potato.
1759
01:28:06,760 --> 01:28:10,970
And this was a way of gaining
control over their fate.
1760
01:28:11,510 --> 01:28:12,680
Because if something happened
1761
01:28:12,680 --> 01:28:14,970
on that one plot
at that altitude,
1762
01:28:15,200 --> 01:28:17,140
they would still have
other potatoes.
1763
01:28:19,080 --> 01:28:23,620
The Andean region has many
niches for growing crops.
1764
01:28:23,770 --> 01:28:27,280
And the potato was able
to adapt to different areas.
1765
01:28:27,510 --> 01:28:29,400
That's why there were
so many varieties
1766
01:28:29,400 --> 01:28:32,400
developed for different uses
and different purposes
1767
01:28:32,480 --> 01:28:33,910
along the Andes.
1768
01:28:35,220 --> 01:28:37,710
Faustino Pacco is 24.
1769
01:28:38,080 --> 01:28:40,970
His family has been growing
potatoes here in the Andes
1770
01:28:40,970 --> 01:28:42,540
for hundreds of years.
1771
01:29:46,250 --> 01:29:48,940
These Andean farmers
are the descendants
1772
01:29:48,940 --> 01:29:52,020
of one of the great
civilizations of history --
1773
01:29:52,280 --> 01:29:53,770
the Incas.
1774
01:29:55,400 --> 01:29:58,000
They presided over one
of the most sophisticated
1775
01:29:58,000 --> 01:30:00,020
agricultural systems on earth,
1776
01:30:00,650 --> 01:30:02,910
based in large part
on the potato.
1777
01:30:04,400 --> 01:30:07,850
But when the Spanish invaded
in the 16th century,
1778
01:30:08,220 --> 01:30:10,620
they destroyed the Inca empire
1779
01:30:10,770 --> 01:30:14,000
and set the potato --
and our relationship with it --
1780
01:30:14,140 --> 01:30:16,340
on a new phase of its journey.
1781
01:30:17,540 --> 01:30:19,370
When the potato got to Europe,
1782
01:30:19,800 --> 01:30:22,050
it changed the course
of European history.
1783
01:30:24,710 --> 01:30:26,400
Before the potato,
1784
01:30:26,570 --> 01:30:29,740
the northern tier of Europe --
the population was
1785
01:30:29,810 --> 01:30:34,880
relatively small and was held
back by regular famines
1786
01:30:35,050 --> 01:30:37,200
caused by failures
of the grain harvest.
1787
01:30:38,510 --> 01:30:41,540
The further north you go,
the dicier it is to grow wheat.
1788
01:30:42,170 --> 01:30:45,680
And so the center of gravity
in Europe before the potato
1789
01:30:45,680 --> 01:30:49,850
was the Mediterranean, where you
could grow grain more reliably.
1790
01:30:51,110 --> 01:30:55,340
The potato did very well
at the more northerly areas.
1791
01:30:56,080 --> 01:30:59,050
It did very well
in wetter areas.
1792
01:30:59,740 --> 01:31:02,700
And it did very well
in really poor soils.
1793
01:31:03,400 --> 01:31:04,650
And so suddenly there was
1794
01:31:04,650 --> 01:31:08,100
this vast new source of calories
that could underwrite
1795
01:31:08,110 --> 01:31:10,110
the growth of the population,
1796
01:31:10,110 --> 01:31:12,680
such as never would have
happened without the potato.
1797
01:31:15,250 --> 01:31:18,620
Since one individual can grow
so much food,
1798
01:31:19,020 --> 01:31:21,220
You need fewer people
in the fields
1799
01:31:21,220 --> 01:31:23,800
to support an urban population.
1800
01:31:25,280 --> 01:31:27,350
So it's really hard to imagine
1801
01:31:27,350 --> 01:31:29,820
the industrial revolution
proceeding as it would
1802
01:31:29,970 --> 01:31:32,570
without the potato
to kind of support it.
1803
01:31:33,800 --> 01:31:37,340
This new world food
remade the old world.
1804
01:31:39,000 --> 01:31:42,220
The potato thrived
in the soils of northern Europe,
1805
01:31:43,020 --> 01:31:44,910
Most dramatically in Ireland,
1806
01:31:45,020 --> 01:31:48,000
A country sorely in need
of a hearty food.
1807
01:31:48,370 --> 01:31:49,480
For the Irish,
1808
01:31:49,480 --> 01:31:52,080
the potato initially was
a godsend.
1809
01:31:53,540 --> 01:31:56,620
Ireland's poor
farmland and bad weather
1810
01:31:56,740 --> 01:31:59,510
made it a tough place
to grow crops.
1811
01:32:00,340 --> 01:32:02,770
But the potato plant
actually prospered
1812
01:32:02,770 --> 01:32:04,510
in this soggy environment
1813
01:32:04,800 --> 01:32:08,370
and seemed to end the country's
long struggle with hunger.
1814
01:32:08,710 --> 01:32:11,280
If you had potatoes
and cow's milk,
1815
01:32:11,340 --> 01:32:13,080
you had a complete diet.
1816
01:32:13,340 --> 01:32:14,940
You had calories, obviously,
1817
01:32:15,050 --> 01:32:17,250
and you had the full complement
of vitamins.
1818
01:32:18,000 --> 01:32:21,570
So they became very dependent
on the potato.
1819
01:32:21,970 --> 01:32:24,540
And in fact,
the population grew.
1820
01:32:25,420 --> 01:32:28,170
The problem was, however,
that the Irish
1821
01:32:28,170 --> 01:32:30,420
were planting
almost exclusively
1822
01:32:30,510 --> 01:32:34,250
one kind of potato -- the potato
they called "the lumper."
1823
01:32:34,420 --> 01:32:37,820
And they planted the lumper
all over Ireland.
1824
01:32:38,880 --> 01:32:41,110
So the Irish had really
made themselves
1825
01:32:41,110 --> 01:32:44,480
dependent on this one strain
of potato.
1826
01:32:45,540 --> 01:32:50,110
And in 1845,
some ship from south America
1827
01:32:50,110 --> 01:32:52,220
was carrying a fungus,
1828
01:32:52,600 --> 01:32:55,910
and it was a wind-spread spore,
1829
01:32:56,570 --> 01:32:58,050
and over the course
1830
01:32:58,050 --> 01:33:00,880
of a very few weeks,
1831
01:33:01,220 --> 01:33:04,230
the spores spread
across all of Ireland,
1832
01:33:04,710 --> 01:33:08,170
and within days of infection,
the fields went black
1833
01:33:08,940 --> 01:33:11,200
and the potatoes in the ground
turned to mush.
1834
01:33:12,800 --> 01:33:16,510
The Irish potato
famine lasted for three years.
1835
01:33:17,770 --> 01:33:21,680
In the end, the famine killed
one million people --
1836
01:33:22,310 --> 01:33:25,740
One out of every eight people
in Ireland.
1837
01:33:27,510 --> 01:33:31,370
So the Irish famine
is, in a way,
1838
01:33:31,370 --> 01:33:33,020
the great cautionary tale
1839
01:33:33,020 --> 01:33:35,250
of putting all your eggs
in one basket,
1840
01:33:35,850 --> 01:33:39,340
and the great cautionary tale
about monocultures of all kinds.
1841
01:33:42,170 --> 01:33:45,220
It's a parable about
the importance of biodiversity
1842
01:33:45,220 --> 01:33:47,420
and the dangers of monoculture.
1843
01:33:47,600 --> 01:33:50,050
And it's a parable we forget
at our peril,
1844
01:33:50,050 --> 01:33:53,020
but, in fact, we're in
the process of forgetting today.
1845
01:33:54,650 --> 01:33:56,570
And what's making us forget
1846
01:33:56,680 --> 01:33:59,020
is one of our favorite foods.
1847
01:34:00,250 --> 01:34:02,500
Each year, Americans consume
1848
01:34:02,510 --> 01:34:06,480
about 7.5 billion pounds
of French fries.
1849
01:34:07,220 --> 01:34:10,220
They are the most popular
fast food in the country.
1850
01:34:10,680 --> 01:34:12,110
We love
our French fries.
1851
01:34:12,280 --> 01:34:14,020
We like them really long.
1852
01:34:14,220 --> 01:34:17,800
McDonald's kind of pioneered
that beautiful red box
1853
01:34:17,970 --> 01:34:19,140
And the long French fries
1854
01:34:19,140 --> 01:34:21,820
that have to be tall enough
to kind of sprout out of the box
1855
01:34:21,820 --> 01:34:24,600
like a little bouquet
of potato flowers.
1856
01:34:24,820 --> 01:34:27,220
And to make those
long French fries,
1857
01:34:27,480 --> 01:34:29,220
the fast food industry relies
1858
01:34:29,220 --> 01:34:32,600
almost exclusively
on one variety of potato --
1859
01:34:33,370 --> 01:34:35,050
the Russet Burbank.
1860
01:34:36,420 --> 01:34:38,480
And that's what
McDonald's buys,
1861
01:34:38,620 --> 01:34:40,080
All over the world.
1862
01:34:40,400 --> 01:34:43,910
Because McDonald's wants people
to have the same experience --
1863
01:34:44,020 --> 01:34:47,110
the same beautiful, golden
McDonald's French fries,
1864
01:34:47,220 --> 01:34:49,680
whether you're in Prague
or London
1865
01:34:49,710 --> 01:34:52,940
or Beijing or New York or Idaho.
1866
01:34:53,450 --> 01:34:55,420
McDonald's buys
its French fries
1867
01:34:55,420 --> 01:34:59,450
from potato processing companies
like the J.R. Simplot company.
1868
01:35:00,680 --> 01:35:03,770
This is one of its plants,
in Nampa, Idaho.
1869
01:35:04,280 --> 01:35:08,400
The potato we process the most
is the russet burbank.
1870
01:35:11,110 --> 01:35:13,900
The russet burbank
gives us pretty much
1871
01:35:13,910 --> 01:35:17,710
the ideal quality attributes,
if we're going to convert them
1872
01:35:17,710 --> 01:35:21,020
into the product
that our customer wants.
1873
01:35:22,110 --> 01:35:24,310
So you see
how monocultures
1874
01:35:24,370 --> 01:35:27,600
on the plate lead to
monocultures on the land,
1875
01:35:28,050 --> 01:35:30,210
and that a desire for something
like that perfect French fry
1876
01:35:31,420 --> 01:35:33,850
has a whole, you know,
carries a whole chain
1877
01:35:33,850 --> 01:35:36,310
of consequences, all the way
back to the farm.
1878
01:35:38,310 --> 01:35:40,000
This Idaho farm,
1879
01:35:40,080 --> 01:35:43,710
whose fields extend
for nearly 100 miles,
1880
01:35:43,940 --> 01:35:46,420
is run by Ryan Cranney
and his family.
1881
01:35:49,220 --> 01:35:51,740
Like most Idaho potato farmers,
1882
01:35:51,820 --> 01:35:53,570
the Cranneys sell
most of their crop
1883
01:35:53,600 --> 01:35:55,330
to the processing companies
that make
1884
01:35:55,340 --> 01:35:56,170
frozen French fries.
1885
01:35:56,170 --> 01:35:58,110
If you want to get them in
before they get frozen,
1886
01:35:58,110 --> 01:35:59,850
then we need
to keep digging.
1887
01:35:59,970 --> 01:36:01,910
So, to satisfy
their customers,
1888
01:36:01,910 --> 01:36:03,600
the Cranneys grow mostly
1889
01:36:03,600 --> 01:36:04,940
russet burbanks.
1890
01:36:05,000 --> 01:36:07,080
That ought to make
good French fries.
1891
01:36:07,570 --> 01:36:09,650
I think there are
other varieties
1892
01:36:09,650 --> 01:36:12,020
that are easier to grow,
1893
01:36:12,570 --> 01:36:15,940
but that's what the consumer
demands, is the russet burbank,
1894
01:36:15,940 --> 01:36:19,250
and I'd be shot
for suggesting otherwise.
1895
01:36:21,110 --> 01:36:23,680
Despite the demand
for russet burbanks,
1896
01:36:23,680 --> 01:36:27,000
the business of growing them
is far from a sure thing.
1897
01:36:27,880 --> 01:36:30,140
Each year,
Cranney and his family
1898
01:36:30,140 --> 01:36:32,370
have to shell out
millions of dollars
1899
01:36:32,420 --> 01:36:36,850
for water, seed, fertilizer,
chemicals, and labor.
1900
01:36:37,280 --> 01:36:39,650
But they have little control
over the price
1901
01:36:39,650 --> 01:36:42,020
their potatoes will sell for
at harvest time.
1902
01:36:44,170 --> 01:36:46,520
It's very risky,
growing crops.
1903
01:36:47,310 --> 01:36:51,940
We had some really huge losses
economically here on the farm.
1904
01:36:52,420 --> 01:36:55,140
I don't even like to think
about it, how bad it was.
1905
01:36:55,140 --> 01:36:56,200
All righty.
1906
01:36:57,020 --> 01:36:58,650
A lot of the people
in the community,
1907
01:36:58,710 --> 01:37:00,400
farmers that we grew up with,
1908
01:37:00,420 --> 01:37:02,280
that have been here
as long as we have,
1909
01:37:02,280 --> 01:37:04,600
no longer have their operations.
1910
01:37:07,020 --> 01:37:09,220
Many of us, the only way we
could survive was
1911
01:37:09,220 --> 01:37:11,450
to re-mortgage our farms
and re-mortgage our land,
1912
01:37:11,450 --> 01:37:13,510
and that's how we stayed
in business.
1913
01:37:13,770 --> 01:37:15,570
You can only do --
dip into the well
1914
01:37:15,570 --> 01:37:17,910
for so long
until the well goes dry.
1915
01:37:18,800 --> 01:37:21,650
And many of us have been
to that point.
1916
01:37:29,080 --> 01:37:30,570
Well, it's not too bad here,
1917
01:37:30,570 --> 01:37:32,800
because you're running
enough volume.
1918
01:37:32,800 --> 01:37:34,400
They're flowing
pretty good, but...
1919
01:37:34,420 --> 01:37:37,170
In addition
to the economic perils he faces,
1920
01:37:37,220 --> 01:37:40,280
Cranney must contend
with biological adversaries --
1921
01:37:40,650 --> 01:37:45,080
The insects, fungi, and viruses
that prey on his plants.
1922
01:37:45,800 --> 01:37:48,800
And his russet burbanks
are especially vulnerable,
1923
01:37:48,800 --> 01:37:51,510
because they are grown
in a monoculture,
1924
01:37:51,710 --> 01:37:54,570
just like the lumper potatoes
were, back in Ireland.
1925
01:37:55,200 --> 01:37:58,420
If an enemy can kill one
of Cranney's russet burbanks,
1926
01:37:58,540 --> 01:37:59,880
it can kill them all.
1927
01:38:00,020 --> 01:38:03,710
My role as a farmer
is to help the plant
1928
01:38:03,710 --> 01:38:05,820
out-compete
the different pests,
1929
01:38:06,200 --> 01:38:08,420
Whether that be weeds
or whether that be insects
1930
01:38:08,420 --> 01:38:10,450
or a fungus of some sort.
1931
01:38:13,480 --> 01:38:16,400
It's a constant battle
that we have to fight those off
1932
01:38:16,400 --> 01:38:18,510
and to protect against those.
1933
01:38:19,080 --> 01:38:21,940
It's a race to the finish line,
whether the pests win
1934
01:38:21,940 --> 01:38:24,420
or whether
the potato plant wins.
1935
01:38:25,940 --> 01:38:28,310
To help his potatoes
win that race,
1936
01:38:28,450 --> 01:38:30,400
Cranney, like
the great majority
1937
01:38:30,420 --> 01:38:33,450
of large-scale potato growers
in the United States,
1938
01:38:33,480 --> 01:38:35,570
uses chemical pesticides.
1939
01:38:37,140 --> 01:38:39,940
The chemicals the Cranneys use
can be toxic,
1940
01:38:40,570 --> 01:38:42,820
but they follow EPA guidelines
1941
01:38:42,820 --> 01:38:44,650
that establish levels
that are considered
1942
01:38:44,650 --> 01:38:45,910
safe to use.
1943
01:38:46,940 --> 01:38:48,970
I don't necessarily
like to apply
1944
01:38:48,970 --> 01:38:52,650
the insecticides --
or any chemical of any sort --
1945
01:38:52,650 --> 01:38:54,050
but it's something
that needs to be done
1946
01:38:54,080 --> 01:38:56,880
in order to keep
the plants healthy.
1947
01:38:59,850 --> 01:39:02,480
We don't use a chemical
unless we need to,
1948
01:39:02,510 --> 01:39:05,080
and it's kind of
by prescription, by field.
1949
01:39:05,340 --> 01:39:08,050
So you just don't go in
and just blanket
1950
01:39:08,110 --> 01:39:12,340
excessive amounts of chemicals
and fungicides on.
1951
01:39:13,650 --> 01:39:17,080
If that potato doesn't need any,
we won't apply it.
1952
01:39:17,110 --> 01:39:18,680
If it does, we do.
1953
01:39:19,170 --> 01:39:21,270
You know, we love
our children, too.
1954
01:39:21,620 --> 01:39:25,940
And we don't want to put
anything on the food
1955
01:39:26,020 --> 01:39:31,280
that we eat any more -- to taint
it for us, any more than you.
1956
01:39:33,170 --> 01:39:35,880
You know, the control
of nature is expensive.
1957
01:39:36,170 --> 01:39:39,700
To spray all those pesticides,
to have 10 sprayings
1958
01:39:39,710 --> 01:39:41,820
of fertilizer over a course
of the season,
1959
01:39:41,880 --> 01:39:45,510
to water, to buy all that water
and pump all that water,
1960
01:39:45,540 --> 01:39:47,170
it's enormously expensive.
1961
01:39:47,370 --> 01:39:51,620
These farmers are really living
on, on very thin margins
1962
01:39:51,740 --> 01:39:53,540
and very little room for error.
1963
01:39:53,600 --> 01:39:55,540
And, you know,
it's easy for us
1964
01:39:55,540 --> 01:39:57,540
to sit here and criticize them
for spraying
1965
01:39:57,540 --> 01:39:59,740
these chemicals on our food,
but the fact is,
1966
01:39:59,740 --> 01:40:01,850
if they were to give up
on a single spraying,
1967
01:40:01,850 --> 01:40:03,480
they risk their livelihood.
1968
01:40:04,250 --> 01:40:07,880
In 1995, Ryan Cranney
and farmers like him
1969
01:40:07,880 --> 01:40:10,770
welcomed the news
of an agricultural breakthrough
1970
01:40:10,800 --> 01:40:13,540
that promised to cut down
their use of sprays.
1971
01:40:14,220 --> 01:40:17,820
Monsanto, the world's biggest
biotechnology company,
1972
01:40:17,850 --> 01:40:20,200
came up with
a much less toxic method
1973
01:40:20,220 --> 01:40:23,570
for killing one of the potato's
most deadly enemies --
1974
01:40:24,050 --> 01:40:26,280
the Colorado potato beetle,
1975
01:40:26,310 --> 01:40:28,480
which can pick the leaves
off a plant
1976
01:40:28,510 --> 01:40:30,400
virtually overnight.
1977
01:40:30,710 --> 01:40:32,020
Colorado potato beetle,
1978
01:40:32,020 --> 01:40:36,740
worldwide, is probably the most
serious insect pest in potatoes.
1979
01:40:37,050 --> 01:40:38,970
We still estimate that,
you know,
1980
01:40:38,970 --> 01:40:40,370
out in the western U.S.
1981
01:40:40,370 --> 01:40:42,370
and probably across the U.S.
As a whole,
1982
01:40:42,420 --> 01:40:46,310
about 40% of the insecticides
that were applied
1983
01:40:46,310 --> 01:40:48,590
were applied for
Colorado potato beetle control.
1984
01:40:49,710 --> 01:40:52,130
Monsanto's innovation
was to create
1985
01:40:52,140 --> 01:40:56,000
a new kind of potato,
called the Newleaf potato.
1986
01:40:56,650 --> 01:40:59,970
It was the first potato to be
genetically engineered
1987
01:41:00,030 --> 01:41:04,100
to contain genes from
a different biological species.
1988
01:41:05,600 --> 01:41:09,220
Genetic engineering is
a radically new technology,
1989
01:41:09,250 --> 01:41:12,250
compared to traditional
breeding.
1990
01:41:12,570 --> 01:41:15,400
It allows us
to move genes
1991
01:41:15,650 --> 01:41:18,770
without regard
to species barriers.
1992
01:41:18,880 --> 01:41:23,160
It allows us to move a gene
from a butterfly,
1993
01:41:23,220 --> 01:41:24,880
you know, into a corn plant,
1994
01:41:24,880 --> 01:41:27,770
from a starfish
into a wheat plant.
1995
01:41:28,340 --> 01:41:31,050
Monsanto's Newleaf
potato used a gene
1996
01:41:31,080 --> 01:41:32,970
from a common soil bacterium,
1997
01:41:33,140 --> 01:41:36,250
one that makes a protein
that kills potato beetles
1998
01:41:36,280 --> 01:41:38,570
without causing harm to humans.
1999
01:41:39,450 --> 01:41:43,170
The bacterium is called
Bacillus Thuringiensis,
2000
01:41:43,280 --> 01:41:45,410
or BT for short.
2001
01:41:46,370 --> 01:41:48,600
To help market its BT potato,
2002
01:41:48,650 --> 01:41:51,940
Monsanto hired plant
physiologist Michael Thornton
2003
01:41:52,050 --> 01:41:55,080
to be one of its liaisons
to farmers in Idaho.
2004
01:41:55,570 --> 01:41:57,620
Monsanto was able
to identify
2005
01:41:57,620 --> 01:42:00,970
the gene in that bacterium,
the BT gene
2006
01:42:00,970 --> 01:42:03,800
that was responsible for
production of that protein.
2007
01:42:04,050 --> 01:42:07,220
and they could use a process
to insert that gene
2008
01:42:07,280 --> 01:42:09,800
into a potato variety,
one that growers
2009
01:42:09,800 --> 01:42:11,540
were already familiar with.
2010
01:42:12,310 --> 01:42:14,680
The beetle eats that leaf
2011
01:42:14,770 --> 01:42:17,710
and gets that BT protein
inside it
2012
01:42:17,820 --> 01:42:20,680
and it disrupts
its digestive system,
2013
01:42:20,750 --> 01:42:24,220
and that eventually kills
the Colorado potato beetle.
2014
01:42:24,770 --> 01:42:28,420
I came from the standpoint that
technology and new improvements
2015
01:42:28,420 --> 01:42:30,250
were a good thing
for the potato industry,
2016
01:42:30,250 --> 01:42:33,170
So I was very excited to see
something that was
2017
01:42:33,170 --> 01:42:36,650
kind of a quantum leap
in technology for the industry
2018
01:42:36,650 --> 01:42:37,700
be introduced.
2019
01:42:38,340 --> 01:42:39,100
The promise here was
2020
01:42:39,170 --> 01:42:40,850
that you could diminish
spraying.
2021
01:42:40,880 --> 01:42:43,240
You might pay a little bit more
for these potatoes,
2022
01:42:43,300 --> 01:42:46,070
but since they generated
their own pesticide,
2023
01:42:46,140 --> 01:42:48,140
you could give up
some of your sprayings.
2024
01:42:48,450 --> 01:42:51,740
And this was very attractive
to a lot of potato farmers.
2025
01:42:52,110 --> 01:42:53,510
We were really excited about it
2026
01:42:53,510 --> 01:42:55,820
and thought that it was
really going to take off.
2027
01:42:56,710 --> 01:43:00,820
In 1996, the Newleaf
potato began making its way
2028
01:43:00,820 --> 01:43:03,710
into fast food chains
and supermarkets.
2029
01:43:04,800 --> 01:43:07,490
As time went by,
millions of people
2030
01:43:07,560 --> 01:43:10,200
were eating the genetically
modified potatoes,
2031
01:43:10,260 --> 01:43:12,370
But hardly any of them
realized it,
2032
01:43:12,430 --> 01:43:14,030
because the government
had ruled
2033
01:43:14,100 --> 01:43:16,220
the potatoes didn't need
to be labeled.
2034
01:43:16,450 --> 01:43:18,220
I realized
as I did my reporting,
2035
01:43:18,220 --> 01:43:19,420
I'd eaten them already.
2036
01:43:19,540 --> 01:43:22,510
I'd been in a McDonald's.
I'd bought Frito-Lay chips.
2037
01:43:22,580 --> 01:43:25,350
And the thing I learned
that I hadn't been aware of,
2038
01:43:25,410 --> 01:43:27,910
because we hadn't been told,
is that we Americans
2039
01:43:27,910 --> 01:43:30,910
had been eating these potatoes
already for a couple of years.
2040
01:43:32,020 --> 01:43:34,310
The potato was
the same, nutritionally,
2041
01:43:34,310 --> 01:43:36,890
had the same level of vitamins,
things like that.
2042
01:43:36,890 --> 01:43:37,200
It just had this one additional
gene that codes
had the same level of vitamins,
things like that.
2043
01:43:37,200 --> 01:43:40,170
It just had this one additional
gene that codes
2044
01:43:40,170 --> 01:43:43,800
for a protein that makes up less
than a tenth of one-percent
2045
01:43:44,000 --> 01:43:46,020
of the total protein
in the plant.
2046
01:43:47,250 --> 01:43:48,820
And the decision by
2047
01:43:48,820 --> 01:43:50,570
the Food and Drug Administration
was that,
2048
01:43:50,570 --> 01:43:52,340
unless it's substantially
different --
2049
01:43:52,340 --> 01:43:54,050
unless there's a new toxin,
2050
01:43:54,110 --> 01:43:56,340
unless you've changed
the nutrient profile --
2051
01:43:56,540 --> 01:43:59,000
it does not need to be labeled.
2052
01:44:00,450 --> 01:44:03,770
Now, it seems to me
that the potato
2053
01:44:03,800 --> 01:44:06,450
never before produced
this pesticide.
2054
01:44:06,570 --> 01:44:09,170
so to say that potatoes
producing pesticide
2055
01:44:09,170 --> 01:44:12,280
are substantially equivalent
to potatoes that don't
2056
01:44:12,510 --> 01:44:15,560
seems to involve a certain
suspension of disbelief.
2057
01:44:15,630 --> 01:44:17,800
Hey, hey!
Ho, ho!
2058
01:44:18,110 --> 01:44:21,000
We don't want no GMOs!
Hey, hey!
2059
01:44:21,000 --> 01:44:23,570
In the late 1990s,
as the Newleaf
2060
01:44:23,600 --> 01:44:25,470
was making inroads
into the market,
2061
01:44:25,680 --> 01:44:29,650
the issue of genetically
modified organisms, or GMOs,
2062
01:44:29,680 --> 01:44:32,770
was arousing intense opposition
all over the world.
2063
01:44:32,770 --> 01:44:34,710
We don't want no GMO!
2064
01:44:34,740 --> 01:44:36,880
Hey, hey!
Ho, ho!
2065
01:44:37,000 --> 01:44:38,570
I want to know
what's going on
2066
01:44:38,570 --> 01:44:40,170
in my body
and my daughter's body
2067
01:44:40,200 --> 01:44:43,570
when they feed corn to --
to us
2068
01:44:43,570 --> 01:44:45,000
that's been
genetically altered.
2069
01:44:45,020 --> 01:44:46,910
They don't know.
They can't tell you.
2070
01:44:46,940 --> 01:44:48,620
What do we want?
Safe food!
2071
01:44:48,620 --> 01:44:50,080
When do we want it?
Now!
2072
01:44:50,080 --> 01:44:52,540
The BT potato
offers farmers
2073
01:44:52,540 --> 01:44:53,770
reduced cost.
2074
01:44:53,820 --> 01:44:55,870
It doesn't offer consumers
anything.
2075
01:44:56,080 --> 01:45:00,810
And so a lot of consumers,
if they were given a choice,
2076
01:45:00,880 --> 01:45:06,280
might say, "Well, it doesn't
provide an advantage for me.
2077
01:45:06,400 --> 01:45:09,510
"and therefore, not knowing
a whole lot about it,
2078
01:45:09,800 --> 01:45:12,540
I might --
I might simply say no."
2079
01:45:14,540 --> 01:45:16,080
I do know
McDonald's was getting
2080
01:45:16,080 --> 01:45:18,650
a certain number of calls
and letters asking them,
2081
01:45:18,940 --> 01:45:23,020
"Is it true that you are serving
genetically modified potatoes?"
2082
01:45:23,560 --> 01:45:26,170
This is a company,
like many food companies,
2083
01:45:26,170 --> 01:45:28,110
exquisitely sensitive
to public opinion.
2084
01:45:28,110 --> 01:45:30,220
And they probably
saw a potential
2085
01:45:30,220 --> 01:45:31,970
public relations disaster.
2086
01:45:33,020 --> 01:45:35,510
They didn't want to, you know,
ruin Monsanto's business,
2087
01:45:35,540 --> 01:45:37,970
but they very quietly said that
after the following year,
2088
01:45:37,970 --> 01:45:39,820
they would no longer
be taking them.
2089
01:45:40,350 --> 01:45:43,680
And with that,
the Newleaf potato was over.
2090
01:45:43,710 --> 01:45:44,680
That was it.
2091
01:45:45,050 --> 01:45:47,970
In 2001,
Monsanto stopped selling
2092
01:45:48,000 --> 01:45:49,400
the Newleaf potato.
2093
01:45:49,850 --> 01:45:53,110
It had captured only about 5%
of the market.
2094
01:45:54,110 --> 01:45:56,650
Both McDonald's and Monsanto
2095
01:45:56,740 --> 01:45:59,480
declined to be interviewed
for this program.
2096
01:46:00,310 --> 01:46:02,450
I was very
disappointed -- to see
2097
01:46:02,450 --> 01:46:05,340
this whole dream
just kind of being shut down
2098
01:46:05,340 --> 01:46:07,620
over relatively a short period
of time
2099
01:46:07,680 --> 01:46:10,580
seemed to me to be a tragedy.
2100
01:46:10,710 --> 01:46:12,420
I don't think it was
a tragedy.
2101
01:46:12,480 --> 01:46:15,380
I think it was part
of a very large debate
2102
01:46:15,450 --> 01:46:20,170
about how our society
ought to respond to the use
2103
01:46:20,170 --> 01:46:23,540
of a radically new technology
like genetic engineering
2104
01:46:23,540 --> 01:46:25,080
in agriculture.
2105
01:46:26,420 --> 01:46:29,110
But since the demise
of the BT potato,
2106
01:46:29,140 --> 01:46:31,200
Monsanto has been
very successful
2107
01:46:31,220 --> 01:46:34,110
selling other
genetically engineered crops --
2108
01:46:34,450 --> 01:46:37,740
like corn, soybeans,
and cotton.
2109
01:46:39,080 --> 01:46:41,840
Entomologist Bruce Tabashnik
has been studying
2110
01:46:41,850 --> 01:46:44,340
the BT cotton crop in Arizona.
2111
01:46:45,620 --> 01:46:49,110
We're in a special
situation in Arizona right now
2112
01:46:49,280 --> 01:46:54,970
where about 98% of the cotton
grown is BT cotton.
2113
01:46:55,420 --> 01:47:00,340
It's being used as part
of a program to eradicate,
2114
01:47:00,340 --> 01:47:03,820
or at least greatly suppress,
pink bollworm.
2115
01:47:04,620 --> 01:47:06,450
The bollworm
is as dangerous
2116
01:47:06,450 --> 01:47:09,000
to the cotton crop
as the Colorado beetle
2117
01:47:09,000 --> 01:47:10,400
is to potatoes.
2118
01:47:10,620 --> 01:47:14,310
We have lots of damage
inside the boll here.
2119
01:47:14,940 --> 01:47:17,480
One or more caterpillars
has been feeding
2120
01:47:17,480 --> 01:47:19,850
on the seeds inside the boll,
2121
01:47:20,310 --> 01:47:23,020
which is great for the insects,
2122
01:47:23,020 --> 01:47:26,820
but not good for the plant
or for the farmer.
2123
01:47:28,310 --> 01:47:30,300
Tabashnik has been
investigating
2124
01:47:30,310 --> 01:47:33,020
one of the major concerns
about BT crops --
2125
01:47:33,400 --> 01:47:36,470
The degree to which insects
evolve resistance
2126
01:47:36,480 --> 01:47:38,770
to the bug-killing protein.
2127
01:47:39,140 --> 01:47:42,280
Some of his work is
partly funded by Monsanto,
2128
01:47:42,510 --> 01:47:46,370
which is legally required
to monitor BT resistance.
2129
01:47:47,710 --> 01:47:50,280
For years, organic farmers
have controlled pests
2130
01:47:50,340 --> 01:47:52,450
with a spray form of BT.
2131
01:47:53,020 --> 01:47:55,450
But now that BT
has been engineered
2132
01:47:55,450 --> 01:47:59,280
into crops, exposing insects
day in and day out,
2133
01:47:59,600 --> 01:48:01,340
Tabashnik has found
that the bugs
2134
01:48:01,340 --> 01:48:04,000
are more likely
to develop resistance.
2135
01:48:04,450 --> 01:48:06,450
in the decades of use
2136
01:48:06,450 --> 01:48:12,970
of BT sprays, there's only one
insect that evolved resistance.
2137
01:48:13,370 --> 01:48:17,600
On the other hand, after about
a dozen years of BT crops,
2138
01:48:17,680 --> 01:48:20,250
we already have three examples
2139
01:48:20,280 --> 01:48:23,040
of insects that have evolved
resistance.
2140
01:48:24,110 --> 01:48:25,700
But Tabashnik still thinks
2141
01:48:25,710 --> 01:48:27,280
genetically engineered crops
2142
01:48:27,280 --> 01:48:30,140
do more to help the environment
than to harm it.
2143
01:48:30,770 --> 01:48:32,480
I think that
ultimately
2144
01:48:32,480 --> 01:48:36,080
you can't be absolutely sure
that no harm will come,
2145
01:48:36,220 --> 01:48:39,080
but when you're using BT crops,
2146
01:48:39,200 --> 01:48:42,170
the benefits are
reduced insecticide use.
2147
01:48:42,740 --> 01:48:46,200
The risks are much more
difficult to quantify
2148
01:48:46,250 --> 01:48:48,020
and much more uncertain.
2149
01:48:50,650 --> 01:48:53,250
In my own mind,
it seems like it makes sense
2150
01:48:53,280 --> 01:48:55,570
that we could go to more
genetically modified
2151
01:48:55,570 --> 01:48:56,680
type plants.
2152
01:48:57,510 --> 01:49:01,020
That would allow us not to apply
these chemicals on the plants,
2153
01:49:01,050 --> 01:49:04,280
and they would have a natural
resistance to these insects.
2154
01:49:05,420 --> 01:49:07,420
It seems like the logical way
to go for me,
2155
01:49:07,450 --> 01:49:10,140
and I assume someday
it will go there.
2156
01:49:10,940 --> 01:49:13,220
But for food crops
like the potato,
2157
01:49:13,370 --> 01:49:16,020
genetic engineering
and chemical pesticides
2158
01:49:16,050 --> 01:49:18,220
are not the only choices.
2159
01:49:18,800 --> 01:49:20,970
You know, as long as
you're growing monocultures,
2160
01:49:21,220 --> 01:49:22,770
You sort of
have to choose between
2161
01:49:22,840 --> 01:49:24,700
lots of pesticides
to keep them going,
2162
01:49:24,940 --> 01:49:27,770
or genetically modified crops
to keep them going.
2163
01:49:27,800 --> 01:49:30,310
But if you're willing
to abandon monoculture,
2164
01:49:30,340 --> 01:49:31,940
there are other ways
to do it.
2165
01:49:36,650 --> 01:49:39,370
Mike Heath,
who grows potatoes in Idaho
2166
01:49:39,370 --> 01:49:41,250
just 60 miles from the Cranneys,
2167
01:49:41,310 --> 01:49:43,140
is an organic farmer.
2168
01:49:44,080 --> 01:49:45,710
In a conventional system,
2169
01:49:45,710 --> 01:49:46,940
you're trying to control.
2170
01:49:46,970 --> 01:49:49,620
You're trying to control nature.
2171
01:49:49,620 --> 01:49:52,370
We're trying
to work with it as best we can.
2172
01:49:53,480 --> 01:49:55,880
While his neighbors
devote most of their acreage
2173
01:49:55,880 --> 01:49:57,910
to the russet burbank,
Heath is
2174
01:49:57,910 --> 01:50:00,200
more of an equal-opportunity
grower.
2175
01:50:01,080 --> 01:50:03,880
We have 16 varieties
altogether this year.
2176
01:50:04,220 --> 01:50:06,050
So we're pretty diversified.
2177
01:50:06,170 --> 01:50:07,200
As far as I'm concerned,
2178
01:50:07,220 --> 01:50:10,140
that's our main strength,
is our diversification.
2179
01:50:10,820 --> 01:50:13,140
Heath grows
norkotahs,
2180
01:50:13,220 --> 01:50:17,540
Red normands,
all blues, and elbas.
2181
01:50:21,020 --> 01:50:23,370
By planting lots
of different varieties
2182
01:50:23,680 --> 01:50:27,170
and controlling pests with
natural enemies like ladybugs,
2183
01:50:27,650 --> 01:50:30,850
he farms without using
toxic chemicals.
2184
01:50:31,250 --> 01:50:34,820
The conventional farmers
certainly
2185
01:50:34,850 --> 01:50:37,940
know how to farm with chemicals.
2186
01:50:37,970 --> 01:50:40,880
I -- I myself, if I had to go
back to that,
2187
01:50:40,880 --> 01:50:42,340
I'd -- I would quit.
2188
01:50:44,370 --> 01:50:46,540
Heath's labor costs
are high.
2189
01:50:46,880 --> 01:50:48,770
He doesn't cultivate
as many acres
2190
01:50:48,770 --> 01:50:51,140
or grow as much food
as the Cranneys.
2191
01:50:51,540 --> 01:50:54,370
But since he spends
next to nothing on pesticides
2192
01:50:54,680 --> 01:50:57,280
and gets good prices
for his organic potatoes
2193
01:50:57,280 --> 01:50:58,620
in specialty markets,
2194
01:50:58,910 --> 01:51:01,280
He usually earns
more money per acre.
2195
01:51:01,820 --> 01:51:03,940
I used to be really
pretty stupid,
2196
01:51:03,970 --> 01:51:07,050
you know, as far as my neighbors
were concerned, pretty silly.
2197
01:51:07,510 --> 01:51:10,310
But I have
a lot more respect now
2198
01:51:10,310 --> 01:51:12,880
than I did 10, 15 years ago.
2199
01:51:13,600 --> 01:51:15,680
They can see that I'm
still in business,
2200
01:51:15,710 --> 01:51:17,540
and we've got good markets,
2201
01:51:17,540 --> 01:51:18,680
and we grow a good product,
2202
01:51:18,680 --> 01:51:21,250
and I'm proud to be
an organic farmer.
2203
01:51:22,650 --> 01:51:24,820
You know, there are
other ways to skin a cat.
2204
01:51:24,880 --> 01:51:26,880
And farmers are figuring it out.
2205
01:51:27,250 --> 01:51:28,450
And they're figuring out
2206
01:51:28,450 --> 01:51:31,110
how to grow food
without pesticides,
2207
01:51:31,370 --> 01:51:33,940
And the key -- the key insight
that you find
2208
01:51:33,940 --> 01:51:37,400
in all the creative farmers
who have solved this problem
2209
01:51:37,770 --> 01:51:39,650
is getting away
from monoculture.
2210
01:51:39,940 --> 01:51:42,600
The answer to the problems
of monoculture
2211
01:51:42,710 --> 01:51:46,140
is not new technologies,
it's not band-aids.
2212
01:51:46,220 --> 01:51:48,280
It's "getting away
from monoculture."
2213
01:51:50,510 --> 01:51:53,050
I think
if we could learn
2214
01:51:53,050 --> 01:51:56,110
from the Peruvians,
if we could step back
2215
01:51:56,250 --> 01:51:59,540
and appreciate the diversity
that they've given us
2216
01:51:59,540 --> 01:52:00,740
in the potato
2217
01:52:01,050 --> 01:52:04,880
and take advantage of it
in our agriculture,
2218
01:52:05,310 --> 01:52:07,050
that is the way forward.
2219
01:52:08,220 --> 01:52:09,570
I think
some of the methods
2220
01:52:09,570 --> 01:52:13,200
they've developed in Peru
to use genetic diversity
2221
01:52:13,220 --> 01:52:16,200
by planting a whole range
of varieties within one field
2222
01:52:16,370 --> 01:52:18,340
is a very good strategy,
2223
01:52:18,910 --> 01:52:22,020
But I just don't see
how we readily adapt that
2224
01:52:22,200 --> 01:52:24,400
to a production system
that not only
2225
01:52:24,420 --> 01:52:27,050
has to feed people
in the U.S.,
2226
01:52:27,080 --> 01:52:29,170
but feed a worldwide population
2227
01:52:29,170 --> 01:52:31,170
with a product
that's a certain quality.
2228
01:52:32,940 --> 01:52:35,050
The order
we impose on nature
2229
01:52:35,050 --> 01:52:37,960
is never more than temporary
or illusory.
2230
01:52:38,770 --> 01:52:42,480
In the end, the logic of nature
will win out
2231
01:52:42,480 --> 01:52:45,200
over the logic of capitalism,
the logic of the factory,
2232
01:52:45,220 --> 01:52:46,620
the logic of efficiency.
2233
01:52:46,770 --> 01:52:49,220
It's always been so
and it always will be so.
2234
01:52:50,480 --> 01:52:53,200
Nature is stronger
than any of our designs.
2235
01:52:53,480 --> 01:52:55,480
And nature resists
our control.
2236
01:53:07,770 --> 01:53:10,370
For me,
the most important lessons
2237
01:53:10,370 --> 01:53:13,940
to take away from these tales
is that we are not simply
2238
01:53:13,940 --> 01:53:16,280
standing outside
the web of life,
2239
01:53:16,770 --> 01:53:19,140
but that we are part
of that web of life
2240
01:53:19,200 --> 01:53:20,970
and that everything we do --
2241
01:53:21,370 --> 01:53:22,820
what we choose to eat,
2242
01:53:22,880 --> 01:53:25,850
what flowers we choose
to put on our tables,
2243
01:53:25,850 --> 01:53:28,050
what drugs we choose
to take --
2244
01:53:28,200 --> 01:53:29,850
these are evolutionary votes
2245
01:53:29,850 --> 01:53:33,650
we are casting every day
in many, many different ways.
2246
01:53:38,910 --> 01:53:40,770
When we use these metaphors
and we talk
2247
01:53:40,800 --> 01:53:43,540
about plants having a strategy
to do this
2248
01:53:43,570 --> 01:53:46,600
or wanting this
or desiring this,
2249
01:53:46,800 --> 01:53:48,540
we're being metaphorical,
obviously.
2250
01:53:48,570 --> 01:53:51,000
I mean, plants
do not have consciousness.
2251
01:53:51,050 --> 01:53:54,250
But this is a fault
of our own vocabulary.
2252
01:53:54,280 --> 01:53:57,600
We don't have a very good
vocabulary to describe
2253
01:53:57,600 --> 01:54:00,650
what other species do to us --
because we think we're
2254
01:54:00,680 --> 01:54:02,820
the only species that really
does anything.
2255
01:54:06,970 --> 01:54:10,420
But to the extent
that you can put yourself
2256
01:54:10,510 --> 01:54:12,910
in the place
of these other species
2257
01:54:13,000 --> 01:54:15,220
and look at the world
from their point of view,
2258
01:54:15,280 --> 01:54:18,970
I think it frees us from our
sense of alienation from nature,
2259
01:54:19,080 --> 01:54:22,340
and we become members
of the biotic community,
2260
01:54:22,480 --> 01:54:25,940
one among many species,
all of them together
2261
01:54:25,970 --> 01:54:29,310
creating this wondrous web
that we call life.177299
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