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Narrator: They are four of
the most common plants we know.
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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We've always thought that we
controlled them.
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But what if, in fact,
they have been shaping us?
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Man: We don't give nearly enough
credit to plants.
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They've been working on us,
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they've been using us,
for their own purposes.
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Narrator: Four plants that have
traveled the road to success,
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by satisfying human desires.
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Man: The tulip,
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by gratifying our desire for
a certain kind of beauty,
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has gotten us
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to take it from its origins
in Central Asia
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and disperse it
around the world.
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Marijuana, by gratifying our
desire to change consciousness,
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has gotten people
to risk their lives,
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their freedom, in order to
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grow more of it
and plant more of it.
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The potato -- by gratifying
our desire for control,
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control over nature,
so that we can feed ourselves,
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has gotten itself
out of South America
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and expanded its range
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far beyond where it was
500 years ago.
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And the apple,
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by gratifying our desire
for sweetness --
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begins in the forests
of Kazakhstan
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and is now the universal fruit.
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These are great winners
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in the dance of domestication.
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Narrator: A look at nature
the way you've never
seen it before,
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with best-selling author
Michael Pollan.
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Man: And this relationship
of the plants,
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learning how to gratify
our desires,
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and our working for them
in exchange for this,
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is what I call
"the botany of desire."
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Major funding for this program
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is provided by the national
science foundation,
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where discoveries begin.
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Additional funding
is provided by
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00:02:03,094 --> 00:02:04,362
the Alfred P. Sloan foundation,
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to enhance public understanding
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of science and technology
in the modern world.
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And by the Columbia foundation,
San Francisco,
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which supports the transition
to sustainable communities.
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And by contributions
to your local station
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by viewers like you.
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Man: It was that
very special week in may,
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when the apple trees are in
spectacular bloom,
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and they're just vibrating with
the attention of bees.
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And I was planting potatoes,
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making my little rows,
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and putting in my chunks,
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and the bees were working
above me.
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And it occurred to me --
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you know, what did I have
in common with those bees?
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And when you think about it,
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quite a bit.
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The bee assumes
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00:03:09,293 --> 00:03:11,362
it's getting
the best of this deal
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with the apple blossom.
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It's breaking in,
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it's getting the nectar.
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And has no idea that it's
picked up this pollen
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on the hairs of its thighs
and is transporting it
to another tree
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in the garden
or down the street,
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or anywhere else.
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So for the bee to think it's
in charge of this relationship
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is really just
a failure of bee imagination.
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And I realized I had the same
failure of imagination.
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I was working for these potatoes
in some sense.
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I was planting them,
I was giving them
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a little bit more habitat
than they had before.
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And yet I thought I was kind of
calling the shots.
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So that's when I had
this thought
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that, wouldn't it be interesting
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to look at our relationship to
domesticated plants
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from the plant's point of view?
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Of course, plants don't have
consciousness or intention,
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but the act of using
our consciousness
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to put ourselves
in their "roots,"
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or shoes, or whatever,
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helps us to see things
from their vantage point.
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And when you do that,
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nature suddenly looks
very different.
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We realize we're in
the web of nature,
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not standing outside it.
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These plants are mirrors
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in which we can see ourselves
in a slightly different way.
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And as much as this is
a story about plants,
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it's a story about human desire.
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Good morning, my name is Brian,
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welcome to
poverty Lane orchards.
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First thing we're gonna do
is we're gonna head up
into the orchard,
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and when we get up there,
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I wanna tell you a little bit
about the apples,
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and the trees,
and how to pick apples.
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McDormand: For children
in New England,
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it's an Autumn ritual --
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an apple picking expedition
to the local orchard.
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Brian: Okay, when you guys
are picking the apples,
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you want to pick out
nice ripe apples.
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And the way to tell
the ripe ones is they're red.
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McDormand: But these children
might never have
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had a chance to taste apples
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had the apple not found a way to
get us to do its bidding.
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Thousands of years ago,
the apple put us to work --
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transporting its genes
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00:05:47,284 --> 00:05:49,520
from its native ground
in Central Asia
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00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:52,356
to the far corners of the earth.
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00:05:52,356 --> 00:05:55,392
Pollan: For a plant to do that,
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it has to be awfully
enterprising, willing to adapt
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00:05:58,395 --> 00:06:00,431
to a great many
different environments,
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willing to experiment with
a great many different
forms and flavors.
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Is there a really good red one
up there? What do you see?
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Pollan: Today,
it's a fruit iconic
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and beloved and used in
a great many different ways.
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McDormand: But the apple has not
always been regarded as
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the wholesome fruit
we think of today.
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Pollan: The apple tree
was the great evil plant,
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because people took these apples
and made hard cider,
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which was the main source
of alcohol
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00:06:27,391 --> 00:06:29,526
in rural America
for many, many years.
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The strategy --
the evolutionary strategy
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00:06:32,363 --> 00:06:33,564
that got it from there
to here --
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00:06:33,564 --> 00:06:38,535
involved producing
ever more sweetness.
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Woman: Okay, here's cup four.
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There you go.
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If you think it tastes
bad or yucky,
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I want you to give it to
Oscar the grouch.
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Oscar, okay.
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So here's cup two.
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And if tastes good, I want you
to give it to big bird,
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00:06:59,490 --> 00:07:01,592
because he likes things
that taste good.
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00:07:01,592 --> 00:07:05,396
McDormand: These children
are doing taste tests --
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00:07:05,396 --> 00:07:07,464
part of research
being done on sweetness
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00:07:07,464 --> 00:07:10,601
at the Monell chemical senses
center in Philadelphia.
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00:07:10,601 --> 00:07:13,637
It specializes in the study of
taste and smell.
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00:07:13,637 --> 00:07:15,406
Good job!
You're doing great.
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00:07:15,406 --> 00:07:17,474
All right, so I'm going to
give you another one.
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00:07:17,474 --> 00:07:21,412
Man: Some of the fundamental
things we've discovered are,
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the desire for sweetness is
hardwired in human beings.
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00:07:25,449 --> 00:07:27,418
It's built-in, it's innate.
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It's not because we feed babies
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high levels of sweet
when they're young,
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it's part of their biology.
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00:07:34,591 --> 00:07:37,461
Presumably, our response to
sweet evolved
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when sweet things were rare
in the environment,
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00:07:40,564 --> 00:07:42,633
they were there
in small amounts,
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00:07:42,633 --> 00:07:45,469
and our biggest problem
was to make sure
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we got enough calories
and didn't starve to death.
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If a plant was sweet,
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that meant it wasn't bitter
and poison,
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it meant it was reasonably high
in calories,
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because sugars are calorie-rich,
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and so sweetness is the signal
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for something
that's good for us.
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Pollan: Sweetness in nature is
very rare, very special --
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00:08:08,559 --> 00:08:11,528
it's really limited to
ripe fruit,
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and honey,
if you're willing to risk
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going into a beehive.
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And apples are a particularly
big, portable,
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long-lasting vessel
for sweetness.
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McDormand: It was here in
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the ancient forests
of Central Asia
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that our own pursuit
of sweetness
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first brought us into contact
with the apple.
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This, scientists say,
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is the apple's genetic home --
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the place where it originated.
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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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00:08:48,665 --> 00:08:52,569
many of which
still grow here today.
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Man: You land in Almaty,
the capital of Kazakhstan,
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and there are apple seedlings
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pushing up through
the broken pavement.
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00:09:00,778 --> 00:09:02,513
You go up into the hills,
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and there are thousands of
different kinds of apples.
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00:09:06,617 --> 00:09:07,751
Great big red apples
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00:09:07,751 --> 00:09:10,621
that look like
large Macintosh --
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00:09:10,621 --> 00:09:14,525
and you'd find these sort of
knotty little green things
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00:09:14,525 --> 00:09:15,592
that even a rat wouldn't eat.
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00:09:15,592 --> 00:09:19,630
Pollan: To see these wild apples
in all their diversity
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00:09:19,630 --> 00:09:23,734
is to realize that, in these
forests, this is, you know,
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00:09:23,734 --> 00:09:26,737
these are god's first drafts of
what an apple could be.
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00:09:26,737 --> 00:09:31,542
McDormand: One way the apple
could secure its future
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00:09:31,542 --> 00:09:33,544
was by expanding its habitat --
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00:09:33,544 --> 00:09:36,680
but that's a hard thing to do
if you're a plant.
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00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:40,684
Pollan: You know, the apple has
the same existential predicament
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00:09:40,684 --> 00:09:44,621
of any plant -- it's stuck
in place, it's rooted down.
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00:09:44,621 --> 00:09:48,759
So you had the apple
beginning its life
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00:09:48,759 --> 00:09:51,662
in these Kazakh forests
in Central Asia,
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00:09:51,662 --> 00:09:52,696
but they would be stuck there
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00:09:52,696 --> 00:09:55,666
if not for mammals,
that they evolved to appeal to.
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00:09:55,666 --> 00:09:58,602
If you're a bear in a forest
and you're hungry,
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00:09:58,602 --> 00:10:01,605
you don't pick the little
blueberry sized apples,
197
00:10:01,605 --> 00:10:03,707
you pick the biggest ones
you can get.
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00:10:03,707 --> 00:10:05,776
If you find
a particularly sweet one,
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00:10:05,776 --> 00:10:08,679
you're going to eat
more of that one
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00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:09,646
than a sour one.
201
00:10:09,646 --> 00:10:10,581
And in their case,
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00:10:10,581 --> 00:10:13,617
they eat the whole apple
and excrete the seeds,
203
00:10:13,617 --> 00:10:15,819
and that's how apples
spread their genes.
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00:10:15,819 --> 00:10:18,655
And sweetness was the ticket
out of that forest.
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00:10:18,655 --> 00:10:23,660
McDormand: But to move farther
than bears could take it,
206
00:10:23,660 --> 00:10:26,797
the apple would need
a new ally --
207
00:10:26,797 --> 00:10:31,768
and found one... In us.
208
00:10:34,738 --> 00:10:36,707
Pollan: Part of
the apple's genius
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00:10:36,707 --> 00:10:39,710
has been to insinuate itself
into our culture,
210
00:10:39,710 --> 00:10:40,878
and art and religion, as well.
211
00:10:40,878 --> 00:10:43,614
It's kind of
a botanical zelig --
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00:10:43,614 --> 00:10:46,583
I mean, it just kind of
shows up everywhere.
213
00:10:46,583 --> 00:10:48,719
Even when it wasn't
really there.
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00:10:48,719 --> 00:10:51,755
McDormand: One of
the best known images
215
00:10:51,755 --> 00:10:53,624
of people and apples together
216
00:10:53,624 --> 00:10:56,593
comes from the story of
the garden of Eden.
217
00:10:56,593 --> 00:10:59,663
Pollan: Though the Bible doesn't
specify what the fruit is,
218
00:10:59,663 --> 00:11:01,632
we have always imagined it
to be apples.
219
00:11:01,632 --> 00:11:04,701
And that's because the northern
renaissance painters,
220
00:11:04,701 --> 00:11:05,769
when they thought of a fruit,
221
00:11:05,769 --> 00:11:08,739
a desirable fruit
that you would put in a garden,
222
00:11:08,739 --> 00:11:10,641
they immediately
thought "apple."
223
00:11:10,641 --> 00:11:11,708
But it wasn't an apple.
224
00:11:11,708 --> 00:11:13,644
Probably was a pomegranate,
225
00:11:13,644 --> 00:11:15,612
because apples don't do
very well
226
00:11:15,612 --> 00:11:19,716
in the lands where the Bible is
thought to have taken place.
227
00:11:19,716 --> 00:11:22,886
McDormand: One place
where apples did grow
228
00:11:22,886 --> 00:11:23,854
was ancient China.
229
00:11:23,854 --> 00:11:26,690
They'd been brought there
from Central Asia
230
00:11:26,690 --> 00:11:29,626
on the trade route
called the silk road.
231
00:11:29,626 --> 00:11:31,728
The apple also traveled west,
232
00:11:31,728 --> 00:11:36,700
reaching Europe
and eventually the new world.
233
00:11:40,637 --> 00:11:42,739
In America,
the apple found a partner,
234
00:11:42,739 --> 00:11:47,744
someone whose love for it would
become the stuff of legend --
235
00:11:47,744 --> 00:11:49,780
Johnny Appleseed.
236
00:11:49,780 --> 00:11:51,748
[ Man whistling ]
237
00:11:51,748 --> 00:11:53,917
The lord is good to me
238
00:11:53,917 --> 00:11:55,886
and so I thank the lord
239
00:11:55,886 --> 00:11:59,656
woman: Behind
Johnny Appleseed the myth,
240
00:11:59,656 --> 00:12:02,659
there is a real person --
John Chapman.
241
00:12:02,659 --> 00:12:04,661
But the myth is so powerful,
242
00:12:04,661 --> 00:12:05,896
so compelling, so fascinating,
243
00:12:05,896 --> 00:12:10,867
that it has completely obscured
the real person who's behind it.
244
00:12:15,706 --> 00:12:20,744
McDormand: John Chapman was born
in 1774 in Massachusetts.
245
00:12:20,744 --> 00:12:23,680
In his early 20s,
he headed west.
246
00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:26,750
He traveled through
the Ohio river valley,
247
00:12:26,750 --> 00:12:29,720
which was then
the American frontier,
248
00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:31,788
planting and selling
apple trees.
249
00:12:31,788 --> 00:12:36,693
Pollan: He is said to have
likened himself to a bee --
250
00:12:36,693 --> 00:12:38,829
that he had some sense that he,
like a bee,
251
00:12:38,829 --> 00:12:40,764
was spreading
these plants around.
252
00:12:40,764 --> 00:12:43,834
Browning: Johnny Appleseed
was --
253
00:12:43,834 --> 00:12:45,669
not to make a terrible pun --
254
00:12:45,669 --> 00:12:46,903
a pretty "seedy" fellow,
you know?
255
00:12:46,903 --> 00:12:49,706
Travelling around,
often barefoot,
256
00:12:49,706 --> 00:12:52,743
you know,
in a burlap sack sometimes,
257
00:12:52,743 --> 00:12:53,810
sleeping in barns.
258
00:12:53,810 --> 00:12:55,712
But terribly engaging.
259
00:12:55,712 --> 00:12:56,947
People took him in,
260
00:12:56,947 --> 00:12:59,816
and he planted the orchards,
261
00:12:59,816 --> 00:13:02,853
and he told them how to prune.
262
00:13:02,853 --> 00:13:05,689
But he was, um...
263
00:13:05,689 --> 00:13:06,757
He was a bum.
264
00:13:06,757 --> 00:13:07,824
This is doubly odd,
265
00:13:07,824 --> 00:13:12,796
because he was actually
fairly well off.
266
00:13:13,897 --> 00:13:17,734
McDormand: Chapman could easily
have afforded
267
00:13:17,734 --> 00:13:18,702
much better clothes --
268
00:13:18,702 --> 00:13:22,839
all those apple trees he planted
made him a prosperous man.
269
00:13:22,839 --> 00:13:23,874
Pollan: He wasn't just
270
00:13:23,874 --> 00:13:26,810
sprinkling apple seeds
where he went --
271
00:13:26,810 --> 00:13:27,944
he was a nursery man.
272
00:13:27,944 --> 00:13:28,979
He understood that,
273
00:13:28,979 --> 00:13:33,817
wherever the next wave
of settlers would land,
274
00:13:33,817 --> 00:13:35,819
they would want apple trees.
275
00:13:35,819 --> 00:13:38,789
By law, you were required to
plant some fruit,
276
00:13:38,789 --> 00:13:42,759
because that was a symbol
you were going to stay put.
277
00:13:42,759 --> 00:13:44,961
So he would find
a piece of land,
278
00:13:44,961 --> 00:13:45,896
he would clear it,
279
00:13:45,896 --> 00:13:47,931
and he would plant apples
from seeds,
280
00:13:47,931 --> 00:13:52,836
and start a nursery a few years
before the settlers got there,
281
00:13:52,836 --> 00:13:53,870
so by the time they showed up,
282
00:13:53,870 --> 00:13:56,773
he had saplings for sale
for a few cents apiece.
283
00:13:56,773 --> 00:13:57,841
It was a very good business.
284
00:13:57,841 --> 00:14:01,845
But when I started learning
about the botany of apples,
285
00:14:01,845 --> 00:14:04,881
suddenly there was a problem
with his story --
286
00:14:04,881 --> 00:14:09,853
why would he be planting them
from seed?
287
00:14:15,025 --> 00:14:18,929
McDormand: The mystery stems
from a curious fact
288
00:14:18,929 --> 00:14:20,864
of the apple's own biology --
289
00:14:20,864 --> 00:14:24,801
its taste and even
its appearance
290
00:14:24,801 --> 00:14:29,005
are rarely passed on
through its seeds.
291
00:14:29,005 --> 00:14:32,976
Pollan: In every apple you will
find a few little seeds,
292
00:14:32,976 --> 00:14:34,978
each in their own
little chamber.
293
00:14:34,978 --> 00:14:37,948
Well, every one of those seeds,
if planted,
294
00:14:37,948 --> 00:14:40,817
will produce a completely
different apple,
295
00:14:40,817 --> 00:14:43,920
looking very little, if at all,
like its parent.
296
00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:45,956
They tend to be sour, bitter,
297
00:14:45,956 --> 00:14:48,892
all these other
different flavors.
298
00:14:48,892 --> 00:14:51,027
McDormand: That's because
each apple seed
299
00:14:51,027 --> 00:14:53,964
carries genes for a wide variety
of traits --
300
00:14:53,964 --> 00:14:56,833
and there's no telling
which of those genes
301
00:14:56,833 --> 00:14:59,836
will be turned on when
the seed starts to grow.
302
00:14:59,836 --> 00:15:01,938
There is, however,
a very simple way
303
00:15:01,938 --> 00:15:04,074
to perpetuate
the traits of an apple,
304
00:15:04,074 --> 00:15:07,110
an ancient technique
called "grafting."
305
00:15:07,110 --> 00:15:12,082
You take a bud from a tree
that produced fruit
that you liked
306
00:15:12,883 --> 00:15:16,052
and insert it into a young,
developing tree.
307
00:15:16,052 --> 00:15:17,821
The result?
308
00:15:17,821 --> 00:15:18,889
An exact copy --
309
00:15:18,889 --> 00:15:21,858
or clone -- of the apple
you started with.
310
00:15:21,858 --> 00:15:26,830
Many American settlers grew
their apples exactly that way.
311
00:15:27,964 --> 00:15:29,966
But not Johnny Appleseed.
312
00:15:29,966 --> 00:15:33,036
Chaplin: He tended to
grow seedlings
313
00:15:33,036 --> 00:15:36,039
and then just let them
grow wild.
314
00:15:36,039 --> 00:15:38,041
He might have done this,
we think,
315
00:15:38,041 --> 00:15:40,877
because of his
religious beliefs --
316
00:15:40,877 --> 00:15:45,015
he was a swedenborgian.
317
00:15:45,015 --> 00:15:49,119
McDormand: The 15th-century
Christian theologian,
318
00:15:49,119 --> 00:15:50,053
Emanuel Swedenborg,
319
00:15:50,053 --> 00:15:55,025
preached that the natural world
is imbued with god's spirit.
320
00:15:57,060 --> 00:16:00,063
Chaplin: Swedenborg had
taught that
321
00:16:00,063 --> 00:16:02,966
everything that was here
on earth,
322
00:16:02,966 --> 00:16:05,936
that you could see, feel,
taste, touch,
323
00:16:05,936 --> 00:16:10,907
had a counterpart in
the spiritual world beyond.
324
00:16:12,876 --> 00:16:15,912
For Chapman,
this seemed to indicate that
325
00:16:15,912 --> 00:16:19,950
he should not tamper with
all of the natural things
326
00:16:19,950 --> 00:16:23,053
that he could see
in the world around him.
327
00:16:23,053 --> 00:16:26,923
And this seems to be
one reason why
328
00:16:26,923 --> 00:16:29,092
he grows apples
from their seeds,
329
00:16:29,092 --> 00:16:30,026
and not from grafting.
330
00:16:30,026 --> 00:16:34,998
McDormand: Whatever his reasons,
Chapman's botanical practices
331
00:16:35,198 --> 00:16:39,002
gave the apple
a golden opportunity
332
00:16:39,002 --> 00:16:41,171
to adapt to a new environment.
333
00:16:41,171 --> 00:16:42,939
Pollan: By going back to seed,
334
00:16:42,939 --> 00:16:46,910
you are going back to
the biodiversity of your genes.
335
00:16:46,910 --> 00:16:49,045
So all of those apple seeds
336
00:16:49,045 --> 00:16:52,048
produced hundreds of
different kinds of apples
337
00:16:52,048 --> 00:16:55,018
with very different qualities.
338
00:16:55,018 --> 00:16:56,019
And so the apple,
339
00:16:56,019 --> 00:16:59,055
just like the Englishmen
who came over,
340
00:16:59,055 --> 00:17:04,027
remade itself as Americans.
341
00:17:07,964 --> 00:17:10,100
McDormand: Most of these
new varieties,
342
00:17:10,100 --> 00:17:12,135
because they were
grown from seed,
343
00:17:12,135 --> 00:17:17,107
turned out to be bitter...
But the settlers had a very good
use for them -- cider.
344
00:17:20,143 --> 00:17:24,981
Hard cider.
345
00:17:24,981 --> 00:17:27,951
Pollan: Now, when we use
the word "cider,"
346
00:17:27,951 --> 00:17:29,152
we picture something very sweet.
347
00:17:29,152 --> 00:17:32,088
But of course,
it only stays sweet
348
00:17:32,088 --> 00:17:37,060
if you have refrigeration.
So all the cider they made
went into barrels and fermented
349
00:17:37,060 --> 00:17:40,964
and became what we call
"hard cider," alcoholic cider.
350
00:17:40,964 --> 00:17:43,099
So Johnny Appleseed,
who we think of as
351
00:17:43,099 --> 00:17:46,102
the most benign, wholesome
kind of character,
352
00:17:46,102 --> 00:17:47,103
turns out was
353
00:17:47,103 --> 00:17:49,973
bringing hard drink
to the frontier.
354
00:17:49,973 --> 00:17:52,242
Browning:
That's what people drank.
355
00:17:52,242 --> 00:17:56,012
Colonial America
was terrified of water!
356
00:17:56,012 --> 00:17:57,047
You know, they knew about
357
00:17:57,047 --> 00:17:59,149
all the diseases of water
in Europe,
358
00:17:59,149 --> 00:18:00,150
and so they didn't drink it.
359
00:18:00,150 --> 00:18:04,988
Chaplin: Cider, however,
because it had been fermented,
360
00:18:04,988 --> 00:18:06,222
had killed, in the process,
361
00:18:06,222 --> 00:18:08,024
anything that might
make you ill.
362
00:18:08,024 --> 00:18:12,028
Pollan: That was the beer of
its time, the wine of its time,
363
00:18:12,028 --> 00:18:14,130
that's what everybody drank --
and I mean everybody.
364
00:18:14,130 --> 00:18:19,102
McDormand: Everyone from paupers
to presidents consumed cider.
365
00:18:19,235 --> 00:18:23,239
John Adams liked to
drink it for breakfast.
366
00:18:23,239 --> 00:18:26,109
But overtime,
cider and the apple
367
00:18:26,109 --> 00:18:31,014
became victims
of their own success.
368
00:18:31,014 --> 00:18:33,183
Chaplin: Alcohol consumption
369
00:18:33,183 --> 00:18:37,020
started to rise
in about the 1530s.
370
00:18:37,020 --> 00:18:40,223
And there's some public outrage
over that,
371
00:18:40,223 --> 00:18:45,128
that people seemed to be too
interested in drinking,
372
00:18:45,128 --> 00:18:46,262
or are drunk,
373
00:18:46,262 --> 00:18:49,032
so all forms of
alcoholic beverage
374
00:18:49,032 --> 00:18:54,004
begin to be criticized,
and cider is among them.
375
00:18:55,171 --> 00:18:59,042
Pollan: People went after
apple trees.
376
00:18:59,042 --> 00:19:00,043
Suddenly the apple,
377
00:19:00,043 --> 00:19:04,214
which had been celebrated for
much of American history,
378
00:19:04,214 --> 00:19:07,083
is vilified as the evil fruit.
379
00:19:07,083 --> 00:19:09,152
It's back in the garden of Eden,
in a sense.
380
00:19:09,152 --> 00:19:12,155
The hatchet wielded by
the famous prohibitionist
381
00:19:12,155 --> 00:19:14,257
Carrie nation,
was not just about
382
00:19:14,257 --> 00:19:16,026
breaking down saloon doors,
383
00:19:16,026 --> 00:19:19,062
it was also about
chopping down this evil tree
384
00:19:19,062 --> 00:19:20,230
that was getting
Americans drunk.
385
00:19:20,230 --> 00:19:25,068
McDormand: But the apple would
be rescued from infamy
386
00:19:25,068 --> 00:19:27,203
by the sweeter side
of its nature.
387
00:19:27,203 --> 00:19:31,174
Pollan: Even though cider was
what happened to most apples,
388
00:19:31,174 --> 00:19:33,109
apples were also eaten
as a food.
389
00:19:33,109 --> 00:19:35,345
And whenever you were lucky
enough to find a sweet one,
390
00:19:35,345 --> 00:19:37,113
that's what you did with it.
391
00:19:37,113 --> 00:19:40,083
McDormand: So with cider
in disrepute,
392
00:19:40,083 --> 00:19:45,055
the race to find sweet new
varieties intensified.
393
00:19:48,224 --> 00:19:53,263
Pollan: Everyone who had
a cider orchard had his eye out
394
00:19:53,263 --> 00:19:56,232
for that one good edible apple.
395
00:19:56,232 --> 00:19:58,201
It was really well understood
396
00:19:58,201 --> 00:19:59,235
that one of the tickets
397
00:19:59,235 --> 00:20:02,272
to great success
and great wealth in America
398
00:20:02,272 --> 00:20:04,307
was to find a good edible apple.
399
00:20:04,307 --> 00:20:08,178
And all the famous apples
that we know --
400
00:20:08,178 --> 00:20:10,113
the delicious, the Macintosh,
401
00:20:10,113 --> 00:20:12,082
the Baldwin, the northern spy --
402
00:20:12,082 --> 00:20:15,185
these had all begun
in cider orchards.
403
00:20:15,185 --> 00:20:19,089
They were the stars.
404
00:20:19,089 --> 00:20:24,094
Before 1900, the fate of, like,
99% of apples was to be drunk.
405
00:20:24,094 --> 00:20:28,198
After 1900, it becomes the fruit
that we now know.
406
00:20:28,198 --> 00:20:30,300
McDormand:
For 20th-century Americans,
407
00:20:30,300 --> 00:20:33,136
apples became
a symbol of wholesomeness.
408
00:20:33,136 --> 00:20:36,172
Pollan: The apple growers
came up with this campaign --
409
00:20:36,172 --> 00:20:38,174
"an apple a day
keeps the doctor away" --
410
00:20:38,174 --> 00:20:41,344
and essentially rebranded
the apple as a health food.
411
00:20:41,344 --> 00:20:43,213
That's all well and good,
412
00:20:43,213 --> 00:20:47,183
but what it meant is that,
as soon as you're
eating apples,
413
00:20:47,183 --> 00:20:48,351
you focus on those few varieties
414
00:20:48,351 --> 00:20:50,353
that are really tasty
and popular,
415
00:20:50,353 --> 00:20:54,190
and the industry shrank down
the number of apples
416
00:20:54,190 --> 00:20:56,292
over the course of
the 20th century.
417
00:20:56,292 --> 00:21:00,163
So that, by the time I was a boy
in the early '60s,
418
00:21:00,163 --> 00:21:02,298
there were very few apples
in commerce.
419
00:21:02,298 --> 00:21:06,202
There was the red delicious,
the golden delicious,
420
00:21:06,202 --> 00:21:07,370
and the Macintosh.
421
00:21:07,370 --> 00:21:09,172
That was, you know,
422
00:21:09,172 --> 00:21:11,241
easy for marketers
to get their head around,
423
00:21:11,241 --> 00:21:13,143
it was all the public
seemed to want.
424
00:21:13,143 --> 00:21:15,445
But for the apple,
it wasn't very good news --
425
00:21:15,445 --> 00:21:19,415
because as soon as you kind of
freeze its evolution,
426
00:21:19,415 --> 00:21:24,387
the apple is kind of
a sitting duck for its pests.
427
00:21:29,392 --> 00:21:32,395
McDormand: Apples were
increasingly being grown
428
00:21:32,395 --> 00:21:35,198
in what scientists
call "monocultures,"
429
00:21:35,198 --> 00:21:37,333
which churned out
just a single variety.
430
00:21:37,333 --> 00:21:40,403
Pollan: Once you rely on
the genetic uniformity
431
00:21:40,403 --> 00:21:42,205
that comes with cloning
432
00:21:42,205 --> 00:21:44,274
rather than planting from seed,
433
00:21:44,274 --> 00:21:48,244
you restrict the species'
natural ability to evolve.
434
00:21:48,244 --> 00:21:52,215
So you have your plants,
with their genetic combination,
435
00:21:52,215 --> 00:21:54,317
staying still,
while the pests --
436
00:21:54,317 --> 00:21:57,220
I'm talking about
insects or diseases,
437
00:21:57,220 --> 00:21:58,221
viruses or bacteria --
438
00:21:58,221 --> 00:22:01,291
are always trying to
pick the lock.
439
00:22:01,291 --> 00:22:02,225
And sooner or later,
440
00:22:02,225 --> 00:22:05,328
they will be able to get not
just one of your plants,
441
00:22:05,328 --> 00:22:08,264
but all of your plants,
'cause they're the same.
442
00:22:08,264 --> 00:22:12,402
McDormand: To defend them
from insects and diseases,
443
00:22:12,402 --> 00:22:15,371
most apples are routinely
sprayed with chemicals.
444
00:22:15,371 --> 00:22:17,307
Browning: The bugs are clearly
445
00:22:17,307 --> 00:22:19,409
well ahead of
the human controls.
446
00:22:19,409 --> 00:22:22,412
If you're talking about
a large grower,
447
00:22:22,412 --> 00:22:24,480
with a couple of hundred acres,
448
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:25,481
they're probably spending
449
00:22:25,481 --> 00:22:29,319
a half-million to three-quarters
of a million dollars a year
450
00:22:29,319 --> 00:22:30,420
in chemical costs.
451
00:22:30,420 --> 00:22:35,425
Pollan: One of the biggest
consumers of pesticide now
452
00:22:35,425 --> 00:22:37,327
is the apple crop.
453
00:22:37,327 --> 00:22:39,429
It's the fate of monocultures.
454
00:22:39,429 --> 00:22:43,366
Man: We'll have to
check the records
455
00:22:43,366 --> 00:22:47,503
to see what the resistances are
in these,
456
00:22:47,503 --> 00:22:50,240
because these could be
real useful
457
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:51,474
in breeding right now, I think.
458
00:22:51,474 --> 00:22:55,378
McDormand: In Geneva, New York,
scientist Herb Aldwinckle
459
00:22:55,378 --> 00:22:57,413
and Phil Forsline
are looking for
460
00:22:57,413 --> 00:22:59,215
another way to help the apple --
461
00:22:59,215 --> 00:23:03,219
by harnessing the defenses
that lie hidden in its genes.
462
00:23:03,219 --> 00:23:04,454
So think what it would be like
463
00:23:04,454 --> 00:23:07,223
if it was grafted on
a dwarfing rootstock.
464
00:23:07,223 --> 00:23:10,493
Probably double the size
and even more color.
465
00:23:10,493 --> 00:23:13,329
McDormand:
Aldwinckle and Forsline
466
00:23:13,329 --> 00:23:15,365
collaborate at this
apple research center,
467
00:23:15,365 --> 00:23:18,368
which is run by the U.S.
department of agriculture.
468
00:23:18,368 --> 00:23:22,272
It's a botanical version
of Noah's ark.
469
00:23:22,272 --> 00:23:24,507
Pollan: To walk into
this orchard is to --
470
00:23:24,507 --> 00:23:28,378
at first, it looks like kind of
a normal orchard...
471
00:23:28,378 --> 00:23:31,347
And then you realize
as you look down the rows
472
00:23:31,347 --> 00:23:33,483
that, my god, every one of
these trees is different.
473
00:23:33,483 --> 00:23:37,353
There are yellow ones
and there are red ones,
474
00:23:37,353 --> 00:23:40,290
and there are green ones,
and there are purplish ones,
475
00:23:40,290 --> 00:23:41,324
and there are small and large
476
00:23:41,324 --> 00:23:44,427
and every shape
of tree and fruit.
477
00:23:44,427 --> 00:23:45,528
It is just this vast library.
478
00:23:45,528 --> 00:23:50,300
McDormand: Here, there are more
than 5,000 different kinds
479
00:23:50,300 --> 00:23:54,470
of apple trees -- each with its
own distinct set of genes.
480
00:23:54,470 --> 00:23:57,507
Man: A mechanic has a wide
variety of tools
481
00:23:57,507 --> 00:24:00,376
which he hopes
he'll be able to use
482
00:24:00,376 --> 00:24:04,347
to fix problems with machines
he's working on --
483
00:24:04,347 --> 00:24:07,383
it's a similar situation
with apples.
484
00:24:07,383 --> 00:24:08,551
We need to have a tool chest,
485
00:24:08,551 --> 00:24:12,322
and the genes are what provide
the tool chest.
486
00:24:12,322 --> 00:24:15,391
McDormand: In 1959,
aldwinckle and Forsline
487
00:24:15,391 --> 00:24:19,495
got an unexpected opportunity
to add to their tool chest
488
00:24:19,495 --> 00:24:24,367
some of the most valuable
apple genes in the world --
489
00:24:24,367 --> 00:24:29,339
the genes from Kazakhstan.
490
00:24:31,541 --> 00:24:35,445
Aldwinckle: We regard
the Kazakh apple forests
491
00:24:35,445 --> 00:24:38,481
as the gene bank
of the domestic apple.
492
00:24:38,481 --> 00:24:41,584
Wild forests
were being chopped down,
493
00:24:41,584 --> 00:24:44,387
the trees were being destroyed,
494
00:24:44,387 --> 00:24:46,456
they just wouldn't
be there anymore
495
00:24:46,456 --> 00:24:49,525
unless someone went there
and collected them
496
00:24:49,525 --> 00:24:51,361
and grew them somewhere else.
497
00:24:51,361 --> 00:24:55,465
We had some jeeps
we traveled around in,
498
00:24:55,465 --> 00:25:00,436
and so we were able to visit
true apple forests.
499
00:25:02,405 --> 00:25:05,408
Forsline: It was a bit of
a culture shock
500
00:25:05,408 --> 00:25:08,444
to be in Central Asia
for the first time.
501
00:25:08,444 --> 00:25:11,414
My first impressions were,
this was in
502
00:25:11,414 --> 00:25:13,549
the middle of nowhere --
what am I doing here?
503
00:25:13,549 --> 00:25:18,388
But, uh...
To just see
504
00:25:18,388 --> 00:25:21,357
the diversity in those apples
505
00:25:21,357 --> 00:25:23,593
is just amazing.
506
00:25:23,593 --> 00:25:27,463
Aldwinckle: Once an apple tree
is chopped down,
507
00:25:27,463 --> 00:25:28,364
it's gone forever.
508
00:25:28,364 --> 00:25:32,368
But if we can take the seed
from that tree
509
00:25:32,368 --> 00:25:32,668
and store the seed,
510
00:25:32,668 --> 00:25:36,606
we can preserve the genes that
were present in that tree,
511
00:25:36,606 --> 00:25:41,577
and essentially we can preserve
that tree forever.
512
00:25:44,614 --> 00:25:46,549
McDormand:
Aldwinckle and forsline
513
00:25:46,549 --> 00:25:48,651
made several trips
to the Kazakh forests.
514
00:25:48,651 --> 00:25:51,554
They brought seeds back
and planted them.
515
00:25:51,554 --> 00:25:54,490
Forsline: We're standing in
the middle of what I call
516
00:25:54,490 --> 00:25:56,626
"Kazakhstan re-created
in Geneva, New York."
517
00:25:56,626 --> 00:25:58,561
But we're not only just
saving it,
518
00:25:58,561 --> 00:26:01,397
we're developing
a library of information
519
00:26:01,397 --> 00:26:02,432
on every one of these trees.
520
00:26:02,432 --> 00:26:04,667
Browning: The notion of
conservation of seed
521
00:26:04,667 --> 00:26:07,570
is to conserve it --
because you don't know
522
00:26:07,570 --> 00:26:11,507
what you might need it for
at some future time --
523
00:26:11,507 --> 00:26:13,443
maybe nothing.
524
00:26:13,443 --> 00:26:13,676
Why do we have museums?
525
00:26:13,676 --> 00:26:17,513
Well, because it's a good idea
to conserve things --
526
00:26:17,513 --> 00:26:18,581
that's the primary value.
527
00:26:18,581 --> 00:26:19,682
Then there's a secondary value,
528
00:26:19,682 --> 00:26:24,454
and that is to use them
as genetic breeding stock
529
00:26:24,454 --> 00:26:25,455
to solve problems --
530
00:26:25,455 --> 00:26:28,724
to solve problems that might
enable growers
531
00:26:28,724 --> 00:26:30,660
to use fewer pesticides.
532
00:26:30,660 --> 00:26:32,495
McDormand: In his lab,
533
00:26:32,495 --> 00:26:35,465
aldwinckle is trying to do
just that,
534
00:26:35,465 --> 00:26:38,634
by moving genes that provide
disease resistance
535
00:26:38,634 --> 00:26:42,538
from a wild Kazakh apple
into a commercial variety.
536
00:26:42,538 --> 00:26:47,543
Aldwinckle: These are pieces of
leaves of fuji apple.
537
00:26:47,543 --> 00:26:51,514
And what we've got here is
an experiment
538
00:26:51,514 --> 00:26:53,716
to try and transfer some genes
539
00:26:53,716 --> 00:26:56,486
for resistance to apple scab
540
00:26:56,486 --> 00:27:01,457
into fuji, and therefore make
fuji resistant to apple scab.
541
00:27:01,691 --> 00:27:03,626
Pollan: In the 19th century,
542
00:27:03,626 --> 00:27:06,562
the repository of all
the genetic diversity
543
00:27:06,562 --> 00:27:09,699
of the apple in America
was in the cider orchard.
544
00:27:09,699 --> 00:27:12,502
Today it's in these collections
545
00:27:12,502 --> 00:27:16,572
that are maintained by
some visionary individuals
546
00:27:16,572 --> 00:27:21,544
who understand the importance of
preserving this biodiversity.
547
00:27:25,748 --> 00:27:27,583
There's a vicious circle
548
00:27:27,583 --> 00:27:30,620
that we get into, which is,
we have monocultures
549
00:27:30,620 --> 00:27:33,556
in the field,
and monocultures on the plate.
550
00:27:33,556 --> 00:27:34,757
Monocultures of taste.
551
00:27:34,757 --> 00:27:38,728
Fruit now has to
compete with soda.
552
00:27:38,728 --> 00:27:40,696
So it has got to be super-sweet,
553
00:27:40,696 --> 00:27:42,632
and the modern apples all are
very sweet --
554
00:27:42,632 --> 00:27:45,635
we have apples that, as one
critic said of the delicious,
555
00:27:45,635 --> 00:27:48,604
it has "sweetness
without dimension."
556
00:27:48,604 --> 00:27:50,706
The problem is, it's boring,
557
00:27:50,706 --> 00:27:53,709
sweetness --
if that's all you get.
558
00:27:53,709 --> 00:27:56,612
McDormand: In Lebanon,
New Hampshire,
559
00:27:56,612 --> 00:27:59,682
one grower is trying to solve
that problem
560
00:27:59,682 --> 00:28:02,585
by reaching back
into the apple's past.
561
00:28:02,585 --> 00:28:05,621
Stephen wood is the owner of
poverty Lane orchards.
562
00:28:05,621 --> 00:28:08,658
He used to grow mostly
standard varieties,
563
00:28:08,658 --> 00:28:12,728
like macs and cortlands --
but found he couldn't match
the prices
564
00:28:12,728 --> 00:28:14,697
of the big commercial growers.
565
00:28:14,697 --> 00:28:16,766
Wood: We realized
in the late '50s
566
00:28:16,766 --> 00:28:19,769
that what we'd always done
wasn't going to work
any longer,
567
00:28:19,769 --> 00:28:22,672
and that we either had to change
quite dramatically
568
00:28:22,672 --> 00:28:26,609
what we were doing, or stop
growing apples altogether.
569
00:28:26,609 --> 00:28:27,677
McDormand: But for wood,
570
00:28:27,677 --> 00:28:30,780
giving up on his orchard
seemed inconceivable.
571
00:28:30,780 --> 00:28:35,718
You know, some people adore
antique clocks,
572
00:28:35,718 --> 00:28:40,690
I adore apple trees.
573
00:28:40,823 --> 00:28:44,760
How are we doing on water core?
574
00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:46,629
We started some grafting trials
575
00:28:46,629 --> 00:28:50,533
of what I guess you could call
"antique" varieties --
576
00:28:50,533 --> 00:28:52,768
varieties that are not
commonly grown anymore,
577
00:28:52,768 --> 00:28:55,605
but once were.
578
00:28:55,605 --> 00:28:56,606
This is Wickson.
579
00:28:56,606 --> 00:28:59,742
This apple originated
in the pacific northwest
580
00:28:59,742 --> 00:29:01,677
in the late 19th century.
581
00:29:01,677 --> 00:29:04,614
[ Crunch ]
582
00:29:04,614 --> 00:29:06,816
It's got a beautiful acidity.
583
00:29:06,816 --> 00:29:11,587
This is pomme grise.
584
00:29:11,587 --> 00:29:14,624
It has very low acid,
high sugar,
585
00:29:14,624 --> 00:29:17,793
and a sort of...
A sort of nutty flavor.
586
00:29:17,793 --> 00:29:22,765
This apple is
calville blanc d'hiver.
587
00:29:22,765 --> 00:29:25,835
It's got a little bit of
sweetness behind the acid.
588
00:29:25,835 --> 00:29:29,705
You look at 17th-century
French still-lifes,
589
00:29:29,705 --> 00:29:30,806
this is the apple you see
590
00:29:30,806 --> 00:29:34,610
beside the dead pheasant
and the bottle of wine.
591
00:29:34,610 --> 00:29:37,780
There's a huge number of
apple varieties --
592
00:29:37,780 --> 00:29:42,585
it's almost infinite.
593
00:29:42,585 --> 00:29:44,654
McDormand: But it's tough to
make a living
594
00:29:44,654 --> 00:29:46,622
selling only
antique eating apples.
595
00:29:46,622 --> 00:29:47,823
So wood turned his attention to
596
00:29:47,823 --> 00:29:50,626
another lost chapter
in apple history --
597
00:29:50,626 --> 00:29:53,763
most of his orchard
is now producing apples...
598
00:29:53,763 --> 00:29:54,864
For hard cider.
599
00:29:54,864 --> 00:29:57,800
Wood: It is a gamble to plant
600
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,771
acres and acres
of inedible apples...
601
00:30:01,771 --> 00:30:04,807
Many of the best cider apples
are disgusting --
602
00:30:04,807 --> 00:30:09,779
bitter, astringent apples.
The decision to plant
603
00:30:10,613 --> 00:30:10,846
not just a few trees,
604
00:30:10,846 --> 00:30:13,616
but thousands and thousands
of those trees,
605
00:30:13,616 --> 00:30:17,853
could be quite a good joke
if the cider doesn't make it,
606
00:30:17,853 --> 00:30:20,823
because these apples are not
going to wind up
607
00:30:20,823 --> 00:30:21,757
in a kid's lunch box --
608
00:30:21,757 --> 00:30:24,794
there's no secondary market
for this stuff.
609
00:30:24,794 --> 00:30:29,765
[ Pop ]
610
00:30:33,869 --> 00:30:38,841
Wonderful breakfast drink.
We are trying,
with a few other colleagues,
611
00:30:40,743 --> 00:30:45,715
basically to create a category
in the U.S. wine trade
612
00:30:46,816 --> 00:30:48,651
of "fine ciders."
613
00:30:48,651 --> 00:30:51,787
I think we're doing
quite well in that,
614
00:30:51,787 --> 00:30:55,891
but the jury is still out.
[ Crunch ]
615
00:30:55,891 --> 00:30:57,960
Pollan:
There are a lot of fruits
616
00:30:57,960 --> 00:30:59,762
that have gotten ahead in life
617
00:30:59,762 --> 00:31:02,832
by being sweet
and gratifying the sweet tooth
618
00:31:02,832 --> 00:31:03,833
of mammals like us,
619
00:31:03,833 --> 00:31:05,801
but there's something
about the apple,
620
00:31:05,801 --> 00:31:08,804
you know -- it's so iconic
in western civilization,
621
00:31:08,804 --> 00:31:10,906
and so enduring
in its relationship,
622
00:31:10,906 --> 00:31:15,778
and its ability, really, to
gratify our changing desires --
623
00:31:15,778 --> 00:31:18,914
for alcohol, and for
a wonderfully sweet food --
624
00:31:18,914 --> 00:31:23,886
that my guess is, it will
succeed for many years to come.
625
00:31:46,876 --> 00:31:48,744
Pollan: The mystery is,
626
00:31:48,744 --> 00:31:53,716
why things that
bees regard as beautiful,
627
00:31:53,883 --> 00:31:54,950
we also regard as beautiful --
628
00:31:54,950 --> 00:31:58,921
I mean, what are the odds that
we would have the same taste
629
00:31:58,921 --> 00:32:01,891
as this little bug?
630
00:32:01,891 --> 00:32:04,760
When I say the bee has a concept
of beauty,
631
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:05,861
I mean, I'm being metaphorical.
632
00:32:05,861 --> 00:32:10,833
But the bee and ourselves
have a lot in common.
633
00:32:10,966 --> 00:32:13,903
We really like symmetry,
634
00:32:13,903 --> 00:32:15,037
we like certain patterns
635
00:32:15,037 --> 00:32:20,009
of color, and certain scents --
we agree about scent, as well.
636
00:32:20,776 --> 00:32:23,012
The bee loves this flower
and moves toward it,
637
00:32:23,012 --> 00:32:25,915
and this flower has evolved
to attract it.
638
00:32:25,915 --> 00:32:30,886
Well, this plant has also
evolved to attract us.
639
00:32:32,988 --> 00:32:35,925
To the extent that
a flower can gratify
640
00:32:35,925 --> 00:32:38,027
our ideas of a beautiful color,
641
00:32:38,027 --> 00:32:41,831
a beautiful shape,
a beautiful smell,
642
00:32:41,831 --> 00:32:43,899
it will dominate the landscape,
643
00:32:43,899 --> 00:32:45,901
dominate the flower industry,
644
00:32:45,901 --> 00:32:48,804
get many more copies
of itself made,
645
00:32:48,804 --> 00:32:49,872
and take over the world.
646
00:32:49,872 --> 00:32:54,844
McDormand: And few flowers
have traveled the road from
obscurity to fame
647
00:32:55,811 --> 00:33:00,783
more spectacularly than
the tulip.
648
00:33:05,788 --> 00:33:06,956
Man: 59 years ago,
649
00:33:06,956 --> 00:33:09,925
I saw first tulip in my life.
650
00:33:09,925 --> 00:33:14,897
And that was in the garden
of my father.
651
00:33:16,098 --> 00:33:21,070
And now my whole life
is with tulips.
652
00:33:21,070 --> 00:33:24,807
McDormand: Nobody knows tulips
better than the Dutch --
653
00:33:24,807 --> 00:33:28,878
and few Dutchmen know them
better than Joop Zonneveld,
654
00:33:28,878 --> 00:33:33,048
but he has a curious way of
describing their effect on him.
655
00:33:33,048 --> 00:33:37,953
Zonneveld: You look after every
tulip, step by step,
656
00:33:37,953 --> 00:33:42,925
you get the tulip fever --
it becomes worse, worse,
and worse.
657
00:33:44,860 --> 00:33:49,832
For me, it was something,
it's in me, it never stops.
658
00:33:50,866 --> 00:33:54,904
McDormand: Zonneveld's been
a tulip buyer, a salesman,
659
00:33:54,904 --> 00:33:55,838
and now he's conservator
660
00:33:55,838 --> 00:33:59,041
of one of the most famous
tulip gardens in the world --
661
00:33:59,041 --> 00:34:01,944
hortus bulborum
in the Netherlands,
662
00:34:01,944 --> 00:34:04,947
a showplace for
the remarkable diversity
663
00:34:04,947 --> 00:34:09,919
of this sometimes
underappreciated flower.
664
00:34:19,061 --> 00:34:24,033
Zonneveld: In this garden,
we have 2,300 varieties.
665
00:34:26,835 --> 00:34:28,904
You have dark purple colors,
666
00:34:28,904 --> 00:34:30,906
you have almost black tulips,
667
00:34:30,906 --> 00:34:32,875
you have Lily flowering tulips,
668
00:34:32,875 --> 00:34:35,945
there's a tulip
that has the shape like this,
669
00:34:35,945 --> 00:34:36,979
like a Lily flower.
670
00:34:36,979 --> 00:34:40,015
You have yellow, red,
671
00:34:40,015 --> 00:34:43,052
pink, orange, bicolored,
672
00:34:43,052 --> 00:34:47,122
single earlies,
single late, double late --
673
00:34:47,122 --> 00:34:52,027
so there are so many things
in the tulips
674
00:34:52,027 --> 00:34:53,896
that once you start,
675
00:34:53,896 --> 00:34:58,867
you discover every day --
even myself, I discover
676
00:34:59,902 --> 00:35:01,904
every day new things.
677
00:35:01,904 --> 00:35:04,106
McDormand: Today, zonneveld is
giving a tour
678
00:35:04,106 --> 00:35:08,877
to photographer Ruth Dundas
and writer Justin spring --
679
00:35:08,877 --> 00:35:09,912
two Americans who have
680
00:35:09,912 --> 00:35:12,014
come to hortus to gather
material for a new book.
681
00:35:12,014 --> 00:35:15,017
This is a lovely vlridiflora.
682
00:35:15,017 --> 00:35:18,887
Tulips are about the last
subject they thought
683
00:35:18,887 --> 00:35:21,991
would ever capture
their interest.
684
00:35:21,991 --> 00:35:23,125
Dundas: I have to say, honestly,
685
00:35:23,125 --> 00:35:25,027
that when I first started
to photograph,
686
00:35:25,027 --> 00:35:29,064
the last thing I wanted to
photograph was tulips.
687
00:35:29,064 --> 00:35:30,099
It's pretty boring,
688
00:35:30,099 --> 00:35:31,900
it's a lollipop
on top of a stick,
689
00:35:31,900 --> 00:35:33,969
you know, you get
different colors, but that's it.
690
00:35:33,969 --> 00:35:36,205
It's only once
you come to gardens
691
00:35:36,205 --> 00:35:38,941
such as the hortus bulborum here
692
00:35:38,941 --> 00:35:39,942
that you start to understand
693
00:35:39,942 --> 00:35:41,944
that this is
a very varied flower,
694
00:35:41,944 --> 00:35:44,113
and it's adapted and mutated
695
00:35:44,113 --> 00:35:48,951
into many different forms.
It's a lot of fun
to photograph,
696
00:35:48,951 --> 00:35:52,121
that there's
a constant challenge
697
00:35:52,121 --> 00:35:54,056
to look into this flower
698
00:35:54,056 --> 00:35:58,093
and be able to see new color,
new light.
699
00:35:58,093 --> 00:35:59,995
You can take a bouquet of tulips
700
00:35:59,995 --> 00:36:02,131
and photograph it
every hour of the day.
701
00:36:02,131 --> 00:36:05,034
And it's something quite
different each time.
702
00:36:05,034 --> 00:36:06,068
[ Shutter clicks ]
703
00:36:06,068 --> 00:36:08,937
Perfect, gorgeous.
704
00:36:08,937 --> 00:36:11,073
It just seems so amazing
that you have
705
00:36:11,073 --> 00:36:13,976
this extraordinary variety
that's been cultivated
706
00:36:13,976 --> 00:36:16,111
over centuries,
and somehow you grew up
707
00:36:16,111 --> 00:36:17,179
not knowing a thing about it.
708
00:36:17,179 --> 00:36:21,050
McDormand: Flowers began
flaunting their beauty
709
00:36:21,050 --> 00:36:22,985
long before there were people.
710
00:36:22,985 --> 00:36:25,120
It was more than
100 million years ago
711
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,157
when the class of plants
that flowers belong to --
712
00:36:28,157 --> 00:36:33,128
the angiosperms --
first appeared on the earth.
713
00:36:33,996 --> 00:36:37,132
Pollan: The great revolution in
natural history
714
00:36:37,132 --> 00:36:38,200
is the rise of the angiosperms.
715
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:43,172
This is the class of plants
that makes conspicuous flowers,
716
00:36:44,173 --> 00:36:45,974
forms fruit and seed.
717
00:36:45,974 --> 00:36:50,946
This was a new way of doing
business in nature.
718
00:36:52,081 --> 00:36:54,216
McDormand: The flower of
an angiosperm
719
00:36:54,216 --> 00:36:58,120
has a male part, the stamen,
which produces pollen.
720
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:01,256
Whether transported by wind,
bees, or humans,
721
00:37:01,256 --> 00:37:05,194
when pollen lands on
the flower's female part,
722
00:37:05,194 --> 00:37:08,030
the pistil, it gets fertilized,
723
00:37:08,030 --> 00:37:09,231
and gives rise to seeds.
724
00:37:09,231 --> 00:37:12,000
The seeds contain a mix of genes
725
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,169
from both the mother
and the father.
726
00:37:14,169 --> 00:37:18,140
Before that, you had this
greener, sleepier world
727
00:37:18,140 --> 00:37:20,175
where things reproduce
usually by cloning,
728
00:37:20,175 --> 00:37:24,113
by spores that were genetically
identical to their parents.
729
00:37:24,113 --> 00:37:26,248
Evolution proceeded in a kind of
pokey pace,
730
00:37:26,248 --> 00:37:31,253
because you didn't have
as much variation.
731
00:37:31,253 --> 00:37:35,090
And then you have this
incredible explosion
732
00:37:35,090 --> 00:37:38,026
of diversity that happens
with this new strategy.
733
00:37:38,026 --> 00:37:40,195
[ Bee buzzing ]
734
00:37:40,195 --> 00:37:43,031
It was incredibly
successful strategy.
735
00:37:43,031 --> 00:37:45,200
It allowed you
to move your genes around,
736
00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:48,237
it allowed you to evolve
much quicker,
737
00:37:48,237 --> 00:37:50,272
because sex creates variation.
738
00:37:50,272 --> 00:37:53,175
And the more new combinations
you try,
739
00:37:53,175 --> 00:37:56,044
the quicker you can adapt to
whatever the environment is.
740
00:37:56,044 --> 00:37:59,281
And one particular group
of these angiosperms
741
00:37:59,281 --> 00:38:04,219
came up with a really, really
clever strategy --
742
00:38:04,219 --> 00:38:05,254
and that was
743
00:38:05,254 --> 00:38:08,090
to appeal not to, you know,
744
00:38:08,090 --> 00:38:10,125
bugs or birds or bees,
745
00:38:10,125 --> 00:38:11,093
but appeal to us.
746
00:38:11,093 --> 00:38:14,329
McDormand: The first
wild tulips, scientists think,
747
00:38:14,329 --> 00:38:19,301
sprang up in the same place
where the apple originated --
748
00:38:19,301 --> 00:38:23,305
the mountains of Central Asia.
749
00:38:23,305 --> 00:38:28,143
Pollan: It was typically kind of
more open than our tulip,
750
00:38:28,143 --> 00:38:31,213
so it had a kind of
hour glassy shape.
751
00:38:31,213 --> 00:38:32,214
Often had a scent,
752
00:38:32,214 --> 00:38:36,318
often had a slightly different
color inside.
753
00:38:36,318 --> 00:38:38,120
[ Horse neighs ]
754
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:41,323
McDormand: Drawn by the beauty
of these wild flowers,
755
00:38:41,323 --> 00:38:43,325
people learned
how to cultivate them.
756
00:38:43,325 --> 00:38:46,328
Pollan: Under our attention,
the flower got bigger,
757
00:38:46,328 --> 00:38:49,331
the colors very often
got brighter,
758
00:38:49,331 --> 00:38:54,303
and then we started
experimenting with variation.
759
00:39:00,108 --> 00:39:01,310
McDormand: From Central Asia,
760
00:39:01,310 --> 00:39:04,079
the tulip made its way
to Turkey.
761
00:39:04,079 --> 00:39:06,181
It was there that
this beautiful flower
762
00:39:06,181 --> 00:39:10,085
bewitched one of the most
powerful men in the world,
763
00:39:10,085 --> 00:39:12,120
the sultan
of the ottoman empire.
764
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:16,258
Pollan: The Turks
at various times in history
765
00:39:16,258 --> 00:39:17,326
revered tulips.
766
00:39:17,326 --> 00:39:21,096
Sultan Ahmed III was famous
767
00:39:21,096 --> 00:39:23,131
for his love of tulips,
768
00:39:23,131 --> 00:39:26,301
and when they were in bloom
every year,
769
00:39:26,301 --> 00:39:27,336
there was a festival.
770
00:39:27,336 --> 00:39:32,207
Every night there would be
some sort of performance
771
00:39:32,207 --> 00:39:33,342
to celebrate tulips.
772
00:39:33,342 --> 00:39:35,377
It was so extravagant, in fact,
773
00:39:35,377 --> 00:39:38,113
that this helped bring down
the sultan.
774
00:39:38,113 --> 00:39:41,316
McDormand:
For his spending on tulips
775
00:39:41,316 --> 00:39:44,119
and other perceived failings,
776
00:39:44,119 --> 00:39:47,389
the sultan was toppled
from his throne.
777
00:39:47,389 --> 00:39:52,261
But it wasn't only royalty
that got seduced
by the tulip.
778
00:39:52,261 --> 00:39:57,232
In the early 17th century,
the flower caused a whole
country to go mad.
779
00:39:58,367 --> 00:40:01,403
It was completely irrational.
780
00:40:01,403 --> 00:40:04,206
And I don't think
you can explain it
781
00:40:04,206 --> 00:40:05,374
according to any logical scheme
782
00:40:05,374 --> 00:40:10,345
that this entire society
went nuts.
783
00:40:11,179 --> 00:40:13,248
McDormand:
Between 1634 and 1637,
784
00:40:13,248 --> 00:40:17,185
tulips swept the Dutch
into a collective frenzy
785
00:40:17,185 --> 00:40:20,322
that has become known as
"tulip mania."
786
00:40:20,322 --> 00:40:21,290
Their passion for the flower
787
00:40:21,290 --> 00:40:25,227
spurred one of the biggest
investment bubbles in history,
788
00:40:25,227 --> 00:40:26,194
and for a brief time,
789
00:40:26,194 --> 00:40:29,264
made the tulip one of
the most valuable commodities
790
00:40:29,264 --> 00:40:30,299
in the world.
791
00:40:30,299 --> 00:40:33,168
Pollan: It was a pure financial
792
00:40:33,168 --> 00:40:33,435
speculative bubble --
793
00:40:33,435 --> 00:40:36,471
and it was about a flower!
I mean, how amazing is that?
794
00:40:36,471 --> 00:40:41,443
McDormand: It was a time when
the Dutch dominated world trade.
795
00:40:42,210 --> 00:40:45,280
And a lot of them
were getting rich.
796
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:49,217
It became fashionable
to grow flower gardens --
797
00:40:49,217 --> 00:40:52,421
and nothing said "success"
like a tulip.
798
00:40:52,421 --> 00:40:54,356
Zonneveld: In the beginning,
799
00:40:54,356 --> 00:40:56,358
the rich people in Holland,
800
00:40:56,358 --> 00:40:57,392
they have big houses,
801
00:40:57,392 --> 00:41:00,362
and they want to show
they're wealthy.
802
00:41:00,362 --> 00:41:05,300
At that time, were tulips.
803
00:41:05,300 --> 00:41:08,437
Pollan: It really was about
the display of
804
00:41:08,437 --> 00:41:10,339
the extraordinary, the gem.
805
00:41:10,339 --> 00:41:15,310
And you picture, you know,
kind of a gray, cloudy,
806
00:41:15,477 --> 00:41:17,479
Dutch spring afternoon,
807
00:41:17,479 --> 00:41:20,482
and that color against
that steel sky
808
00:41:20,482 --> 00:41:21,450
is a powerful thing.
809
00:41:21,450 --> 00:41:25,287
McDormand: For the tulip,
the Dutch flower gardens
810
00:41:25,287 --> 00:41:27,489
offered a chance
to strut its stuff --
811
00:41:27,489 --> 00:41:30,392
and no tulips did so
more dramatically
812
00:41:30,392 --> 00:41:33,362
than the type known as
broken tulips.
813
00:41:33,362 --> 00:41:35,330
They were extremely rare,
814
00:41:35,330 --> 00:41:38,333
but, back then, no one knew why.
815
00:41:38,333 --> 00:41:39,434
Pollan: A break was when
816
00:41:39,434 --> 00:41:42,437
the background color,
the solid, matte,
817
00:41:42,437 --> 00:41:44,373
saturated color of a tulip
818
00:41:44,373 --> 00:41:46,508
gets a kind of flame
of a second color
819
00:41:46,508 --> 00:41:47,476
and when this happened,
820
00:41:47,476 --> 00:41:51,380
this was considered, you know,
the most beautiful tulip.
821
00:41:51,380 --> 00:41:55,417
McDormand: The most prized of
all the broken tulips
822
00:41:55,417 --> 00:42:00,389
was one of the rarest --
the Semper Augustus.
823
00:42:02,391 --> 00:42:04,393
Pollan: It was a big,
white tulip
824
00:42:04,393 --> 00:42:06,428
with a splash of carmine red
on it,
825
00:42:06,428 --> 00:42:09,297
which was really,
by general account,
826
00:42:09,297 --> 00:42:14,269
considered the greatest tulip
ever found.
827
00:42:15,537 --> 00:42:18,306
This was the epitome
of tulip beauty
828
00:42:18,306 --> 00:42:19,374
in the eye of the Dutch.
829
00:42:19,374 --> 00:42:22,377
McDormand: If you wanted
a Semper Augustus
830
00:42:22,377 --> 00:42:23,311
to bloom in your garden,
831
00:42:23,311 --> 00:42:26,415
you'd need to get your hands on
a Semper Augustus bulb.
832
00:42:26,415 --> 00:42:30,318
That's the part of the tulip
that lives beneath the soil --
833
00:42:30,318 --> 00:42:32,454
and planting a bulb
is the only way
834
00:42:32,454 --> 00:42:34,322
to make sure a tulip offspring
835
00:42:34,322 --> 00:42:36,391
will look the same as its parent.
836
00:42:36,391 --> 00:42:38,393
But in 17th-century Holland,
837
00:42:38,393 --> 00:42:43,365
Semper Augustus bulbs
were very scarce.
838
00:42:43,532 --> 00:42:47,502
Man: At that time,
only one merchant in Amsterdam
839
00:42:47,502 --> 00:42:52,541
had examples of this bulb.
Eventually one man prevailed
upon him to sell a single bulb,
840
00:42:52,541 --> 00:42:56,378
which was valued at the time
at 10,000 florins.
841
00:42:56,378 --> 00:42:58,580
This was at a time when
the average Dutch worker
842
00:42:58,580 --> 00:43:02,350
would survive with his family
for a year on about 300.
843
00:43:02,350 --> 00:43:05,554
And the fact that such sales
were being made
844
00:43:05,554 --> 00:43:08,523
and for such colossal sums
of money
845
00:43:08,523 --> 00:43:11,426
gradually became
more widely known,
846
00:43:11,426 --> 00:43:13,462
and this really was
the foundation stone
847
00:43:13,462 --> 00:43:14,496
of what became the tulip mania.
848
00:43:14,496 --> 00:43:18,500
Pollan: At the height
of the tulip mania,
849
00:43:18,500 --> 00:43:23,572
one tulip sold for an amount
equivalent to the price
850
00:43:23,572 --> 00:43:28,543
of one of the grandest
canal houses in Amsterdam.
851
00:43:28,543 --> 00:43:31,513
Now, just to put it
in contemporary terms,
852
00:43:31,513 --> 00:43:35,550
this is equivalent to, say,
a townhouse on 5th Avenue.
853
00:43:35,550 --> 00:43:40,522
$10 million to $15 million
for a single tulip bulb.
854
00:43:46,394 --> 00:43:51,433
McDormand: The tulip bulb market
hit its peak in February 1637.
855
00:43:51,433 --> 00:43:54,503
There were
40 million guilders' worth
856
00:43:54,503 --> 00:43:56,404
of tulip deals outstanding,
857
00:43:56,404 --> 00:43:59,608
more than six times
the total amount of money
858
00:43:59,608 --> 00:44:00,642
there was in circulation.
859
00:44:00,642 --> 00:44:05,580
Pollan: There was an auction
held in the winter of 1637,
860
00:44:05,580 --> 00:44:10,552
and some great tulip was put on
the market at a certain price.
861
00:44:11,586 --> 00:44:13,555
And it didn't get that price.
862
00:44:13,555 --> 00:44:17,425
And the auctioneer offered
1,000 guilders less,
863
00:44:17,425 --> 00:44:19,427
1,000 guilders below that,
864
00:44:19,427 --> 00:44:24,399
and nobody bid.
865
00:44:28,470 --> 00:44:31,406
Woman: The flowers were
very overvalued.
866
00:44:31,406 --> 00:44:32,541
People were risking fortunes,
867
00:44:32,541 --> 00:44:37,512
and of course the whole thing
came crashing down at once.
868
00:44:40,615 --> 00:44:43,618
Pollan: And, so
very soon after that,
869
00:44:43,618 --> 00:44:46,388
all these tulips were worthless,
870
00:44:46,388 --> 00:44:48,490
and all these people
were ruined.
871
00:44:48,490 --> 00:44:52,460
They had put there fortunes
in these flowers,
872
00:44:52,460 --> 00:44:54,529
and now they were worthless --
873
00:44:54,529 --> 00:44:56,531
they were just bulbs of plants.
874
00:44:56,531 --> 00:45:01,503
And that was the end
of the tulip mania.
875
00:45:01,636 --> 00:45:06,408
McDormand: Suddenly, the flower
that was loved for its beauty
876
00:45:06,408 --> 00:45:08,510
became a symbol of human folly.
877
00:45:08,510 --> 00:45:10,445
Pollan: There was a period of
878
00:45:10,445 --> 00:45:13,582
tulip hatred in Holland
after the collapse,
879
00:45:13,582 --> 00:45:17,652
because it was blamed for
this economic disaster.
880
00:45:17,652 --> 00:45:20,455
There was a famous professor
in Leiden
881
00:45:20,455 --> 00:45:23,525
who'd run around with a stick
beating tulips
882
00:45:23,525 --> 00:45:24,492
and destroying them,
883
00:45:24,492 --> 00:45:27,529
and there were all these
pamphlets and broadsides
884
00:45:27,529 --> 00:45:29,598
about the evils
of the tulip mania
885
00:45:29,598 --> 00:45:31,633
and the great
whore goddess flora
886
00:45:31,633 --> 00:45:34,469
who was blamed for
bringing the Dutch down,
887
00:45:34,469 --> 00:45:37,639
as if, you know, it was
the flower that did it to them.
888
00:45:37,639 --> 00:45:40,475
It's an extraordinary
historical episode,
889
00:45:40,475 --> 00:45:42,644
and we look back and we
look down, and we say,
890
00:45:42,644 --> 00:45:46,448
"how could they do this?"
But of course we've been through
891
00:45:46,448 --> 00:45:46,715
our own speculative bubbles,
892
00:45:46,715 --> 00:45:49,517
and it doesn't really matter
what you're trading --
893
00:45:49,517 --> 00:45:52,654
as long as the price is going up
really fast, everybody wants in.
894
00:45:52,654 --> 00:45:55,690
And as long as
there's a greater fool,
895
00:45:55,690 --> 00:45:58,493
a lot of money can be made.
896
00:45:58,493 --> 00:45:59,527
You just don't want to be left
897
00:45:59,527 --> 00:46:01,563
holding the bag or the bulb
at the end of it.
898
00:46:01,563 --> 00:46:03,765
McDormand: What none of
the ruined investors
899
00:46:03,765 --> 00:46:07,636
could possibly have known
was that the breaks in color
900
00:46:07,636 --> 00:46:09,704
they saw as
the epitome of beauty
901
00:46:09,704 --> 00:46:12,540
were actually caused by a virus.
902
00:46:12,540 --> 00:46:14,476
The tulip bulbs that sold for
903
00:46:14,476 --> 00:46:16,678
the price of
5th Avenue townhouses
904
00:46:16,678 --> 00:46:18,713
turned out to be damaged goods.
905
00:46:18,713 --> 00:46:20,615
Stewart: Well, this is something
906
00:46:20,615 --> 00:46:22,684
that nobody understood
at the time --
907
00:46:22,684 --> 00:46:25,620
I mean, no one in the 1600s
and the 1700s
908
00:46:25,620 --> 00:46:27,589
had any notion of
plant diseases,
909
00:46:27,589 --> 00:46:29,758
or any idea that the variation
in a flower
910
00:46:29,758 --> 00:46:34,729
could be caused by something
like a disease.
911
00:46:35,563 --> 00:46:36,765
McDormand: Today,
viruses like the one
912
00:46:36,765 --> 00:46:39,734
that once drove the tulip's
value to record heights
913
00:46:39,734 --> 00:46:41,770
are the enemy of
the global tulip trade,
914
00:46:41,770 --> 00:46:45,540
because infected bulbs
cannot be exported.
915
00:46:45,540 --> 00:46:49,744
So plant physiologists
like Henk Gude are working hard
916
00:46:49,744 --> 00:46:51,546
to combat them.
917
00:46:51,546 --> 00:46:54,816
Gude: A tulip that is infected
with a virus
918
00:46:54,816 --> 00:46:56,618
is not a healthy tulip --
919
00:46:56,618 --> 00:46:59,654
it costs lots of energy
for the plant
920
00:46:59,654 --> 00:47:01,623
to cope with the virus.
921
00:47:01,623 --> 00:47:05,660
And if you replant the bulb
year after year,
922
00:47:05,660 --> 00:47:09,698
then its growing potential will
decline over the years.
923
00:47:09,698 --> 00:47:13,802
So, in a few years, you will not
have a tulip left.
924
00:47:13,802 --> 00:47:16,638
McDormand: Gude works for
925
00:47:16,638 --> 00:47:18,707
the applied plant
research center
926
00:47:18,707 --> 00:47:21,776
at Wageningen university
in the Netherlands.
927
00:47:21,776 --> 00:47:23,645
Gude: To find out if a plant is
928
00:47:23,645 --> 00:47:27,682
infected by a virus,
we have to homogenize it,
929
00:47:27,682 --> 00:47:29,684
to squeeze juice from it,
930
00:47:29,684 --> 00:47:31,820
and we can detect the presence
931
00:47:31,820 --> 00:47:34,622
of the virus in the juice
932
00:47:34,622 --> 00:47:37,726
with lab techniques.
933
00:47:37,726 --> 00:47:41,629
When we understand
how the plant grows,
934
00:47:41,629 --> 00:47:44,566
we can try to make the plant do
935
00:47:44,566 --> 00:47:46,701
what we want it to do --
936
00:47:46,701 --> 00:47:48,636
and immediately apply it
937
00:47:48,636 --> 00:47:52,707
for the benefit of growers
and breeders and exporters.
938
00:47:52,707 --> 00:47:55,777
McDormand: One of these people
is Jan Ligthart,
939
00:47:55,777 --> 00:47:58,847
who has been growing tulips
for more than 30 years
940
00:47:58,847 --> 00:48:02,817
and has become one of Holland's
most successful breeders.
941
00:48:02,817 --> 00:48:07,622
Ligthart: What you see
from here to there
942
00:48:07,622 --> 00:48:08,823
is all new seedlings.
943
00:48:08,823 --> 00:48:13,762
This is the first time
I see them flowering.
944
00:48:13,762 --> 00:48:16,731
I wanted to be a carpenter,
945
00:48:16,731 --> 00:48:21,636
just like my father,
working with wood.
946
00:48:21,636 --> 00:48:25,640
And when I saw the tulips,
I was astonished.
947
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:28,810
I said, "ah! That's what
I want to be!"
948
00:48:28,810 --> 00:48:30,612
Tulip gardener.
949
00:48:30,612 --> 00:48:34,716
McDormand: Ligthart's first step
in breeding a new variety
950
00:48:34,716 --> 00:48:36,851
is to act like
a human Bumblebee,
951
00:48:36,851 --> 00:48:41,823
moving pollen
from one place to another.
952
00:48:42,624 --> 00:48:46,694
Ligthart: The process
is quite simple.
953
00:48:46,694 --> 00:48:48,863
We use one tulip as the father
954
00:48:48,863 --> 00:48:52,834
and the other just like
the mother.
955
00:48:52,834 --> 00:48:55,670
And we make pollination.
956
00:48:55,670 --> 00:48:57,839
Pollan: The breeders
of tulips today
957
00:48:57,839 --> 00:49:00,708
are interested
in new combinations.
958
00:49:00,708 --> 00:49:01,910
They're sex crazy, right?
959
00:49:01,910 --> 00:49:05,680
They're operating these,
you know, plant brothels.
960
00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,783
And out of that comes
a great deal of variation.
961
00:49:08,783 --> 00:49:13,755
And out of that variation
is the future of the species.
962
00:49:13,755 --> 00:49:16,825
McDormand: Dabbing the pollen
takes just a few seconds.
963
00:49:16,825 --> 00:49:19,694
But it can take years
before ligthart can be sure
964
00:49:19,694 --> 00:49:22,764
that his new variety will
consistently produce flowers
965
00:49:22,764 --> 00:49:23,965
with the qualities
the market demands --
966
00:49:23,965 --> 00:49:28,937
like durability,
disease resistance, and beauty.
967
00:49:28,937 --> 00:49:30,805
That's enough.
968
00:49:30,805 --> 00:49:33,908
Ligthart: One
of the thousand seedlings
969
00:49:33,908 --> 00:49:35,844
are what I want.
970
00:49:35,844 --> 00:49:40,815
The rest is not good enough.
971
00:49:40,815 --> 00:49:42,851
That's the hardest part.
972
00:49:42,851 --> 00:49:44,719
You have to look out
973
00:49:44,719 --> 00:49:46,955
for the first, the only good one.
974
00:49:46,955 --> 00:49:50,859
McDormand: This year,
ligthart is pinning his hopes
975
00:49:50,859 --> 00:49:55,830
on the bulbs from one of his
latest breeding experiments.
976
00:49:58,833 --> 00:50:01,903
This tulip, that is my favorite.
977
00:50:01,903 --> 00:50:06,941
I give it a big future.
978
00:50:06,941 --> 00:50:09,844
Just the right color.
979
00:50:09,844 --> 00:50:10,945
Pure pink.
980
00:50:10,945 --> 00:50:12,747
This one I started
981
00:50:12,747 --> 00:50:17,719
nine years ago with seeds.
When I saw this tulip blooming
for the first time,
982
00:50:19,988 --> 00:50:23,958
in my seedlings,
I was just amazed.
983
00:50:23,958 --> 00:50:25,793
I sat there on my knees
984
00:50:25,793 --> 00:50:30,765
and looked at them
for a long time.
985
00:50:36,905 --> 00:50:39,974
Other tulips, you walk by
986
00:50:39,974 --> 00:50:43,745
and it doesn't venture to do
anything to you.
987
00:50:43,745 --> 00:50:47,982
And when you see this one,
your heart gets...
Ck-ck!
988
00:50:47,982 --> 00:50:52,020
This makes a difference.
989
00:50:52,020 --> 00:50:56,758
Each time I look at it...
990
00:50:56,758 --> 00:51:01,729
I fell in love on the tulip.
991
00:51:02,830 --> 00:51:05,867
[ Engine puttering ]
992
00:51:05,867 --> 00:51:09,904
McDormand: But ligthart's love
for his tulips doesn't stop him
993
00:51:09,904 --> 00:51:12,740
and his family from ripping
the flowers
994
00:51:12,740 --> 00:51:14,776
off their stalks every spring.
995
00:51:14,776 --> 00:51:14,976
If they didn't,
996
00:51:14,976 --> 00:51:18,846
the flowers would divert
nutrients from the bulbs,
997
00:51:18,846 --> 00:51:20,882
which, for a breeder
like ligthart,
998
00:51:20,882 --> 00:51:22,750
are what brings in the money.
999
00:51:22,750 --> 00:51:24,786
Ligthart: What I want to do
for a tulip
1000
00:51:24,786 --> 00:51:28,022
is to create a much bigger
market for the whole world.
1001
00:51:28,022 --> 00:51:31,993
Because a tulip must make money.
1002
00:51:31,993 --> 00:51:33,928
It's a business.
1003
00:51:33,928 --> 00:51:34,996
You can't have them for fun
1004
00:51:34,996 --> 00:51:39,968
because we have to make
a living.
1005
00:51:42,904 --> 00:51:44,806
McDormand: Ligthart's
best tulips
1006
00:51:44,806 --> 00:51:47,809
often get introduced to
the rest of the world here,
1007
00:51:47,809 --> 00:51:52,780
at the Keukenhof gardens
near Amsterdam.
1008
00:52:06,027 --> 00:52:07,962
Every spring,
half a million visitors
1009
00:52:07,962 --> 00:52:10,832
flock here to see the four
and a half million bulbs
1010
00:52:10,832 --> 00:52:15,803
that make it the largest
tulip garden in the world.
1011
00:52:22,877 --> 00:52:27,915
Pollan: The Dutch have mastered
the propagation of tulips.
1012
00:52:27,915 --> 00:52:29,050
And there are people in Holland
1013
00:52:29,050 --> 00:52:31,853
making great fortunes
off of tulips yet again.
1014
00:52:31,853 --> 00:52:36,824
It's not a bubble anymore,
it's a mature industry.
1015
00:52:37,959 --> 00:52:40,862
McDormand: And
a very lucrative one,
1016
00:52:40,862 --> 00:52:42,897
whose bustling
nerve center proves
1017
00:52:42,897 --> 00:52:44,999
just how hard we're willing
to work
1018
00:52:44,999 --> 00:52:49,971
to spread flowers
around the world.
1019
00:52:55,977 --> 00:53:00,114
One out of every three flowers
bought and sold in the world
1020
00:53:00,114 --> 00:53:04,118
passes through here.
1021
00:53:04,118 --> 00:53:09,123
This is the flower auction
in the Dutch town of Aalsmeer.
1022
00:53:09,123 --> 00:53:13,895
[ Bell ringing ]
1023
00:53:13,895 --> 00:53:16,030
Stewart: You're not allowed
on the auction floor,
1024
00:53:16,030 --> 00:53:19,967
because there are
a million carts zipping around
1025
00:53:19,967 --> 00:53:24,972
at alarmingly high speeds.
And it is like a sea
of flowers.
1026
00:53:24,972 --> 00:53:28,142
It's almost like watching paint
being mixed on a palette.
1027
00:53:28,142 --> 00:53:30,011
You know, you watch this line
1028
00:53:30,011 --> 00:53:32,013
of yellow sunflowers
snaking their way
1029
00:53:32,013 --> 00:53:35,083
through this ocean
of red tulips.
1030
00:53:35,083 --> 00:53:40,054
It's just dazzling in that way.
1031
00:53:40,922 --> 00:53:43,124
McDormand: The floor
of the flower auction covers
1032
00:53:43,124 --> 00:53:45,993
an area
bigger than 200 football fields,
1033
00:53:45,993 --> 00:53:50,965
making it one of the largest
buildings on the planet.
1034
00:53:52,133 --> 00:53:53,968
Some 19 million flowers
1035
00:53:53,968 --> 00:53:56,971
from all over the world
change hands here
1036
00:53:56,971 --> 00:53:59,073
every day.
1037
00:53:59,073 --> 00:54:02,076
It's an extraordinarily
complex system,
1038
00:54:02,076 --> 00:54:03,945
with a very simple purpose --
1039
00:54:03,945 --> 00:54:06,114
to move flowers from
the field to the home
1040
00:54:06,114 --> 00:54:10,184
as quickly as possible.
1041
00:54:10,184 --> 00:54:13,121
Woman: In flower business,
three things are very important,
1042
00:54:13,121 --> 00:54:17,058
and that's being fast,
being fast, and being fast,
1043
00:54:17,058 --> 00:54:20,194
because the flower that's
fresh today
1044
00:54:20,194 --> 00:54:23,965
will lose 15%
of its value tomorrow.
1045
00:54:23,965 --> 00:54:27,034
Stewart: The minute you cut it,
it starts to die.
1046
00:54:27,034 --> 00:54:32,106
There is this race on
to get it to market.
1047
00:54:32,106 --> 00:54:34,041
McDormand:
Once the deal is struck,
1048
00:54:34,041 --> 00:54:37,178
the perishable flowers are
rushed to the Amsterdam airport
1049
00:54:37,178 --> 00:54:41,949
and from there to flower shops
all over the world.
1050
00:54:41,949 --> 00:54:47,021
Stewart: This incessant,
unrelenting movement
1051
00:54:47,021 --> 00:54:49,023
of flowers and money
1052
00:54:49,023 --> 00:54:53,161
doesn't let up for a second.
1053
00:54:53,161 --> 00:54:54,262
McDormand: All for a product
1054
00:54:54,262 --> 00:54:58,232
that has absolutely
no practical value.
1055
00:54:58,232 --> 00:55:01,068
Pollan: Flowers
are exquisitely useless.
1056
00:55:01,068 --> 00:55:04,238
They're this great froth
or extravagance in our lives.
1057
00:55:04,238 --> 00:55:08,042
But that there is
a multi-billion-dollar trade
1058
00:55:08,042 --> 00:55:10,011
in these wonderfully useless,
1059
00:55:10,011 --> 00:55:14,982
beautiful things
is kind of great.
1060
00:55:22,290 --> 00:55:26,160
When you begin to look
at the plant's point of view,
1061
00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:29,096
I suppose the greatest threat
to your survival
1062
00:55:29,096 --> 00:55:31,132
is people losing interest
in you,
1063
00:55:31,132 --> 00:55:32,133
falling out of fashion.
1064
00:55:32,133 --> 00:55:35,036
You know,
the gillyflower or the pink --
1065
00:55:35,036 --> 00:55:36,270
these were important
Victorian flowers.
1066
00:55:36,270 --> 00:55:38,105
I don't even know
what they look like.
1067
00:55:38,105 --> 00:55:41,142
So the flower has to keep us
interested.
1068
00:55:41,142 --> 00:55:46,013
And one of the ways a flower
keeps us interested is changing.
1069
00:55:46,013 --> 00:55:47,048
The really ingenious ones
1070
00:55:47,048 --> 00:55:49,183
are the ones
that figure out ways
1071
00:55:49,183 --> 00:55:54,155
to reengage us every generation.
1072
00:56:04,232 --> 00:56:06,033
McDormand: In the plant world,
1073
00:56:06,033 --> 00:56:10,171
just like our own,
not everyone can be beautiful,
1074
00:56:10,171 --> 00:56:11,272
or sweet.
1075
00:56:11,272 --> 00:56:16,043
But even a lowly weed can get us
to work for it,
1076
00:56:16,043 --> 00:56:18,045
and quite slavishly, at that,
1077
00:56:18,045 --> 00:56:20,281
if it's clever enough
to cash in on a skill
1078
00:56:20,281 --> 00:56:22,250
that every plant is born with --
1079
00:56:22,250 --> 00:56:25,052
its ability to make chemicals.
1080
00:56:25,052 --> 00:56:27,054
Pollan: The genius
of plants
1081
00:56:27,054 --> 00:56:30,224
is really the arts
of biochemistry,
1082
00:56:30,224 --> 00:56:32,293
creating these really
interesting,
1083
00:56:32,293 --> 00:56:34,328
complicated, original molecules.
1084
00:56:34,328 --> 00:56:38,232
Some are designed
to produce flavors.
1085
00:56:38,232 --> 00:56:42,136
Others are designed
to produce great beauty.
1086
00:56:42,136 --> 00:56:46,107
And then you've got
this class of plants
1087
00:56:46,107 --> 00:56:49,143
that is producing
these molecules
1088
00:56:49,143 --> 00:56:51,279
that, incredibly, have the power
1089
00:56:51,279 --> 00:56:54,181
to alter what goes on
in the human mind.
1090
00:56:54,181 --> 00:56:58,319
McDormand: This plant,
by making just such a molecule,
1091
00:56:58,319 --> 00:57:02,223
has gotten us to spread it
all over the world.
1092
00:57:02,223 --> 00:57:04,292
Scientists call it cannabis.
1093
00:57:04,292 --> 00:57:07,094
It is better known as marijuana.
1094
00:57:07,094 --> 00:57:10,298
Pollan: Cannabis recognized,
metaphorically speaking,
1095
00:57:10,298 --> 00:57:13,334
that this was its path
to world domination.
1096
00:57:13,334 --> 00:57:17,138
Produce more of this molecule,
1097
00:57:17,138 --> 00:57:19,073
and there will be
more marijuana plants
1098
00:57:19,073 --> 00:57:21,242
given more habitat
by this creature who likes
1099
00:57:21,242 --> 00:57:23,344
what this molecule seems to do.
1100
00:57:23,344 --> 00:57:25,212
McDormand: And by trying
to figure out
1101
00:57:25,212 --> 00:57:27,214
just how that molecule works,
1102
00:57:27,214 --> 00:57:31,118
scientists stumbled
on an amazing discovery
1103
00:57:31,118 --> 00:57:33,220
about the workings
of our brains.
1104
00:57:33,220 --> 00:57:35,356
Pollan:
This plant has opened up
1105
00:57:35,356 --> 00:57:38,259
this very fruitful
path of inquiry
1106
00:57:38,259 --> 00:57:40,261
into understanding
how memory works,
1107
00:57:40,261 --> 00:57:42,363
how consciousness works,
how emotion works.
1108
00:57:42,363 --> 00:57:45,132
We have unlocked
this whole mechanism
1109
00:57:45,132 --> 00:57:46,167
which we didn't know existed --
1110
00:57:46,167 --> 00:57:50,104
and we would not know existed,
if not for this plant.
1111
00:57:50,104 --> 00:57:54,175
Man: Human beings are born
with an innate drive
1112
00:57:54,175 --> 00:57:59,146
to experience other states
of consciousness periodically.
1113
00:58:00,247 --> 00:58:03,184
I think you can see this
in young kids,
1114
00:58:03,184 --> 00:58:07,288
who begin spinning
at early ages.
1115
00:58:07,288 --> 00:58:08,289
[ Children giggling ]
1116
00:58:08,289 --> 00:58:12,326
Amusement park rides
serve the same purpose.
1117
00:58:12,326 --> 00:58:14,395
There's an endless stream
of activities
1118
00:58:14,395 --> 00:58:18,232
that can shift consciousness --
everything from singing,
1119
00:58:18,232 --> 00:58:20,368
dancing, having sex,
jumping out of airplanes.
1120
00:58:20,368 --> 00:58:25,206
And drugs are clearly one way
of getting these experiences.
1121
00:58:25,206 --> 00:58:30,177
Man: People like to have
that altered consciousness.
1122
00:58:30,411 --> 00:58:34,315
I'm not saying that's good,
but it's --
1123
00:58:34,315 --> 00:58:39,253
individuals seek it out.
1124
00:58:39,253 --> 00:58:41,322
Weil: Marijuana
seems to have made
1125
00:58:41,322 --> 00:58:44,291
an evolutionary decision
long ago that it was
1126
00:58:44,291 --> 00:58:47,361
going to throw its lot in
with human beings.
1127
00:58:47,361 --> 00:58:48,429
From the plant's point of view,
1128
00:58:48,429 --> 00:58:52,333
the psychoactivity is
an attractive characteristic
1129
00:58:52,333 --> 00:58:55,336
which has brought the plant
great success.
1130
00:58:55,336 --> 00:58:59,173
There's a lot more marijuana
being grown today,
1131
00:58:59,173 --> 00:59:01,442
and the reason is that
humans like it.
1132
00:59:01,442 --> 00:59:04,178
They like it
because it gets them high.
1133
00:59:04,178 --> 00:59:08,215
McDormand: But cannabis
can also get them
1134
00:59:08,215 --> 00:59:09,350
locked up.
1135
00:59:09,350 --> 00:59:10,317
Man:
There are about
1136
00:59:10,317 --> 00:59:15,322
750, 000 arrests a year
for cannabis possession.
1137
00:59:15,322 --> 00:59:18,426
Makes it about third
among all crimes.
1138
00:59:18,426 --> 00:59:21,262
And so you've got
25,000 or 30,000
1139
00:59:21,262 --> 00:59:24,398
people behind bars
at any one time
1140
00:59:24,398 --> 00:59:26,267
for cannabis offenses.
1141
00:59:26,267 --> 00:59:29,303
McDormand:
But marijuana still entices
1142
00:59:29,303 --> 00:59:31,472
nearly 15 million Americans
1143
00:59:31,472 --> 00:59:34,275
to smoke it every month.
1144
00:59:34,275 --> 00:59:38,312
And nearly 100 million
have tried it.
1145
00:59:38,312 --> 00:59:41,415
To keep up with that demand,
1146
00:59:41,415 --> 00:59:45,386
cannabis growers cater
to the plant's every whim...
1147
00:59:45,386 --> 00:59:48,222
Man: We're going to lose
that tap, aren't we?
1148
00:59:48,222 --> 00:59:51,292
McDormand: Pampering it
like a spoiled child.
1149
00:59:51,292 --> 00:59:52,226
Nice and healthy.
1150
00:59:52,226 --> 00:59:53,494
Man: We do anything
it tells us to.
1151
00:59:53,494 --> 00:59:56,297
If the plant says
it wants something,
1152
00:59:56,297 --> 00:59:58,365
we listen and we give it to it.
1153
00:59:58,365 --> 00:59:59,467
And that's the whole thing --
1154
00:59:59,467 --> 01:00:02,503
listening carefully --
and we're listening all the time
1155
01:00:02,503 --> 01:00:04,371
and observing all the time.
1156
01:00:04,371 --> 01:00:06,507
We work for them.
1157
01:00:06,507 --> 01:00:09,376
McDormand: This man and woman
live in a state
1158
01:00:09,376 --> 01:00:12,379
where growing marijuana
for medical use is legal.
1159
01:00:12,379 --> 01:00:14,515
We agreed to conceal
their identities,
1160
01:00:14,515 --> 01:00:19,286
because they still risk
prosecution under federal law.
1161
01:00:19,286 --> 01:00:20,354
Woman: Yeah,
that's a beauty.
1162
01:00:20,354 --> 01:00:22,289
McDormand: But whatever
the legal risks,
1163
01:00:22,289 --> 01:00:24,458
the horticultural challenges
they face
1164
01:00:24,458 --> 01:00:27,528
would be familiar
to any farmer or gardener.
1165
01:00:27,528 --> 01:00:31,265
Woman:
It's a daily effort,
1166
01:00:31,265 --> 01:00:32,333
and there are things like,
1167
01:00:32,333 --> 01:00:34,435
"oh, did we over-nutriate
the water?
1168
01:00:34,435 --> 01:00:39,440
Did we under-nutriate
the water?"
1169
01:00:39,440 --> 01:00:41,442
Everything has
really tight parameters,
1170
01:00:41,442 --> 01:00:44,545
and we try to keep as tight
as control as possible,
1171
01:00:44,545 --> 01:00:46,347
but it's -- it's a battle.
1172
01:00:46,347 --> 01:00:51,352
Man: My associate
is really the green thumb
1173
01:00:51,352 --> 01:00:52,486
in this enterprise.
1174
01:00:52,486 --> 01:00:55,422
And I've noticed that when she's
1175
01:00:55,422 --> 01:00:58,459
not around for a couple of days,
1176
01:00:58,459 --> 01:00:59,393
the plants know it.
1177
01:00:59,393 --> 01:01:01,362
I mean, I'm not making that up.
1178
01:01:01,362 --> 01:01:02,296
They literally know it.
1179
01:01:02,296 --> 01:01:04,565
I mean, I almost hear them
whispering, "where is she?"
1180
01:01:04,565 --> 01:01:07,301
They don't do as well, you know,
1181
01:01:07,301 --> 01:01:08,335
they don't seem as happy.
1182
01:01:08,335 --> 01:01:13,374
McDormand: Strange as it may
seem, these cannabis growers
1183
01:01:13,374 --> 01:01:16,277
are part
of a very long tradition.
1184
01:01:16,277 --> 01:01:19,446
Weil: In every culture
and in every age of history,
1185
01:01:19,446 --> 01:01:23,317
an enormous amount
of human energy has gone into
1186
01:01:23,317 --> 01:01:27,354
the production, distribution,
and consumption
1187
01:01:27,354 --> 01:01:28,489
of psychoactive plants.
1188
01:01:28,489 --> 01:01:33,294
Man: The only society
that we know of
1189
01:01:33,294 --> 01:01:35,563
for whom there is
no native intoxicant
1190
01:01:35,563 --> 01:01:39,300
are the Inuits,
and that's simply because
1191
01:01:39,300 --> 01:01:43,404
nothing grows up there
that they could use.
1192
01:01:43,404 --> 01:01:45,506
Weil:
In almost every society,
1193
01:01:45,506 --> 01:01:49,376
one or two or a small number
of intoxicants
1194
01:01:49,376 --> 01:01:51,545
are accepted --
and not only accepted,
1195
01:01:51,545 --> 01:01:55,482
but their use
is actively promoted --
1196
01:01:55,482 --> 01:01:57,418
and the rest are condemned.
1197
01:01:57,418 --> 01:01:59,453
But there's no agreement
from culture to culture
1198
01:01:59,453 --> 01:02:02,556
as to which are the good ones
and which are the bad ones.
1199
01:02:02,556 --> 01:02:05,593
Pollan:
So you have alcohol,
1200
01:02:05,593 --> 01:02:08,462
which is an everyday drug
used in our society --
1201
01:02:08,462 --> 01:02:11,532
that has a taboo on it
in Islamic society.
1202
01:02:11,532 --> 01:02:16,337
McDormand: And though cannabis
is illegal in most places today,
1203
01:02:16,337 --> 01:02:19,540
many cultures throughout history
have tolerated it.
1204
01:02:19,540 --> 01:02:22,576
From the time the plant
was first discovered
1205
01:02:22,576 --> 01:02:25,512
in India and China
thousands of years ago,
1206
01:02:25,512 --> 01:02:30,484
people have seen it as more
than just an intoxicant.
1207
01:02:30,484 --> 01:02:33,420
Long before the discovery
of aspirin,
1208
01:02:33,420 --> 01:02:36,557
cannabis was used
as a medical treatment
1209
01:02:36,557 --> 01:02:39,426
for relieving pain.
1210
01:02:39,426 --> 01:02:41,362
Dealing with pain -- you know,
1211
01:02:41,362 --> 01:02:43,464
that's a tremendous part
of human life.
1212
01:02:43,464 --> 01:02:48,402
And it was a bigger part
before modern times.
1213
01:02:48,402 --> 01:02:51,538
We all did physical labor.
We didn't have many painkillers.
1214
01:02:51,538 --> 01:02:53,407
We didn't have antibiotics.
1215
01:02:53,407 --> 01:02:56,443
And a lot of intoxicants,
even if they don't
1216
01:02:56,443 --> 01:02:58,545
diminish pain,
the way opium does,
1217
01:02:58,545 --> 01:03:00,414
they take your mind off it.
1218
01:03:00,414 --> 01:03:01,582
And that's very, very important.
1219
01:03:01,582 --> 01:03:04,418
McDormand:
In 19th-century America,
1220
01:03:04,418 --> 01:03:07,554
cannabis was a popular treatment
for conditions
1221
01:03:07,554 --> 01:03:10,591
such as labor pains, asthma,
and rheumatism.
1222
01:03:10,591 --> 01:03:12,526
Pollan: You could walk
into any drug store
1223
01:03:12,526 --> 01:03:15,496
in America and buy
tinctures of cannabis.
1224
01:03:15,496 --> 01:03:20,467
Cannabis was included in all
sorts of medical preparations.
1225
01:03:20,601 --> 01:03:21,502
And it was legal.
1226
01:03:21,502 --> 01:03:25,439
McDormand: But everything would
change in the 20th century,
1227
01:03:25,439 --> 01:03:28,409
when the plant got
its new name, marijuana.
1228
01:03:28,409 --> 01:03:33,380
The name came from Mexico,
where cannabis
was a popular intoxicant.
1229
01:03:33,580 --> 01:03:35,549
In fact, Pancho Villa's
rebel army
1230
01:03:35,549 --> 01:03:37,551
sang a marching song
about a cockroach
1231
01:03:37,551 --> 01:03:42,523
who fueled himself
with marijuana.
1232
01:03:48,495 --> 01:03:51,532
During the 1920s, many Mexicans
1233
01:03:51,532 --> 01:03:54,568
immigrated to the United States.
1234
01:03:54,568 --> 01:03:55,602
And some brought the custom
1235
01:03:55,602 --> 01:03:57,671
of marijuana smoking with them.
1236
01:03:57,671 --> 01:03:59,707
Man:
Cannabis was certainly
1237
01:03:59,707 --> 01:04:02,609
more common among
Mexican Americans,
1238
01:04:02,609 --> 01:04:04,678
and to some extent,
among African Americans
1239
01:04:04,678 --> 01:04:08,482
in the '20s and '30s
than it was among whites.
1240
01:04:08,482 --> 01:04:10,651
I mean, you'd find it,
you know, very popular
1241
01:04:10,651 --> 01:04:12,553
in the music scene
in New Orleans,
1242
01:04:12,553 --> 01:04:14,655
very popular among
African American musicians.
1243
01:04:14,655 --> 01:04:18,592
The jazz world was really
soaked in cannabis.
1244
01:04:18,592 --> 01:04:20,561
McDormand: The great
Louis Armstrong
1245
01:04:20,561 --> 01:04:24,598
felt marijuana enhanced
his ability to improvise.
1246
01:04:24,598 --> 01:04:25,632
[ Playing jazz ]
1247
01:04:25,632 --> 01:04:28,535
Pollan: Cannabis proposes
this idea
1248
01:04:28,535 --> 01:04:32,506
of time stopping,
being able to explore
1249
01:04:32,506 --> 01:04:36,577
the present moment -- forget
the past, forget the future,
1250
01:04:36,577 --> 01:04:41,548
just be there and see
what you can come up with.
1251
01:04:45,652 --> 01:04:47,721
Even if it's a song
you've played
1252
01:04:47,721 --> 01:04:50,758
a million times before,
it becomes new,
1253
01:04:50,758 --> 01:04:53,527
strange, wonderful.
1254
01:04:53,527 --> 01:04:58,499
You see new possibilities
in it that weren't there before.
1255
01:05:00,634 --> 01:05:05,606
McDormand: In the 1960s,
use of marijuana soared.
1256
01:05:06,540 --> 01:05:08,742
The drug had been illegal
for more than 20 years.
1257
01:05:08,742 --> 01:05:13,580
But that didn't stop an entire
generation from embracing it.
1258
01:05:13,580 --> 01:05:16,550
Pollan:
It was well suited
1259
01:05:16,550 --> 01:05:19,520
to the spirit of that time.
1260
01:05:19,520 --> 01:05:22,523
You know, every drug
has its character,
1261
01:05:22,523 --> 01:05:22,756
and cannabis's character
1262
01:05:22,756 --> 01:05:24,658
is not about being hyper
and working really hard.
1263
01:05:24,658 --> 01:05:29,630
It is a drug that makes you
not want to strive.
1264
01:05:31,598 --> 01:05:35,569
It's about kicking back,
listening to music.
1265
01:05:35,569 --> 01:05:38,672
So it just kind of fit
the spirit of the '60s.
1266
01:05:38,672 --> 01:05:43,644
Man: Marijuana seems
to second the motion,
1267
01:05:43,644 --> 01:05:45,846
no matter what the motion is.
1268
01:05:45,846 --> 01:05:48,816
McDormand:
To many Americans,
1269
01:05:48,816 --> 01:05:51,785
the fact that millions
of young people
1270
01:05:51,785 --> 01:05:52,753
were smoking marijuana
1271
01:05:52,753 --> 01:05:55,589
threatened the very fabric
of society.
1272
01:05:55,589 --> 01:05:57,791
Those fears prompted
the government
1273
01:05:57,791 --> 01:05:59,660
to take action.
1274
01:05:59,660 --> 01:06:01,728
Narrator: Operation intercept
is designed to make it
1275
01:06:01,728 --> 01:06:03,630
more difficult
to bring marijuana
1276
01:06:03,630 --> 01:06:03,831
into the country.
1277
01:06:03,831 --> 01:06:06,834
McDormand: Most of the marijuana
was coming in from Mexico,
1278
01:06:06,834 --> 01:06:10,637
and the plant soon found itself
under attack.
1279
01:06:10,637 --> 01:06:14,708
The weapon -- a toxic chemical
called paraquat.
1280
01:06:14,708 --> 01:06:16,844
Pollan: We have to remember that
in the evolution of a species,
1281
01:06:16,844 --> 01:06:20,614
everything counts as a factor
of natural selection,
1282
01:06:20,614 --> 01:06:22,649
including things like,
oh, the decision
1283
01:06:22,649 --> 01:06:25,619
by the United States government
in the '70s
1284
01:06:25,619 --> 01:06:26,753
to pressure Mexico to spray
1285
01:06:26,753 --> 01:06:28,755
herbicide on their pot fields.
1286
01:06:28,755 --> 01:06:32,593
McDormand: From 1975 to 1983,
Mexican pilots
1287
01:06:32,593 --> 01:06:36,630
doused the country's
cannabis fields with the poison.
1288
01:06:36,630 --> 01:06:39,733
Pollan: There was some concern
that it would
1289
01:06:39,733 --> 01:06:41,668
get into the product
coming north
1290
01:06:41,668 --> 01:06:43,737
if it was cut
right after it was sprayed,
1291
01:06:43,737 --> 01:06:45,739
and that, as people
inhaled this, it probably
1292
01:06:45,739 --> 01:06:46,707
wasn't very good for you.
1293
01:06:46,707 --> 01:06:48,842
Man: This is
a drug-testing lab
1294
01:06:48,842 --> 01:06:50,644
in Palo alto, California.
1295
01:06:50,644 --> 01:06:51,678
The people here are receiving
1296
01:06:51,678 --> 01:06:54,815
300 samples of marijuana a day
from smokers
1297
01:06:54,815 --> 01:06:57,684
who want to know
if their pot is contaminated.
1298
01:06:57,684 --> 01:06:58,785
Man:
People are extremely
1299
01:06:58,785 --> 01:06:59,887
anxious about this problem,
1300
01:06:59,887 --> 01:07:02,589
and frankly, I don't blame them.
1301
01:07:02,589 --> 01:07:04,691
McDormand:
Mexican marijuana
1302
01:07:04,691 --> 01:07:06,827
began to develop
a very bad name.
1303
01:07:06,827 --> 01:07:10,631
Pollan: This had
the unintended consequence
1304
01:07:10,631 --> 01:07:12,866
of creating a domestic
marijuana industry
1305
01:07:12,866 --> 01:07:15,636
that hadn't really
existed before.
1306
01:07:15,636 --> 01:07:16,837
McDormand:
It was concentrated
1307
01:07:16,837 --> 01:07:19,606
in California, Hawaii,
and other states
1308
01:07:19,606 --> 01:07:21,742
whose climate was favorable
for the tropical plant.
1309
01:07:21,742 --> 01:07:25,812
Pollan: Once this American
marijuana agriculture
1310
01:07:25,812 --> 01:07:28,615
got started,
it was very, very successful,
1311
01:07:28,615 --> 01:07:31,818
and the government was
kind of shocked to find one year
1312
01:07:31,818 --> 01:07:33,787
that the total amount seized
1313
01:07:33,787 --> 01:07:37,691
exceeded their estimate
of the total size of the crop.
1314
01:07:37,691 --> 01:07:40,794
And they realized, "ooh, I think
we're missing something.
1315
01:07:40,794 --> 01:07:43,730
There must be
a lot more marijuana out there."
1316
01:07:43,730 --> 01:07:46,867
And indeed, there was,
all over the west coast.
1317
01:07:46,867 --> 01:07:49,703
McDormand: The government
dispatched helicopters
1318
01:07:49,703 --> 01:07:51,939
to find the fields and force
the growers out of business.
1319
01:07:51,939 --> 01:07:54,675
Man: When local and federal
agents raided
1320
01:07:54,675 --> 01:07:56,910
this marijuana field
in northern California today,
1321
01:07:56,910 --> 01:07:59,780
they found
more than $50,000 worth
1322
01:07:59,780 --> 01:08:01,882
of marijuana
ready to be harvested.
1323
01:08:01,882 --> 01:08:04,751
A task force is waging
an all-out war against pot.
1324
01:08:04,751 --> 01:08:06,887
Pollan: So, with the rise
of the drug war, in a way,
1325
01:08:06,887 --> 01:08:08,822
you've got a threat
to this plant.
1326
01:08:08,822 --> 01:08:11,692
And it's very interesting to see
1327
01:08:11,692 --> 01:08:12,793
how the plant coped.
1328
01:08:12,793 --> 01:08:15,762
McDormand: Cannabis,
as plants so often do,
1329
01:08:15,762 --> 01:08:18,832
found a way not only to survive
the threat,
1330
01:08:18,832 --> 01:08:19,866
but to come out ahead.
1331
01:08:19,866 --> 01:08:22,703
Pollan:
And what happened?
1332
01:08:22,703 --> 01:08:24,972
Well, the growers and the plant
1333
01:08:24,972 --> 01:08:27,874
adapted -- they moved indoors.
1334
01:08:27,874 --> 01:08:30,677
The problem
with moving indoors is,
1335
01:08:30,677 --> 01:08:31,912
this is a 12-foot-tall plant.
1336
01:08:31,912 --> 01:08:33,847
So what they needed were
1337
01:08:33,847 --> 01:08:37,718
the genes of a shorter
cannabis plant
1338
01:08:37,718 --> 01:08:39,920
to breed with their tall plant.
1339
01:08:39,920 --> 01:08:43,724
McDormand: So the pioneers
of indoor growing
1340
01:08:43,724 --> 01:08:47,794
cross-bred the tall warm-weather
species, cannabis sativa,
1341
01:08:47,794 --> 01:08:51,965
with a low-growing mountain
species found mostly in Asia,
1342
01:08:51,965 --> 01:08:52,933
cannabis indica.
1343
01:08:52,933 --> 01:08:57,738
Pollan: They brought together
these two great strains
1344
01:08:57,738 --> 01:08:58,772
in the marijuana family
1345
01:08:58,772 --> 01:09:03,744
and created a plant that was
short, fast, and strong.
1346
01:09:03,877 --> 01:09:05,812
Lenson:
The plant, which had once
1347
01:09:05,812 --> 01:09:08,749
been a skinny little
piece of ditch weed,
1348
01:09:08,749 --> 01:09:13,820
is now a pampered,
spectacularly good-looking,
1349
01:09:13,820 --> 01:09:17,824
multi-colored,
rich, resinous being.
1350
01:09:17,824 --> 01:09:20,827
Hardly the species it was before
at all.
1351
01:09:20,827 --> 01:09:22,963
It's turned completely
into something else.
1352
01:09:22,963 --> 01:09:27,834
McDormand: Nurtured by creative
indoor gardeners,
1353
01:09:27,834 --> 01:09:29,970
cannabis is now
a far more potent plant
1354
01:09:29,970 --> 01:09:32,839
than it was a generation ago.
1355
01:09:32,839 --> 01:09:36,009
The key to that transformation
was stripping away
1356
01:09:36,009 --> 01:09:39,980
the rule of nature
and replacing it with our own.
1357
01:09:39,980 --> 01:09:42,783
Man: It's an artificial
environment,
1358
01:09:42,783 --> 01:09:43,784
completely artificial.
1359
01:09:43,784 --> 01:09:46,920
Everything
about our natural world
1360
01:09:46,920 --> 01:09:48,889
is unnatural, everything.
1361
01:09:48,889 --> 01:09:50,891
Woman: It's really
like a super-plant.
1362
01:09:50,891 --> 01:09:53,894
Man: In the natural world,
the plants here would be
1363
01:09:53,894 --> 01:09:57,831
six to nine months
from seed to harvest.
1364
01:09:57,831 --> 01:09:59,833
That's just simply inefficient.
1365
01:09:59,833 --> 01:10:02,769
You couldn't justify
an operation
1366
01:10:02,769 --> 01:10:04,004
with such a slow turnaround.
1367
01:10:04,004 --> 01:10:07,774
So, instead of six to nine
months, in my world,
1368
01:10:07,774 --> 01:10:11,044
these plants live their entire
life cycle in 90 days.
1369
01:10:11,044 --> 01:10:14,081
McDormand: To get them
to do that,
1370
01:10:14,081 --> 01:10:15,015
the plants are subjected
1371
01:10:15,015 --> 01:10:18,985
to precisely controlled amounts
of nutrients, water,
1372
01:10:18,985 --> 01:10:19,853
and light.
1373
01:10:19,853 --> 01:10:24,891
Pollan: They're under lights
that are blindingly bright,
1374
01:10:24,891 --> 01:10:27,828
thousands of watts,
24 hours a day.
1375
01:10:27,828 --> 01:10:29,062
And these plants are just, like,
1376
01:10:29,062 --> 01:10:31,064
soaking up this light --
they love it.
1377
01:10:31,064 --> 01:10:34,901
I mean, they're just bathing
in light and growing so fast,
1378
01:10:34,901 --> 01:10:37,838
you can almost hear
the creak of their cells
1379
01:10:37,838 --> 01:10:39,039
as they stretch and divide.
1380
01:10:39,039 --> 01:10:42,008
McDormand:
All that light generates
1381
01:10:42,008 --> 01:10:43,977
a tremendous amount of heat.
1382
01:10:43,977 --> 01:10:46,947
Man: If I didn't have
air conditioning
1383
01:10:46,947 --> 01:10:50,050
and air circulation
and ventilation fans
1384
01:10:50,050 --> 01:10:52,052
moving the heat
out of that room,
1385
01:10:52,052 --> 01:10:54,921
these plants would cook
in a matter of hours.
1386
01:10:54,921 --> 01:10:59,893
It's so complicated,
we're not smart enough to do it.
1387
01:11:00,060 --> 01:11:03,830
We have to have a full-time
electronic nanny
1388
01:11:03,830 --> 01:11:06,933
watching the plants
all the time.
1389
01:11:06,933 --> 01:11:09,102
So these aren't normal plants.
1390
01:11:09,102 --> 01:11:11,138
These are super-hyper plants
1391
01:11:11,138 --> 01:11:15,876
that are right on the edge
at all times.
1392
01:11:15,876 --> 01:11:18,044
McDormand: It's not just
a quicker harvest
1393
01:11:18,044 --> 01:11:19,012
the growers are after,
1394
01:11:19,012 --> 01:11:22,883
but a bigger bud
and a stronger high.
1395
01:11:22,883 --> 01:11:24,985
To achieve that,
1396
01:11:24,985 --> 01:11:28,054
they interfere
with the natural process.
1397
01:11:28,054 --> 01:11:31,892
Female marijuana plants produce
a sticky resin
1398
01:11:31,892 --> 01:11:35,162
that catches the pollen
that male plants produce.
1399
01:11:35,162 --> 01:11:39,065
That resin is
highly psychoactive.
1400
01:11:39,065 --> 01:11:42,936
To trick the females
into making more of it,
1401
01:11:42,936 --> 01:11:47,908
the growers keep male plants
exiled from the grow room.
1402
01:11:47,908 --> 01:11:51,878
Man: So, in essence,
what you're seeing
1403
01:11:51,878 --> 01:11:55,182
is extreme sexual frustration.
1404
01:11:55,182 --> 01:11:56,950
This is a room full of women
1405
01:11:56,950 --> 01:11:59,019
who are looking for some guy
to come by
1406
01:11:59,019 --> 01:12:03,023
and give them some pollen
so they can create seeds.
1407
01:12:03,023 --> 01:12:06,159
And they try harder and harder
as time passes,
1408
01:12:06,159 --> 01:12:08,995
and the more unsuccessful
they are,
1409
01:12:08,995 --> 01:12:12,032
the more the production
of the resins
1410
01:12:12,032 --> 01:12:15,035
that is intended
to attract pollen
1411
01:12:15,035 --> 01:12:17,938
increase, and that increases
1412
01:12:17,938 --> 01:12:23,009
the psychoactive elements
of the plant.
1413
01:12:23,009 --> 01:12:27,013
Pollan: They are the best
gardeners of my generation,
1414
01:12:27,013 --> 01:12:28,882
I realized at a certain point.
1415
01:12:28,882 --> 01:12:30,951
You know, the best gardeners
of my generation
1416
01:12:30,951 --> 01:12:33,887
are not hybridizing roses,
are not, you know,
1417
01:12:33,887 --> 01:12:34,120
working with orchids.
1418
01:12:34,120 --> 01:12:36,923
They're working with this
incredibly valuable,
1419
01:12:36,923 --> 01:12:38,992
incredibly interesting plant
called cannabis.
1420
01:12:38,992 --> 01:12:40,160
Woman: If this turns
into anything good,
1421
01:12:40,160 --> 01:12:41,895
though, look at it, I mean,
1422
01:12:41,895 --> 01:12:43,063
this is how thick the stalk is
1423
01:12:43,063 --> 01:12:44,130
when it's just gone to bloom.
1424
01:12:44,130 --> 01:12:46,132
It's got
a beautiful shape.
It is nice.
1425
01:12:46,132 --> 01:12:47,901
Pollan:
I mean, think about it.
1426
01:12:47,901 --> 01:12:49,970
This thing's a weed.
It's a weed.
1427
01:12:49,970 --> 01:12:54,040
It's a weed that's worth,
you know, in the open market,
1428
01:12:54,040 --> 01:12:57,143
like, you know,
$6,000, $7,000 a pound.
1429
01:12:57,143 --> 01:12:59,145
Pretty good for a weed, huh?
1430
01:12:59,145 --> 01:13:02,182
McDormand: But cannabis only
fetches that price
1431
01:13:02,182 --> 01:13:06,086
because of that one particular
molecule it makes
1432
01:13:06,086 --> 01:13:07,120
that gets people high.
1433
01:13:07,120 --> 01:13:12,092
Its name is THC,
and it was discovered
1434
01:13:12,092 --> 01:13:13,059
back in 1964
1435
01:13:13,059 --> 01:13:17,964
in a lab in Jerusalem
by chemist Raphael Mechoulam.
1436
01:13:17,964 --> 01:13:20,133
Man: Cannabis had not
been well investigated,
1437
01:13:20,133 --> 01:13:24,004
which was strange -- after all,
it was being used
1438
01:13:24,004 --> 01:13:27,073
illegally or legally
by millions of people.
1439
01:13:27,073 --> 01:13:29,109
And yet we didn't know
that much about it.
1440
01:13:29,109 --> 01:13:32,212
So I thought, it's a good idea
to look at it again
1441
01:13:32,212 --> 01:13:33,213
from a modern point of view.
1442
01:13:33,213 --> 01:13:37,083
McDormand: In the lab,
Mechoulam and his colleagues
1443
01:13:37,083 --> 01:13:39,085
broke cannabis down
and zeroed in
1444
01:13:39,085 --> 01:13:43,189
on the chemical components that
might be causing its effects.
1445
01:13:43,189 --> 01:13:46,259
Mechoulam: We isolated
about 10 compounds.
1446
01:13:46,259 --> 01:13:51,097
Surprisingly, out of
the 10 compounds we isolated,
1447
01:13:51,097 --> 01:13:52,165
only one --
1448
01:13:52,165 --> 01:13:53,233
which now is known as
1449
01:13:53,233 --> 01:13:57,137
delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol,
in short, THC --
1450
01:13:57,137 --> 01:14:02,008
only one causes
the well-known high.
1451
01:14:02,008 --> 01:14:06,212
We tested it in humans --
many of my friends.
1452
01:14:06,212 --> 01:14:10,050
And we saw that the compound
is effective,
1453
01:14:10,050 --> 01:14:11,184
as we expected it to be.
1454
01:14:11,184 --> 01:14:15,221
McDormand: The identification
of THC answered one question,
1455
01:14:15,221 --> 01:14:19,159
but raised another --
just what did it do
1456
01:14:19,159 --> 01:14:20,260
to the brain?
1457
01:14:20,260 --> 01:14:22,162
Woman:
I had always assumed
1458
01:14:22,162 --> 01:14:24,264
that people knew
how marijuana worked.
1459
01:14:24,264 --> 01:14:27,067
It surprised me, actually,
when I began
1460
01:14:27,067 --> 01:14:30,103
looking in the research
literature, that --
1461
01:14:30,103 --> 01:14:31,137
that it was really clear
1462
01:14:31,137 --> 01:14:33,173
that no one really knew
how it worked.
1463
01:14:33,173 --> 01:14:38,144
McDormand: In 1955,
Allyn Howlett found the answer.
1464
01:14:38,144 --> 01:14:41,247
She discovered that,
deep inside the brain,
1465
01:14:41,247 --> 01:14:46,086
THC molecules activate
a previously unknown network
1466
01:14:46,086 --> 01:14:49,089
of specialized
chemical receptors.
1467
01:14:49,089 --> 01:14:52,092
Man: So that was proof
that there is
1468
01:14:52,092 --> 01:14:54,227
a receptor protein in the brain
1469
01:14:54,227 --> 01:14:58,198
that combined to the THC
like a key in a lock.
1470
01:14:58,198 --> 01:15:02,168
It was very exciting, because
what that meant to us was,
1471
01:15:02,168 --> 01:15:05,171
we had a tool that could be
used for studying,
1472
01:15:05,171 --> 01:15:08,074
and other researchers
could use it, as well.
1473
01:15:08,074 --> 01:15:13,113
And people could study where
the receptor was in the brain.
1474
01:15:13,113 --> 01:15:16,282
McDormand: Howlett and other
scientists found the receptors
1475
01:15:16,282 --> 01:15:19,152
in the hippocampus,
which forms memories
1476
01:15:19,152 --> 01:15:22,088
the cerebellum,
which controls movement
1477
01:15:22,088 --> 01:15:25,325
and the frontal cortex,
where we think.
1478
01:15:25,325 --> 01:15:28,328
Pollan: Here were these
receptors that this chemical
1479
01:15:28,328 --> 01:15:31,264
produced by a plant
out in the world
1480
01:15:31,264 --> 01:15:33,166
just so happened to have
1481
01:15:33,166 --> 01:15:36,202
the precise combination
to unlock.
1482
01:15:36,202 --> 01:15:38,204
What an extraordinary thing
that is.
1483
01:15:38,204 --> 01:15:41,274
Is that why that
receptor network existed,
1484
01:15:41,274 --> 01:15:43,309
so that people could get high?
1485
01:15:43,309 --> 01:15:45,145
We don't have those receptors
1486
01:15:45,145 --> 01:15:48,181
just so that people can get high
smoking pot.
1487
01:15:48,181 --> 01:15:49,315
Receptors are developed
1488
01:15:49,315 --> 01:15:52,218
in neurons so that
they can communicate
1489
01:15:52,218 --> 01:15:56,356
with a chemical
that the body makes.
1490
01:15:56,356 --> 01:15:59,292
So that was the logic
behind going in
1491
01:15:59,292 --> 01:16:03,229
and trying to extract
a compound in the brain
1492
01:16:03,229 --> 01:16:05,298
that would act just like
marijuana did.
1493
01:16:05,298 --> 01:16:09,235
McDormand: And in 1992,
proof came that the brain
1494
01:16:09,235 --> 01:16:12,238
does make a compound
very much like THC.
1495
01:16:12,238 --> 01:16:17,210
It was discovered by none other
than Raphael Mechoulam,
1496
01:16:17,210 --> 01:16:18,278
who named it anandamide.
1497
01:16:18,278 --> 01:16:22,382
We call it "the brain's own
marijuana" because the compound
1498
01:16:22,382 --> 01:16:26,252
that is made by the brain --
anandamide --
1499
01:16:26,252 --> 01:16:31,224
shares all the properties,
in terms of at the receptor
level and cellular level,
1500
01:16:32,192 --> 01:16:35,128
that THC has.
1501
01:16:35,128 --> 01:16:38,231
McDormand: It turns out
that when anandamide
1502
01:16:38,231 --> 01:16:41,134
is released in the brain,
like marijuana,
1503
01:16:41,134 --> 01:16:46,172
it affects such basic things as
appetite, pain, and memory.
1504
01:16:46,172 --> 01:16:47,373
And it plays a critical role
1505
01:16:47,373 --> 01:16:52,278
in a sometimes underappreciated
mental function --
1506
01:16:52,278 --> 01:16:54,214
forgetting.
1507
01:16:54,214 --> 01:16:55,415
Pollan:
When I first heard that,
1508
01:16:55,415 --> 01:17:00,186
it didn't seem adaptive to me,
to have a drug for forgetting.
1509
01:17:00,186 --> 01:17:02,255
Memory, we understand,
has great survival utility.
1510
01:17:02,255 --> 01:17:05,191
You know, you learn that that's
a poisonous mushroom
1511
01:17:05,191 --> 01:17:06,226
or that's a dangerous animal,
1512
01:17:06,226 --> 01:17:08,194
and you stay away
and you remember that.
1513
01:17:08,194 --> 01:17:10,230
But why would forgetting
be adaptive?
1514
01:17:10,230 --> 01:17:11,464
And I asked Mechoulam
this question.
1515
01:17:11,464 --> 01:17:15,235
And he said, "well, tell me,
do you really want to remember
1516
01:17:15,235 --> 01:17:18,371
all the faces you saw
on the subway this morning?"
1517
01:17:18,371 --> 01:17:22,208
Forgetting well is almost
1518
01:17:22,208 --> 01:17:25,411
as important
as remembering well.
1519
01:17:25,411 --> 01:17:28,214
Forgetting is about editing.
1520
01:17:28,214 --> 01:17:31,417
It's about taking the flood,
the ocean
1521
01:17:31,417 --> 01:17:33,419
of sense information
coming at you
1522
01:17:33,419 --> 01:17:38,391
and forgetting everything
but what's important.
1523
01:17:41,227 --> 01:17:44,430
So life is not just about
accumulating new memories.
1524
01:17:44,430 --> 01:17:48,434
Memory can cripple us, too.
1525
01:17:48,434 --> 01:17:49,435
[ Man yelling ]
1526
01:17:49,435 --> 01:17:51,437
Pollan: You have soldiers
1527
01:17:51,437 --> 01:17:53,306
returning from war zones,
1528
01:17:53,306 --> 01:17:55,441
that are traumatized
by experiences
1529
01:17:55,441 --> 01:17:58,211
that in effect
they can't unlearn.
1530
01:17:58,211 --> 01:18:02,315
So if you could help them
unlearn that --
1531
01:18:02,315 --> 01:18:05,185
essentially, a productive
kind of forgetting,
1532
01:18:05,185 --> 01:18:08,421
either with a drug
or some other kind of regime --
1533
01:18:08,421 --> 01:18:10,390
that would be incredibly useful.
1534
01:18:10,390 --> 01:18:13,393
McDormand:
And that's exactly
1535
01:18:13,393 --> 01:18:15,395
what Aron Lichtman
is trying to do.
1536
01:18:15,395 --> 01:18:20,300
He's studying how mice
remember -- and forget.
1537
01:18:20,300 --> 01:18:23,469
First, he trains them to find
an underwater platform.
1538
01:18:23,469 --> 01:18:26,272
Man: The mice
are natural swimmers,
1539
01:18:26,272 --> 01:18:28,274
but they're looking
for a way out.
1540
01:18:28,274 --> 01:18:31,211
They swim all around
the perimeter of the tank.
1541
01:18:31,211 --> 01:18:32,478
They're swimming, swimming,
swimming.
1542
01:18:32,478 --> 01:18:36,216
Sometimes they bump
into the platform by mistake
1543
01:18:36,216 --> 01:18:37,250
and they climb onto it.
1544
01:18:37,250 --> 01:18:38,451
Other times, they never find it.
1545
01:18:38,451 --> 01:18:41,221
Man:
So at this point,
it's been at it
for a while.
1546
01:18:41,221 --> 01:18:43,489
And the experimenter
has to gently guide them to it
1547
01:18:43,489 --> 01:18:44,457
or place them on the platform.
1548
01:18:44,457 --> 01:18:49,429
McDormand: Then, Lichtman takes
the platform away.
1549
01:18:50,263 --> 01:18:54,234
A normal mouse quickly realizes
the platform is gone.
1550
01:18:54,234 --> 01:18:58,471
But a mouse whose anandamide
receptors have been blocked
1551
01:18:58,471 --> 01:19:00,440
is unable to forget.
1552
01:19:00,440 --> 01:19:04,277
Lichtman:
They don't learn
to give up.
1553
01:19:04,277 --> 01:19:05,511
They keep on looking
for that platform,
1554
01:19:05,511 --> 01:19:06,412
even though it's gone.
1555
01:19:06,412 --> 01:19:09,249
McDormand: Scientists like
lichtman hope
1556
01:19:09,249 --> 01:19:12,452
that learning how to regulate
anandamide may one day
1557
01:19:12,452 --> 01:19:14,287
lead to treatments for people
1558
01:19:14,287 --> 01:19:16,389
who are haunted
by their memories.
1559
01:19:16,389 --> 01:19:18,258
Lichtman: If they can elevate
1560
01:19:18,258 --> 01:19:21,294
naturally occurring anandamide
in humans,
1561
01:19:21,294 --> 01:19:22,562
we might be able to have
whole new
1562
01:19:22,562 --> 01:19:27,533
therapeutic targets to treat
post-traumatic stress syndrome.
1563
01:19:30,270 --> 01:19:34,340
Mechoulam: By using a plant
that has been around
1564
01:19:34,340 --> 01:19:38,344
for thousands of years,
we discovered
1565
01:19:38,344 --> 01:19:42,482
a new physiological system
of immense importance.
1566
01:19:42,482 --> 01:19:45,551
We wouldn't have been able
to get there
1567
01:19:45,551 --> 01:19:47,553
if we had not looked at a plant.
1568
01:19:47,553 --> 01:19:50,590
Pollan: These plants are
constantly undergoing
1569
01:19:50,590 --> 01:19:53,459
this revision
and this re-revision
1570
01:19:53,459 --> 01:19:54,560
in our cultural imagination,
1571
01:19:54,560 --> 01:19:57,430
depending on what uses
they're playing for us.
1572
01:19:57,430 --> 01:20:02,402
Are they demons or are they,
you know, saviors?
1573
01:20:02,535 --> 01:20:04,337
We see it with the apple,
1574
01:20:04,337 --> 01:20:06,572
which went from evil
to wholesome to evil.
1575
01:20:06,572 --> 01:20:10,310
And we see it with marijuana,
which also has had
1576
01:20:10,310 --> 01:20:12,412
these periods of evil
and this period
1577
01:20:12,412 --> 01:20:14,547
of being celebrated
by the counterculture.
1578
01:20:14,547 --> 01:20:16,549
Is it more uplifting
or more relaxing
1579
01:20:16,549 --> 01:20:18,551
for your body that you're after?
1580
01:20:18,551 --> 01:20:20,386
Uplifting.
1581
01:20:20,386 --> 01:20:21,587
McDormand:
One place that's well known
1582
01:20:21,587 --> 01:20:23,489
for celebrating cannabis
is Amsterdam.
1583
01:20:23,489 --> 01:20:25,425
We have the Shiva,
which is lovely.
1584
01:20:25,425 --> 01:20:29,395
McDormand: Though marijuana is
not fully legal here,
1585
01:20:29,395 --> 01:20:31,631
it can be legally sold
and smoked
1586
01:20:31,631 --> 01:20:33,499
in licensed coffee shops,
1587
01:20:33,499 --> 01:20:35,501
drawing tourists
from around the world.
1588
01:20:35,501 --> 01:20:39,505
Fantastic, let's do that for 10.
1589
01:20:39,505 --> 01:20:40,373
Wonderful.
1590
01:20:40,373 --> 01:20:43,409
Pollan: You can walk
down the street
1591
01:20:43,409 --> 01:20:44,410
and catch the whiff
1592
01:20:44,410 --> 01:20:46,546
of marijuana smoke
coming out of bars --
1593
01:20:46,546 --> 01:20:48,381
"cafes," as they're called --
1594
01:20:48,381 --> 01:20:50,583
and you can choose exactly
what kind of experience
you want.
1595
01:20:50,583 --> 01:20:54,420
That's milder, more dreamy.
1596
01:20:54,420 --> 01:20:55,588
I think just the bud.
1597
01:20:55,588 --> 01:20:56,589
Thank you.
1598
01:20:56,589 --> 01:20:58,458
Okay, bye.
1599
01:20:58,458 --> 01:20:58,591
Enjoy.
1600
01:20:58,591 --> 01:21:01,427
Pollan: You look at the scene
and you marvel at it.
1601
01:21:01,427 --> 01:21:03,629
It is no different than people
sitting around,
1602
01:21:03,629 --> 01:21:06,432
enjoying their glass of wine
or cigarettes.
1603
01:21:06,432 --> 01:21:10,670
McDormand: Amsterdam even has
special garden shops
1604
01:21:10,670 --> 01:21:12,538
for cannabis growers.
1605
01:21:12,538 --> 01:21:14,440
You repot it into a bigger pot.
1606
01:21:14,440 --> 01:21:16,509
Man: You put this one
straight in the pot.
1607
01:21:16,509 --> 01:21:18,444
You don't have to break it or --
1608
01:21:18,444 --> 01:21:20,446
mcdormand: Its owner,
Tim a'Court,
1609
01:21:20,446 --> 01:21:21,514
came here from New Zealand,
1610
01:21:21,514 --> 01:21:24,384
where his passion
for growing cannabis
1611
01:21:24,384 --> 01:21:26,619
had run him afoul of the law.
1612
01:21:26,619 --> 01:21:29,655
Man: We sell everything
for the home grower here,
1613
01:21:29,655 --> 01:21:32,392
from the smallest set-up
1614
01:21:32,392 --> 01:21:33,626
to really large set-ups.
1615
01:21:33,626 --> 01:21:37,597
And included in that is
as much of the high-tech stuff
1616
01:21:37,597 --> 01:21:38,564
as we can give.
1617
01:21:38,564 --> 01:21:39,665
This one's a nutrient monitor.
1618
01:21:39,665 --> 01:21:41,501
These are obviously
for two lights,
1619
01:21:41,501 --> 01:21:44,504
for four lights,
for six lights, eight lights.
1620
01:21:44,504 --> 01:21:48,441
This goes right up to
100 lights, if you so require.
1621
01:21:48,441 --> 01:21:49,442
That is a second timer.
1622
01:21:49,442 --> 01:21:52,545
Sometimes we need to have timers
right down to the second.
1623
01:21:52,545 --> 01:21:53,613
This is a camera.
1624
01:21:53,613 --> 01:21:55,715
And it's the same sort of camera
you would buy
1625
01:21:55,715 --> 01:21:58,651
from the spy shop for spying
on your wife or whatever.
1626
01:21:58,651 --> 01:22:02,522
In this case, we're spying
on our crop and making sure
people aren't coming in and out.
1627
01:22:02,522 --> 01:22:05,591
Pollan:
You can also buy seeds.
1628
01:22:05,591 --> 01:22:07,693
You can buy, you know,
all female seeds
1629
01:22:07,693 --> 01:22:09,495
of any given strain you want.
1630
01:22:09,495 --> 01:22:11,464
They're out there
in little six-packs,
1631
01:22:11,464 --> 01:22:13,499
just like at your garden center,
selling petunias.
1632
01:22:13,499 --> 01:22:14,667
A'Court: I don't think
there would be
1633
01:22:14,667 --> 01:22:17,637
a plant on earth that comes near
to the amount
1634
01:22:17,637 --> 01:22:19,472
of equipment and technology
1635
01:22:19,472 --> 01:22:21,674
available to grow it
to its potential.
1636
01:22:21,674 --> 01:22:24,477
It's more than just a hobby.
1637
01:22:24,477 --> 01:22:25,611
It's a whole life's work.
1638
01:22:25,611 --> 01:22:27,713
Some people --
that is their whole life.
1639
01:22:27,713 --> 01:22:31,751
They're so enthusiastic
about their so-called hobby.
1640
01:22:31,751 --> 01:22:33,486
It's unexplainable.
1641
01:22:33,486 --> 01:22:37,557
It's not just something
about drugs or money,
1642
01:22:37,557 --> 01:22:40,593
but there really is
a deep fascination
1643
01:22:40,593 --> 01:22:43,763
with the marijuana plant.
1644
01:22:43,763 --> 01:22:45,631
Pollan: The way
I see plants,
1645
01:22:45,631 --> 01:22:47,567
they're just as advanced
as we are,
1646
01:22:47,567 --> 01:22:50,736
from an evolutionary
point of view.
1647
01:22:50,736 --> 01:22:52,538
While we were working on
1648
01:22:52,538 --> 01:22:54,574
consciousness, language,
tool-making,
1649
01:22:54,574 --> 01:22:58,511
all these things we judge to be
so wonderful and important,
1650
01:22:58,511 --> 01:23:00,613
they were working on
different tools.
1651
01:23:00,613 --> 01:23:03,716
And their tools are just
as sophisticated as ours.
1652
01:23:03,716 --> 01:23:08,621
The fact that this plant,
cannabis, for example,
1653
01:23:08,621 --> 01:23:12,725
can actually change the texture
of consciousness -- you know,
1654
01:23:12,725 --> 01:23:15,795
this is ingenious.
1655
01:23:15,795 --> 01:23:18,664
We would not be the same,
if not for cannabis.
1656
01:23:18,664 --> 01:23:21,567
And cannabis certainly
is very different
1657
01:23:21,567 --> 01:23:22,735
for its relationship with us.
1658
01:23:22,735 --> 01:23:27,673
It's one of the great winners
in this dance of domestication.
1659
01:23:46,592 --> 01:23:48,761
McDormand: Looking down
at it from the air,
1660
01:23:48,761 --> 01:23:52,732
you might not guess that
southern Idaho is a desert.
1661
01:23:52,732 --> 01:23:56,802
The big green circles
are crop fields.
1662
01:23:56,802 --> 01:24:00,540
They get their water from
a vast irrigation system
1663
01:24:00,540 --> 01:24:05,511
of underground pipes
and giant sprinklers.
1664
01:24:06,579 --> 01:24:09,682
This is one of the most
productive farm areas
1665
01:24:09,682 --> 01:24:11,717
in the United States,
1666
01:24:11,717 --> 01:24:13,519
and one of the principal sources
1667
01:24:13,519 --> 01:24:16,789
of a food crop that feeds
millions of people --
1668
01:24:16,789 --> 01:24:19,659
the potato.
1669
01:24:19,659 --> 01:24:22,762
Pollan: The desire, I think,
that the potato
1670
01:24:22,762 --> 01:24:24,764
has evolved to gratify,
in large part,
1671
01:24:24,764 --> 01:24:28,701
is our desire for control --
control over our fate.
1672
01:24:28,701 --> 01:24:31,571
It gives us that by providing
1673
01:24:31,571 --> 01:24:34,774
an immense amount of food
per acre.
1674
01:24:34,774 --> 01:24:38,644
An individual with half an acre
of potatoes
1675
01:24:38,644 --> 01:24:40,713
can grow enough food
to keep himself alive
1676
01:24:40,713 --> 01:24:45,551
or his family alive for a year.
1677
01:24:45,551 --> 01:24:47,753
It's kind of extraordinary.
1678
01:24:47,753 --> 01:24:50,723
Man: When you lift up the soil
and you see these
1679
01:24:50,723 --> 01:24:52,792
beautiful potatoes
that are so nutritious
1680
01:24:52,792 --> 01:24:56,596
growing underneath them, it's
just -- it's really, you know,
1681
01:24:56,596 --> 01:25:00,700
exciting to see how productive
and how amazing this crop is,
1682
01:25:00,700 --> 01:25:02,835
that it can take
this little tiny plant
1683
01:25:02,835 --> 01:25:04,670
and produce this great food.
1684
01:25:04,670 --> 01:25:07,740
Pollan: The story that we've
been telling so far
1685
01:25:07,740 --> 01:25:10,810
is the story
of the symbiotic relationship
1686
01:25:10,810 --> 01:25:13,746
between humans and plants.
But with the potato, we enter
1687
01:25:13,746 --> 01:25:16,716
into a very new chapter
in that relationship --
1688
01:25:16,716 --> 01:25:18,784
the genetic modification
of plants.
1689
01:25:18,784 --> 01:25:23,589
For the first time, we are taking
1690
01:25:23,589 --> 01:25:25,691
genes from one distant species
1691
01:25:25,691 --> 01:25:28,794
and introducing it into another.
1692
01:25:28,794 --> 01:25:31,597
That represents
a real quantum change
1693
01:25:31,597 --> 01:25:32,865
in our relationship to plants.
1694
01:25:32,865 --> 01:25:36,836
[ Bell ringing ]
1695
01:25:36,836 --> 01:25:38,638
[ Children playing ]
1696
01:25:38,638 --> 01:25:40,706
McDormand: Our relationship
to the potato
1697
01:25:40,706 --> 01:25:43,809
began in the Andes mountains
of South America.
1698
01:25:43,809 --> 01:25:46,846
In places like Pisac in Peru,
1699
01:25:46,846 --> 01:25:48,781
people have long depended
1700
01:25:48,781 --> 01:25:52,918
on the potato for survival.
1701
01:25:52,918 --> 01:25:55,755
To make sure they grow
enough potatoes,
1702
01:25:55,755 --> 01:25:58,791
they've developed
an astonishing degree
1703
01:25:58,791 --> 01:26:00,826
of agricultural creativity.
1704
01:26:00,826 --> 01:26:04,764
Man:
We reckon that there are
1705
01:26:04,764 --> 01:26:09,735
more than s, 000 different potato
varieties in the Andean region.
1706
01:26:10,703 --> 01:26:13,873
There are tremendous
combinations
1707
01:26:13,873 --> 01:26:16,876
of colors, as well as shapes.
1708
01:26:16,876 --> 01:26:20,913
You find very elongated
potato tubers
1709
01:26:20,913 --> 01:26:23,716
that don't look potatoes at all,
1710
01:26:23,716 --> 01:26:25,751
to very, very strange,
1711
01:26:25,751 --> 01:26:29,689
with very different
protuberances,
1712
01:26:29,689 --> 01:26:31,757
that look very,
very strange to you.
1713
01:26:31,757 --> 01:26:34,694
McDormand: It was in the Andes
that people
1714
01:26:34,694 --> 01:26:38,964
first domesticated the potato
plant around 5,000 years ago.
1715
01:26:38,964 --> 01:26:42,835
To do that, they had to overcome
a big obstacle.
1716
01:26:42,835 --> 01:26:45,905
Pollan: The potato in the wild
is poisonous.
1717
01:26:45,905 --> 01:26:49,842
You know, it's one of those
crops that produces solanine,
1718
01:26:49,842 --> 01:26:51,711
which is an alkaloid
which is poisonous.
1719
01:26:51,711 --> 01:26:53,913
And, in fact, potatoes
still produce it, by the way.
1720
01:26:53,913 --> 01:26:56,816
If you allow your potato to get
exposed to light
1721
01:26:56,816 --> 01:26:59,752
and it turns green,
it's producing solanine,
1722
01:26:59,752 --> 01:27:00,753
and you shouldn't eat it.
1723
01:27:00,753 --> 01:27:02,822
McDormand:
But in the plant world,
1724
01:27:02,822 --> 01:27:04,957
there are always
exceptions to the rule.
1725
01:27:04,957 --> 01:27:09,862
Genes inevitably mutate,
and plants change.
1726
01:27:09,862 --> 01:27:12,798
Pollan: People did a lot
of trial and error,
1727
01:27:12,798 --> 01:27:16,736
tasting potatoes
and spitting them out,
1728
01:27:16,736 --> 01:27:16,902
or getting sick.
1729
01:27:16,902 --> 01:27:18,871
And then, eventually,
you find one --
1730
01:27:18,871 --> 01:27:21,741
like, "hey, this one
doesn't have that taste.
1731
01:27:21,741 --> 01:27:22,742
Maybe this one's all right."
1732
01:27:22,742 --> 01:27:25,945
And those would be
the potatoes that we would save.
1733
01:27:25,945 --> 01:27:29,749
McDormand: Overtime,
the Peruvians achieved
1734
01:27:29,749 --> 01:27:31,751
great success as potato farmers,
1735
01:27:31,751 --> 01:27:33,953
not by trying to control nature,
1736
01:27:33,953 --> 01:27:35,755
but by adapting to it.
1737
01:27:35,755 --> 01:27:37,990
Pollan: Whenever you're moving
up in altitude,
1738
01:27:37,990 --> 01:27:40,960
you're having a radical change
in climate.
1739
01:27:40,960 --> 01:27:42,895
And one side of a hill will have
1740
01:27:42,895 --> 01:27:46,932
a very different climate
than another.
1741
01:27:46,932 --> 01:27:49,835
The way the early Peruvians
dealt with that
1742
01:27:49,835 --> 01:27:52,872
was to grow many different
varieties of potatoes
1743
01:27:52,872 --> 01:27:57,910
and preserve the diversity,
so that on a plot
1744
01:27:57,910 --> 01:28:00,045
of this kind of facing
toward the sun
1745
01:28:00,045 --> 01:28:02,915
at this kind of altitude,
you plant this one.
1746
01:28:02,915 --> 01:28:05,885
And on this plant -- just on
the other side of the hill,
1747
01:28:05,885 --> 01:28:07,853
you plant this potato.
1748
01:28:07,853 --> 01:28:11,056
And this was a way of gaining
control over their fate.
1749
01:28:11,056 --> 01:28:12,992
Because if something happened
1750
01:28:12,992 --> 01:28:15,795
on that one plot
at that altitude,
1751
01:28:15,795 --> 01:28:17,997
they would still have
other potatoes.
1752
01:28:17,997 --> 01:28:22,968
Roca: The Andean region has many
niches for growing crops.
1753
01:28:23,969 --> 01:28:27,773
And the potato was able
to adapt to different areas.
1754
01:28:27,773 --> 01:28:29,842
That's why there were
so many varieties
1755
01:28:29,842 --> 01:28:32,978
developed for different uses
and different purposes
1756
01:28:32,978 --> 01:28:33,979
along the Andes.
1757
01:28:33,979 --> 01:28:37,817
McDormand:
Faustino Pacco is 24.
1758
01:28:37,817 --> 01:28:41,887
His family has been growing
potatoes here in the Andes
1759
01:28:41,887 --> 01:28:43,055
for hundreds of years.
1760
01:28:43,055 --> 01:28:48,027
[ Speaking Spanish ]
1761
01:28:51,997 --> 01:28:56,969
[ Flute playing ]
1762
01:29:00,039 --> 01:29:05,010
[ Speaking native language ]
1763
01:29:18,824 --> 01:29:23,796
[ Pacco speaking Spanish ]
1764
01:29:44,850 --> 01:29:49,889
McDormand: These Andean farmers
are the descendants
1765
01:29:49,889 --> 01:29:52,858
of one of the great
civilizations of history --
1766
01:29:52,858 --> 01:29:55,861
the Incas.
1767
01:29:55,861 --> 01:29:58,964
They presided over one
of the most sophisticated
1768
01:29:58,964 --> 01:30:00,132
agricultural systems on earth,
1769
01:30:00,132 --> 01:30:03,969
based in large part
on the potato.
1770
01:30:03,969 --> 01:30:08,107
But when the Spanish invaded
in the 16th century,
1771
01:30:08,107 --> 01:30:11,043
they destroyed the Inca empire
1772
01:30:11,043 --> 01:30:14,113
and set the potato --
and our relationship with it --
1773
01:30:14,113 --> 01:30:17,983
on a new phase of its journey.
1774
01:30:17,983 --> 01:30:19,852
When the potato got to Europe,
1775
01:30:19,852 --> 01:30:22,988
it changed the course
of European history.
1776
01:30:22,988 --> 01:30:25,090
[ Thunderclaps ]
1777
01:30:25,090 --> 01:30:26,926
Pollan:
Before the potato,
1778
01:30:26,926 --> 01:30:30,896
the northern tier of Europe --
the population was
1779
01:30:30,896 --> 01:30:35,034
relatively small and was held
back by regular famines
1780
01:30:35,034 --> 01:30:37,102
caused by failures
of the grain harvest.
1781
01:30:37,102 --> 01:30:41,106
The further north you go,
the dicier it is to grow wheat.
1782
01:30:41,106 --> 01:30:45,878
And so the center of gravity
in Europe before the potato
1783
01:30:45,878 --> 01:30:50,883
was the Mediterranean, where you
could grow grain more reliably.
1784
01:30:50,883 --> 01:30:55,854
The potato did very well
at the more northerly areas.
1785
01:30:56,055 --> 01:30:59,191
It did very well
in wetter areas.
1786
01:30:59,191 --> 01:31:04,129
And it did very well
in really poor soils.
1787
01:31:04,129 --> 01:31:05,030
And so suddenly there was
1788
01:31:05,030 --> 01:31:08,934
this vast new source of calories
that could underwrite
1789
01:31:08,934 --> 01:31:09,969
the growth of the population,
1790
01:31:09,969 --> 01:31:15,040
such as never would have
happened without the potato.
1791
01:31:15,040 --> 01:31:19,044
Since one individual can grow
so much food,
1792
01:31:19,044 --> 01:31:22,047
you need fewer people
in the fields
1793
01:31:22,047 --> 01:31:24,116
to support an urban population.
1794
01:31:24,116 --> 01:31:27,152
So it's really hard to imagine
1795
01:31:27,152 --> 01:31:30,155
the industrial revolution
proceeding as it would
1796
01:31:30,155 --> 01:31:33,959
without the potato
to kind of support it.
1797
01:31:33,959 --> 01:31:38,097
This new world food
remade the old world.
1798
01:31:38,097 --> 01:31:43,002
McDormand: The potato thrived
in the soils of Northern Europe,
1799
01:31:43,002 --> 01:31:45,037
most dramatically in Ireland,
1800
01:31:45,037 --> 01:31:48,240
a country sorely in need
of a hearty food.
1801
01:31:48,240 --> 01:31:50,042
Pollan:
For the Irish,
1802
01:31:50,042 --> 01:31:52,144
the potato initially was
a godsend.
1803
01:31:52,144 --> 01:31:57,182
McDormand: Ireland's poor
farmland and bad weather
1804
01:31:57,182 --> 01:32:00,152
made it a tough place
to grow crops.
1805
01:32:00,152 --> 01:32:03,222
But the potato plant
actually prospered
1806
01:32:03,222 --> 01:32:04,990
in this soggy environment
1807
01:32:04,990 --> 01:32:08,160
and seemed to end the country's
long struggle with hunger.
1808
01:32:08,160 --> 01:32:12,064
Pollan: If you had potatoes
and cow's milk,
1809
01:32:12,064 --> 01:32:13,232
you had a complete diet.
1810
01:32:13,232 --> 01:32:15,034
You had calories, obviously,
1811
01:32:15,034 --> 01:32:18,003
and you had the full complement
of vitamins.
1812
01:32:18,003 --> 01:32:22,041
So they became very dependent
on the potato.
1813
01:32:22,041 --> 01:32:25,978
And in fact,
the population grew.
1814
01:32:25,978 --> 01:32:28,280
The problem was, however,
that the Irish
1815
01:32:28,280 --> 01:32:31,016
were planting almost exclusively
1816
01:32:31,016 --> 01:32:34,186
one kind of potato -- the potato
they called "the lumper."
1817
01:32:34,186 --> 01:32:38,123
And they planted the lumper
all over Ireland.
1818
01:32:38,123 --> 01:32:41,226
So the Irish had really
made themselves
1819
01:32:41,226 --> 01:32:44,296
dependent on this one strain
of potato.
1820
01:32:44,296 --> 01:32:49,268
And in 1845,
some ship from South America
1821
01:32:50,035 --> 01:32:52,137
was carrying a fungus,
1822
01:32:52,137 --> 01:32:57,142
and it was a wind-spread spore,
1823
01:32:57,142 --> 01:32:58,277
and over the course
1824
01:32:58,277 --> 01:33:00,312
of a very few weeks,
1825
01:33:00,312 --> 01:33:05,150
the spores spread
across all of Ireland,
1826
01:33:05,150 --> 01:33:08,287
and within days of infection,
the fields went black
1827
01:33:08,287 --> 01:33:11,223
and the potatoes in the ground
turned to mush.
1828
01:33:11,223 --> 01:33:16,195
McDormand: The Irish potato
famine lasted for three years.
1829
01:33:17,129 --> 01:33:22,167
In the end, the famine killed
one million people --
1830
01:33:22,167 --> 01:33:26,205
one out of every eight people
in Ireland.
1831
01:33:26,205 --> 01:33:31,176
Pollan: So the Irish famine
is, in a way,
1832
01:33:32,111 --> 01:33:33,178
the great cautionary tale
1833
01:33:33,178 --> 01:33:35,180
of putting all your eggs
in one basket,
1834
01:33:35,180 --> 01:33:40,152
and the great cautionary tale
about monocultures of all kinds.
1835
01:33:42,121 --> 01:33:46,125
It's a parable about
the importance of biodiversity
1836
01:33:46,125 --> 01:33:48,093
and the dangers of monoculture.
1837
01:33:48,093 --> 01:33:50,229
And it's a parable we forget
at our peril,
1838
01:33:50,229 --> 01:33:54,099
but, in fact, we're in
the process of forgetting today.
1839
01:33:54,099 --> 01:33:57,269
McDormand:
And what's making us forget
1840
01:33:57,269 --> 01:34:00,105
is one of our favorite foods.
1841
01:34:00,105 --> 01:34:02,307
Each year, Americans consume
1842
01:34:02,307 --> 01:34:07,112
about 7.S billion pounds
of French fries.
1843
01:34:07,112 --> 01:34:10,349
They are the most popular
fast food in the country.
1844
01:34:10,349 --> 01:34:13,252
Pollan: We love
our French fries.
1845
01:34:13,252 --> 01:34:14,253
We like them really long.
1846
01:34:14,253 --> 01:34:18,190
McDonald's kind of pioneered
that beautiful red box
1847
01:34:18,190 --> 01:34:19,191
and the long French fries
1848
01:34:19,191 --> 01:34:22,261
that have to be tall enough
to kind of sprout out of the box
1849
01:34:22,261 --> 01:34:24,296
like a little bouquet
of potato flowers.
1850
01:34:24,296 --> 01:34:28,300
McDormand: And to make those
long French fries,
1851
01:34:28,300 --> 01:34:29,368
the fast food industry relies
1852
01:34:29,368 --> 01:34:33,238
almost exclusively
on one variety of potato --
1853
01:34:33,238 --> 01:34:36,275
the russet Burbank.
1854
01:34:36,275 --> 01:34:39,278
Pollan: And that's what
McDonald's buys,
1855
01:34:39,278 --> 01:34:40,179
all over the world.
1856
01:34:40,179 --> 01:34:44,149
Because McDonald's wants people
to have the same experience --
1857
01:34:44,149 --> 01:34:48,153
the same beautiful, golden
McDonald's French fries,
1858
01:34:48,153 --> 01:34:51,123
whether you're in Prague
or London
1859
01:34:51,123 --> 01:34:53,158
or Beijing or New York or Idaho.
1860
01:34:53,158 --> 01:34:55,360
McDormand: McDonald's buys
its French fries
1861
01:34:55,360 --> 01:35:00,199
from potato processing companies
like the J.R. Simplot company.
1862
01:35:00,199 --> 01:35:04,336
This is one of its plants,
in Nampa, Idaho.
1863
01:35:04,336 --> 01:35:09,308
The potato we process the most
is the russet Burbank.
1864
01:35:11,243 --> 01:35:13,312
The russet Burbank
gives us pretty much
1865
01:35:13,312 --> 01:35:18,283
the ideal quality attributes,
if we're going to convert them
1866
01:35:19,218 --> 01:35:21,220
into the product
that our customer wants.
1867
01:35:21,220 --> 01:35:24,389
Pollan: So you see
how monocultures
1868
01:35:24,389 --> 01:35:27,259
on the plate lead to
monocultures on the land,
1869
01:35:27,259 --> 01:35:31,330
and that a desire for something
like that perfect French fry
1870
01:35:31,330 --> 01:35:34,166
has a whole, you know,
carries a whole chain
1871
01:35:34,166 --> 01:35:36,435
of consequences, all the way
back to the farm.
1872
01:35:36,435 --> 01:35:40,272
McDormand:
This Idaho farm,
1873
01:35:40,272 --> 01:35:44,276
whose fields extend
for nearly 100 miles,
1874
01:35:44,276 --> 01:35:47,179
is run by Ryan Cranney
and his family.
1875
01:35:47,179 --> 01:35:52,184
Like most Idaho potato farmers,
1876
01:35:52,184 --> 01:35:53,418
the Cranneys sell
most of their crop
1877
01:35:53,418 --> 01:35:56,255
to the processing companies
that make
1878
01:35:56,255 --> 01:35:57,155
frozen French fries.
1879
01:35:57,155 --> 01:35:59,191
If you want to get them in
before they get frozen,
1880
01:35:59,191 --> 01:36:00,192
then we need to keep digging.
1881
01:36:00,192 --> 01:36:02,427
McDormand: So, to satisfy
their customers,
1882
01:36:02,427 --> 01:36:04,396
the Cranneys grow mostly
1883
01:36:04,396 --> 01:36:05,330
russet burbanks.
1884
01:36:05,330 --> 01:36:07,266
Man: That ought to make
good French fries.
1885
01:36:07,266 --> 01:36:11,370
Man: I think there are
other varieties
1886
01:36:11,370 --> 01:36:13,272
that are easier to grow,
1887
01:36:13,272 --> 01:36:16,308
but that's what the consumer
demands, is the russet Burbank,
1888
01:36:16,308 --> 01:36:19,444
and I'd be shot
for suggesting otherwise.
1889
01:36:19,444 --> 01:36:23,382
McDormand: Despite the demand
for russet burbanks,
1890
01:36:23,382 --> 01:36:27,386
the business of growing them
is far from a sure thing.
1891
01:36:27,386 --> 01:36:30,322
Each year,
Cranney and his family
1892
01:36:30,322 --> 01:36:33,292
have to shell out
millions of dollars
1893
01:36:33,292 --> 01:36:37,362
for water, seed, fertilizer,
chemicals, and labor.
1894
01:36:37,362 --> 01:36:39,464
But they have little control
over the price
1895
01:36:39,464 --> 01:36:42,467
their potatoes will sell for
at harvest time.
1896
01:36:42,467 --> 01:36:47,372
Cranney: It's very risky,
growing crops.
1897
01:36:47,372 --> 01:36:52,244
We had some really huge losses
economically here on the farm.
1898
01:36:52,244 --> 01:36:56,248
I don't even like to think
about it, how bad it was.
1899
01:36:56,248 --> 01:36:56,448
All righty.
1900
01:36:56,448 --> 01:36:59,284
A lot of the people
in the community,
1901
01:36:59,284 --> 01:37:00,385
farmers that we grew up with,
1902
01:37:00,385 --> 01:37:03,288
that have been here
as long as we have,
1903
01:37:03,288 --> 01:37:05,457
no longer have their operations.
1904
01:37:05,457 --> 01:37:08,460
Many of us, the only way we
could survive was
1905
01:37:08,460 --> 01:37:12,297
to re-mortgage our farms
and re-mortgage our land,
1906
01:37:12,297 --> 01:37:14,266
and that's how we stayed
in business.
1907
01:37:14,266 --> 01:37:16,268
You can only do --
dip into the well
1908
01:37:16,268 --> 01:37:18,270
for so long
until the well goes dry.
1909
01:37:18,270 --> 01:37:23,241
And many of us have been
to that point.
1910
01:37:29,548 --> 01:37:31,283
Well, it's not too bad here,
1911
01:37:31,283 --> 01:37:33,318
because you're running
enough volume.
1912
01:37:33,318 --> 01:37:34,486
They're flowing
pretty good, but...
1913
01:37:34,486 --> 01:37:37,322
McDormand: In addition
to the economic perils he faces,
1914
01:37:37,322 --> 01:37:40,459
cranney must contend
with biological adversaries --
1915
01:37:40,459 --> 01:37:45,297
the insects, fungi, and viruses
that prey on his plants.
1916
01:37:45,297 --> 01:37:49,368
And his russet burbanks
are especially vulnerable,
1917
01:37:49,368 --> 01:37:51,403
because they are grown
in a monoculture,
1918
01:37:51,403 --> 01:37:54,406
just like the lumper potatoes
were, back in Ireland.
1919
01:37:54,406 --> 01:37:59,444
If an enemy can kill one
of Cranney's russet burbanks,
1920
01:37:59,444 --> 01:38:00,445
it can kill them all.
1921
01:38:00,445 --> 01:38:04,316
My role as a farmer
is to help the plant
1922
01:38:04,316 --> 01:38:05,517
out-compete the different pests,
1923
01:38:05,517 --> 01:38:09,388
whether that be weeds
or whether that be insects
1924
01:38:09,388 --> 01:38:13,392
or a fungus of some sort.
1925
01:38:13,392 --> 01:38:17,429
It's a constant battle
that we have to fight those off
1926
01:38:17,429 --> 01:38:19,531
and to protect against those.
1927
01:38:19,531 --> 01:38:22,534
It's a race to the finish line,
whether the pests win
1928
01:38:22,534 --> 01:38:24,403
or whether
the potato plant wins.
1929
01:38:24,403 --> 01:38:28,340
McDormand: To help his potatoes
win that race,
1930
01:38:28,340 --> 01:38:30,342
cranney, like the great majority
1931
01:38:30,342 --> 01:38:34,479
of large-scale potato growers
in the United States,
1932
01:38:34,479 --> 01:38:36,448
uses chemical pesticides.
1933
01:38:36,448 --> 01:38:40,352
The chemicals the Cranneys use
can be toxic,
1934
01:38:40,352 --> 01:38:42,320
but they follow EPA guidelines
1935
01:38:42,320 --> 01:38:45,557
that establish levels
that are considered
1936
01:38:45,557 --> 01:38:46,625
safe to use.
1937
01:38:46,625 --> 01:38:48,627
Cranney: I don't necessarily
like to apply
1938
01:38:48,627 --> 01:38:53,398
the insecticides --
or any chemical of any sort --
1939
01:38:53,398 --> 01:38:55,434
but it's something
that needs to be done
1940
01:38:55,434 --> 01:39:00,372
in order to keep
the plants healthy.
1941
01:39:00,372 --> 01:39:02,541
Man: We don't use a chemical
unless we need to,
1942
01:39:02,541 --> 01:39:05,444
and it's kind of
by prescription, by field.
1943
01:39:05,444 --> 01:39:08,480
So you just don't go in
and just blanket
1944
01:39:08,480 --> 01:39:12,417
excessive amounts of chemicals
and fungicides on.
1945
01:39:12,417 --> 01:39:17,389
If that potato doesn't need any,
we won't apply it.
1946
01:39:17,656 --> 01:39:19,424
If it does, we do.
1947
01:39:19,424 --> 01:39:22,561
You know, we love
our children, too.
1948
01:39:22,561 --> 01:39:26,398
And we don't want to put
anything on the food
1949
01:39:26,398 --> 01:39:31,369
that we eat any more -- to taint
it for us, any more than you.
1950
01:39:31,369 --> 01:39:36,341
Pollan: You know, the control
of nature is expensive.
1951
01:39:36,508 --> 01:39:39,611
To spray all those pesticides,
to have 10 sprayings
1952
01:39:39,611 --> 01:39:42,447
of fertilizer over a course
of the season,
1953
01:39:42,447 --> 01:39:46,418
to water, to buy all that water
and pump all that water,
1954
01:39:46,418 --> 01:39:51,389
it's enormously expensive.
These farmers are really living
on, on very thin margins
1955
01:39:51,623 --> 01:39:54,459
and very little room for error.
1956
01:39:54,459 --> 01:39:55,594
And, you know, it's easy for us
1957
01:39:55,594 --> 01:39:58,396
to sit here and criticize them
for spraying
1958
01:39:58,396 --> 01:40:00,432
these chemicals on our food,
but the fact is,
1959
01:40:00,432 --> 01:40:02,567
if they were to give up
on a single spraying,
1960
01:40:02,567 --> 01:40:03,535
they risk their livelihood.
1961
01:40:03,535 --> 01:40:06,671
McDormand: In 1995, Ryan cranney
and farmers like him
1962
01:40:06,671 --> 01:40:10,475
welcomed the news
of an agricultural breakthrough
1963
01:40:10,475 --> 01:40:13,478
that promised to cut down
their use of sprays.
1964
01:40:13,478 --> 01:40:17,649
Monsanto, the world's biggest
biotechnology company,
1965
01:40:17,649 --> 01:40:19,651
came up with
a much less toxic method
1966
01:40:19,651 --> 01:40:23,522
for killing one of the potato's
most deadly enemies --
1967
01:40:23,522 --> 01:40:25,524
the Colorado potato beetle,
1968
01:40:25,524 --> 01:40:29,427
which can pick the leaves
off a plant
1969
01:40:29,427 --> 01:40:30,662
virtually overnight.
1970
01:40:30,662 --> 01:40:32,430
Thornton:
Colorado potato beetle,
1971
01:40:32,430 --> 01:40:37,402
worldwide, is probably the most
serious insect pest in potatoes.
1972
01:40:37,602 --> 01:40:39,571
We still estimate that,
you know,
1973
01:40:39,571 --> 01:40:40,505
out in the western U.S.
1974
01:40:40,505 --> 01:40:42,474
And probably across the U.S.
as a whole,
1975
01:40:42,474 --> 01:40:45,577
about 40% of the insecticides
that were applied
1976
01:40:45,577 --> 01:40:48,680
were applied for
Colorado potato beetle control.
1977
01:40:48,680 --> 01:40:52,584
McDormand: Monsanto's innovation
was to create
1978
01:40:52,584 --> 01:40:56,488
a new kind of potato,
called the newleaf potato.
1979
01:40:56,488 --> 01:41:00,458
It was the first potato to be
genetically engineered
1980
01:41:00,458 --> 01:41:04,462
to contain genes from
a different biological species.
1981
01:41:04,462 --> 01:41:08,700
Woman: Genetic engineering is
a radically new technology,
1982
01:41:08,700 --> 01:41:12,671
compared to traditional
breeding.
1983
01:41:12,671 --> 01:41:15,640
It allows us to move genes
1984
01:41:15,640 --> 01:41:18,610
without regard
to species barriers.
1985
01:41:18,610 --> 01:41:23,682
It allows us to move a gene
from a butterfly,
1986
01:41:23,682 --> 01:41:24,749
you know, into a corn plant,
1987
01:41:24,749 --> 01:41:27,619
from a starfish
into a wheat plant.
1988
01:41:27,619 --> 01:41:31,590
McDormand: Monsanto's newleaf
potato used a gene
1989
01:41:31,590 --> 01:41:33,458
from a common soil bacterium,
1990
01:41:33,458 --> 01:41:36,628
one that makes a protein
that kills potato beetles
1991
01:41:36,628 --> 01:41:38,563
without causing harm to humans.
1992
01:41:38,563 --> 01:41:43,635
The bacterium is called
bacillus thuringiensis,
1993
01:41:43,635 --> 01:41:46,471
or BT for short.
1994
01:41:46,471 --> 01:41:47,672
To help market its BT potato,
1995
01:41:47,672 --> 01:41:51,643
Monsanto hired plant
physiologist Michael Thornton
1996
01:41:51,643 --> 01:41:55,480
to be one of its liaisons
to farmers in Idaho.
1997
01:41:55,480 --> 01:41:57,716
Thornton: Monsanto was able
to identify
1998
01:41:57,716 --> 01:42:00,585
the gene in that bacterium,
the BT gene
1999
01:42:00,585 --> 01:42:03,622
that was responsible for
production of that protein.
2000
01:42:03,622 --> 01:42:07,492
And they could use a process
to insert that gene
2001
01:42:07,492 --> 01:42:10,495
into a potato variety,
one that growers
2002
01:42:10,495 --> 01:42:12,497
were already familiar with.
2003
01:42:12,497 --> 01:42:14,566
The beetle eats that leaf
2004
01:42:14,566 --> 01:42:17,702
and gets that BT protein
inside it
2005
01:42:17,702 --> 01:42:20,739
and it disrupts
its digestive system,
2006
01:42:20,739 --> 01:42:24,743
and that eventually kills
the Colorado potato beetle.
2007
01:42:24,743 --> 01:42:28,747
I came from the standpoint that
technology and new improvements
2008
01:42:28,747 --> 01:42:31,549
were a good thing
for the potato industry,
2009
01:42:31,549 --> 01:42:33,752
so I was very excited to see
something that was
2010
01:42:33,752 --> 01:42:37,589
kind of a quantum leap
in technology for the industry
2011
01:42:37,589 --> 01:42:38,556
be introduced.
2012
01:42:38,556 --> 01:42:39,691
Pollan:
The promise here was
2013
01:42:39,691 --> 01:42:40,759
that you could diminish
spraying.
2014
01:42:40,759 --> 01:42:43,662
You might pay a little bit more
for these potatoes,
2015
01:42:43,662 --> 01:42:46,631
but since they generated
their own pesticide,
2016
01:42:46,631 --> 01:42:47,766
you could give up
some of your sprayings.
2017
01:42:47,766 --> 01:42:52,737
And this was very attractive
to a lot of potato farmers.
2018
01:42:52,737 --> 01:42:53,705
We were really excited about it
2019
01:42:53,705 --> 01:42:55,640
and thought that it was
really going to take off.
2020
01:42:55,640 --> 01:43:00,612
McDormand: In 1996, the newleaf
potato began making its way
2021
01:43:01,713 --> 01:43:04,716
into fast food chains
and supermarkets.
2022
01:43:04,716 --> 01:43:07,752
As time went by,
millions of people
2023
01:43:07,752 --> 01:43:10,722
were eating the genetically
modified potatoes,
2024
01:43:10,722 --> 01:43:12,791
but hardly any of them
realized it,
2025
01:43:12,791 --> 01:43:14,659
because the government had ruled
2026
01:43:14,659 --> 01:43:16,628
the potatoes didn't need
to be labeled.
2027
01:43:16,628 --> 01:43:19,597
Pollan: I realized
as I did my reporting,
2028
01:43:19,597 --> 01:43:20,598
I'd eaten them already.
2029
01:43:20,598 --> 01:43:22,767
I'd been in a McDonald's.
I'd bought Frito-lay chips.
2030
01:43:22,767 --> 01:43:25,737
And the thing I learned
that I hadn't been aware of,
2031
01:43:25,737 --> 01:43:27,772
because we hadn't been told,
is that we Americans
2032
01:43:27,772 --> 01:43:30,809
had been eating these potatoes
already for a couple of years.
2033
01:43:30,809 --> 01:43:33,812
Thornton: The potato was
the same, nutritionally,
2034
01:43:33,812 --> 01:43:37,615
had the same level of vitamins,
things like that.
2035
01:43:37,615 --> 01:43:39,884
It just had this one additional
gene that codes
2036
01:43:39,884 --> 01:43:43,822
for a protein that makes up less
than a tenth of one-percent
2037
01:43:43,822 --> 01:43:46,691
of the total protein
in the plant.
2038
01:43:46,691 --> 01:43:47,726
And the decision by
2039
01:43:47,726 --> 01:43:50,862
the food and drug administration
was that,
2040
01:43:50,862 --> 01:43:53,631
unless it's substantially
different --
2041
01:43:53,631 --> 01:43:54,599
unless there's a new toxin,
2042
01:43:54,599 --> 01:43:56,768
unless you've changed
the nutrient profile --
2043
01:43:56,768 --> 01:44:00,872
it does not need to be labeled.
2044
01:44:00,872 --> 01:44:03,775
Now, it seems to me
that the potato
2045
01:44:03,775 --> 01:44:06,711
never before produced
this pesticide.
2046
01:44:06,711 --> 01:44:08,880
So to say that potatoes
producing pesticide
2047
01:44:08,880 --> 01:44:12,650
are substantially equivalent
to potatoes that don't
2048
01:44:12,650 --> 01:44:16,721
seems to involve a certain
suspension of disbelief.
2049
01:44:16,721 --> 01:44:18,723
Hey, hey!
Ho, ho!
2050
01:44:18,723 --> 01:44:20,892
We don't want no GMOs!
Hey, hey!
2051
01:44:20,892 --> 01:44:23,728
McDormand: In the late 1990s,
as the newleaf
2052
01:44:23,728 --> 01:44:25,830
was making inroads
into the market,
2053
01:44:25,830 --> 01:44:29,634
the issue of genetically
modified organisms, or GMOs,
2054
01:44:29,634 --> 01:44:32,904
was arousing intense opposition
all over the world.
2055
01:44:32,904 --> 01:44:34,906
We don't want no GMO!
2056
01:44:34,906 --> 01:44:36,775
Hey, hey!
Ho, ho!
2057
01:44:36,775 --> 01:44:38,777
Man: I want to know
what's going on
2058
01:44:38,777 --> 01:44:40,779
in my body
and my daughter's body
2059
01:44:40,779 --> 01:44:42,881
when they feed corn to -- to us
2060
01:44:42,881 --> 01:44:45,650
that's been genetically altered.
2061
01:44:45,650 --> 01:44:47,685
They don't know.
They can't tell you.
2062
01:44:47,685 --> 01:44:48,887
What do we want?
Safe food!
2063
01:44:48,887 --> 01:44:50,655
When do we want it?
Now!
2064
01:44:50,655 --> 01:44:52,791
Mellon: The BT potato
offers farmers
2065
01:44:52,791 --> 01:44:53,758
reduced cost.
2066
01:44:53,758 --> 01:44:56,661
It doesn't offer consumers
anything.
2067
01:44:56,661 --> 01:45:00,932
And so a lot of consumers,
if they were given a choice,
2068
01:45:00,932 --> 01:45:05,904
might say, "well, it doesn't
provide an advantage for me.
2069
01:45:06,671 --> 01:45:09,741
"And therefore, not knowing
a whole lot about it,
2070
01:45:09,741 --> 01:45:14,746
I might --
I might simply say no."
2071
01:45:14,746 --> 01:45:16,714
Pollan: I do know
McDonald's was getting
2072
01:45:16,714 --> 01:45:18,783
a certain number of calls
and letters asking them,
2073
01:45:18,783 --> 01:45:23,755
"is it true that you are serving
genetically modified potatoes?"
2074
01:45:23,922 --> 01:45:25,957
This is a company,
like many food companies,
2075
01:45:25,957 --> 01:45:28,726
exquisitely sensitive
to public opinion.
2076
01:45:28,726 --> 01:45:30,829
And they probably
saw a potential
2077
01:45:30,829 --> 01:45:34,766
public relations disaster.
They didn't want to, you know,
ruin Monsanto’s business,
2078
01:45:34,766 --> 01:45:37,836
but they very quietly said that
after the following year,
2079
01:45:37,836 --> 01:45:40,805
they would no longer
be taking them.
2080
01:45:40,805 --> 01:45:43,808
And with that,
the newleaf potato was over.
2081
01:45:43,808 --> 01:45:44,776
That was it.
2082
01:45:44,776 --> 01:45:48,746
McDormand: In 2001,
Monsanto stopped selling
2083
01:45:48,746 --> 01:45:49,781
the newleaf potato.
2084
01:45:49,781 --> 01:45:52,917
It had captured only about 5%
of the market.
2085
01:45:52,917 --> 01:45:55,720
Both McDonald's and Monsanto
2086
01:45:55,720 --> 01:45:59,824
declined to be interviewed
for this program.
2087
01:45:59,824 --> 01:46:02,727
Thornton: I was very
disappointed -- to see
2088
01:46:02,727 --> 01:46:04,996
this whole dream
just kind of being shut down
2089
01:46:04,996 --> 01:46:08,700
over relatively a short period
of time
2090
01:46:08,700 --> 01:46:11,002
seemed to me to be a tragedy.
2091
01:46:11,002 --> 01:46:12,770
I don't think it was a tragedy.
2092
01:46:12,770 --> 01:46:15,840
I think it was part
of a very large debate
2093
01:46:15,840 --> 01:46:19,744
about how our society
ought to respond to the use
2094
01:46:19,744 --> 01:46:23,948
of a radically new technology
like genetic engineering
2095
01:46:23,948 --> 01:46:24,916
in agriculture.
2096
01:46:24,916 --> 01:46:29,787
McDormand: But since the demise
of the BT potato,
2097
01:46:29,787 --> 01:46:30,989
Monsanto has been
very successful
2098
01:46:30,989 --> 01:46:34,759
selling other
genetically engineered crops --
2099
01:46:34,759 --> 01:46:37,996
like corn, soybeans, and cotton.
2100
01:46:37,996 --> 01:46:42,000
Entomologist Bruce Tabashnik
has been studying
2101
01:46:42,000 --> 01:46:44,836
the BT cotton crop in Arizona.
2102
01:46:44,836 --> 01:46:48,973
Man: We're in a special
situation in Arizona right now
2103
01:46:48,973 --> 01:46:53,945
where about 95% of the cotton
grown is BT cotton.
2104
01:46:55,947 --> 01:46:59,951
It's being used as part
of a program to eradicate,
2105
01:46:59,951 --> 01:47:03,955
or at least greatly suppress,
pink bollworm.
2106
01:47:03,955 --> 01:47:06,858
McDormand: The bollworm
is as dangerous
2107
01:47:06,858 --> 01:47:09,928
to the cotton crop
as the Colorado beetle
2108
01:47:09,928 --> 01:47:11,029
is to potatoes.
2109
01:47:11,029 --> 01:47:14,832
We have lots of damage
inside the boll here.
2110
01:47:14,832 --> 01:47:17,969
One or more caterpillars
has been feeding
2111
01:47:17,969 --> 01:47:20,038
on the seeds inside the boll,
2112
01:47:20,038 --> 01:47:22,907
which is great for the insects,
2113
01:47:22,907 --> 01:47:27,045
but not good for the plant
or for the farmer.
2114
01:47:27,045 --> 01:47:30,048
McDormand: Tabashnik has been
investigating
2115
01:47:30,048 --> 01:47:32,917
one of the major concerns
about BT crops --
2116
01:47:32,917 --> 01:47:36,955
the degree to which insects
evolve resistance
2117
01:47:36,955 --> 01:47:39,023
to the bug-killing protein.
2118
01:47:39,023 --> 01:47:42,026
Some of his work is
partly funded by Monsanto,
2119
01:47:42,026 --> 01:47:47,031
which is legally required
to monitor BT resistance.
2120
01:47:47,031 --> 01:47:51,069
For years, organic farmers
have controlled pests
2121
01:47:51,069 --> 01:47:52,904
with a spray form of BT.
2122
01:47:52,904 --> 01:47:55,039
But now that BT
has been engineered
2123
01:47:55,039 --> 01:47:59,877
into crops, exposing insects
day in and day out,
2124
01:47:59,877 --> 01:48:01,946
tabashnik has found
that the bugs
2125
01:48:01,946 --> 01:48:04,082
are more likely
to develop resistance.
2126
01:48:04,082 --> 01:48:05,950
Tabashnik:
In the decades of use
2127
01:48:05,950 --> 01:48:10,922
of BT sprays, there's only one
insect that evolved resistance.
2128
01:48:12,890 --> 01:48:17,862
On the other hand, after about
a dozen years of BT crops,
2129
01:48:17,996 --> 01:48:20,031
we already have three examples
2130
01:48:20,031 --> 01:48:23,901
of insects that have evolved
resistance.
2131
01:48:23,901 --> 01:48:26,070
McDormand:
But tabashnik still thinks
2132
01:48:26,070 --> 01:48:27,872
genetically engineered crops
2133
01:48:27,872 --> 01:48:30,875
do more to help the environment
than to harm it.
2134
01:48:30,875 --> 01:48:32,110
Tabashnik: I think that
ultimately
2135
01:48:32,110 --> 01:48:35,947
you can't be absolutely sure
that no harm will come,
2136
01:48:35,947 --> 01:48:40,051
but when you're using BT crops,
2137
01:48:40,051 --> 01:48:42,053
the benefits are
reduced insecticide use.
2138
01:48:42,053 --> 01:48:46,991
The risks are much more
difficult to quantify
2139
01:48:46,991 --> 01:48:50,094
and much more uncertain.
2140
01:48:50,094 --> 01:48:53,031
Ryan: In my own mind,
it seems like it makes sense
2141
01:48:53,031 --> 01:48:56,000
that we could go to more
genetically modified
2142
01:48:56,000 --> 01:48:56,968
type plants.
2143
01:48:56,968 --> 01:49:00,905
That would allow us not to apply
these chemicals on the plants,
2144
01:49:00,905 --> 01:49:05,977
and they would have a natural
resistance to these insects.
2145
01:49:05,977 --> 01:49:08,079
It seems like the logical way
to go for me,
2146
01:49:08,079 --> 01:49:10,014
and I assume someday
it will go there.
2147
01:49:10,014 --> 01:49:13,051
McDormand: But for food crops
like the potato,
2148
01:49:13,051 --> 01:49:16,954
genetic engineering
and chemical pesticides
2149
01:49:16,954 --> 01:49:18,022
are not the only choices.
2150
01:49:18,022 --> 01:49:21,926
Pollan: You know, as long as
you're growing monocultures,
2151
01:49:21,926 --> 01:49:23,127
you sort of
have to choose between
2152
01:49:23,127 --> 01:49:25,063
lots of pesticides
to keep them going,
2153
01:49:25,063 --> 01:49:27,932
or genetically modified crops
to keep them going.
2154
01:49:27,932 --> 01:49:30,935
But if you're willing
to abandon monoculture,
2155
01:49:30,935 --> 01:49:35,940
there are other ways to do it.
2156
01:49:35,940 --> 01:49:39,177
McDormand: Mike Heath,
who grows potatoes in Idaho
2157
01:49:39,177 --> 01:49:41,913
just 60 miles from the Cranneys,
2158
01:49:41,913 --> 01:49:44,048
is an organic farmer.
2159
01:49:44,048 --> 01:49:46,918
Man:
In a conventional system,
2160
01:49:46,918 --> 01:49:48,052
you're trying to control.
2161
01:49:48,052 --> 01:49:49,921
You're trying to control nature.
2162
01:49:49,921 --> 01:49:52,090
We're trying
to work with it as best we can.
2163
01:49:52,090 --> 01:49:56,094
McDormand: While his neighbors
devote most of their acreage
2164
01:49:56,094 --> 01:49:58,096
to the russet Burbank, Heath is
2165
01:49:58,096 --> 01:50:00,131
more of an equal-opportunity
grower.
2166
01:50:00,131 --> 01:50:04,969
Heath: We have 16 varieties
altogether this year.
2167
01:50:04,969 --> 01:50:06,204
So we're pretty diversified.
2168
01:50:06,204 --> 01:50:07,171
As far as I'm concerned,
2169
01:50:07,171 --> 01:50:10,007
that's our main strength,
is our diversification.
2170
01:50:10,007 --> 01:50:13,978
McDormand: Heath grows
norkotahs,
2171
01:50:13,978 --> 01:50:18,950
red norlands,
all blues, and elbas.
2172
01:50:21,018 --> 01:50:23,221
By planting lots
of different varieties
2173
01:50:23,221 --> 01:50:28,059
and controlling pests with
natural enemies like ladybugs,
2174
01:50:28,059 --> 01:50:31,028
he farms without using
toxic chemicals.
2175
01:50:31,028 --> 01:50:35,233
Heath: The conventional farmers
certainly
2176
01:50:35,233 --> 01:50:37,201
know how to farm with chemicals.
2177
01:50:37,201 --> 01:50:41,172
I -- I myself, if I had to go
back to that,
2178
01:50:41,172 --> 01:50:42,206
I'd -- I would quit.
2179
01:50:42,206 --> 01:50:47,111
McDormand: Heath's labor costs
are high.
2180
01:50:47,111 --> 01:50:49,113
He doesn't cultivate
as many acres
2181
01:50:49,113 --> 01:50:51,015
or grow as much food
as the Cranneys.
2182
01:50:51,015 --> 01:50:55,052
But since he spends
next to nothing on pesticides
2183
01:50:55,052 --> 01:50:58,122
and gets good prices
for his organic potatoes
2184
01:50:58,122 --> 01:50:59,157
in specialty markets,
2185
01:50:59,157 --> 01:51:01,225
he usually earns
more money per acre.
2186
01:51:01,225 --> 01:51:03,227
Heath: I used to be really
pretty stupid,
2187
01:51:03,227 --> 01:51:07,265
you know, as far as my neighbors
were concerned, pretty silly.
2188
01:51:07,265 --> 01:51:11,035
But I have
a lot more respect now
2189
01:51:11,035 --> 01:51:14,071
than I did 10, 15 years ago.
2190
01:51:14,071 --> 01:51:16,073
They can see that I'm
still in business,
2191
01:51:16,073 --> 01:51:18,176
and we've got good markets,
2192
01:51:18,176 --> 01:51:19,210
and we grow a good product,
2193
01:51:19,210 --> 01:51:21,979
and I'm proud to be
an organic farmer.
2194
01:51:21,979 --> 01:51:25,283
Pollan: You know, there are
other ways to skin a cat.
2195
01:51:25,283 --> 01:51:28,019
And farmers are figuring it out.
2196
01:51:28,019 --> 01:51:29,120
And they're figuring out
2197
01:51:29,120 --> 01:51:31,989
how to grow food
without pesticides,
2198
01:51:31,989 --> 01:51:34,125
and the key -- the key insight
that you find
2199
01:51:34,125 --> 01:51:38,029
in all the creative farmers
who have solved this problem
2200
01:51:38,029 --> 01:51:39,997
is getting away
from monoculture.
2201
01:51:39,997 --> 01:51:43,067
The answer to the problems
of monoculture
2202
01:51:43,067 --> 01:51:46,237
is not new technologies,
it's not band-aids.
2203
01:51:46,237 --> 01:51:50,241
It's getting away
from monoculture.
2204
01:51:50,241 --> 01:51:53,177
Mellon: I think
if we could learn
2205
01:51:53,177 --> 01:51:56,247
from the Peruvians,
if we could step back
2206
01:51:56,247 --> 01:52:00,184
and appreciate the diversity
that they've given us
2207
01:52:00,184 --> 01:52:01,185
in the potato
2208
01:52:01,185 --> 01:52:05,256
and take advantage of it
in our agriculture,
2209
01:52:05,256 --> 01:52:08,025
that is the way forward.
2210
01:52:08,025 --> 01:52:09,193
Thornton: I think
some of the methods
2211
01:52:09,193 --> 01:52:12,296
they've developed in Peru
to use genetic diversity
2212
01:52:12,296 --> 01:52:17,134
by planting a whole range
of varieties within one field
2213
01:52:17,134 --> 01:52:18,202
is a very good strategy,
2214
01:52:18,202 --> 01:52:22,173
but I just don't see
how we readily adapt that
2215
01:52:22,173 --> 01:52:25,142
to a production system
that not only
2216
01:52:25,142 --> 01:52:27,345
has to feed people
in the U.S.,
2217
01:52:27,345 --> 01:52:29,180
but feed a worldwide population
2218
01:52:29,180 --> 01:52:31,282
with a product
that's a certain quality.
2219
01:52:31,282 --> 01:52:35,219
Pollan: The order
we impose on nature
2220
01:52:35,219 --> 01:52:39,123
is never more than temporary
or illusory.
2221
01:52:39,123 --> 01:52:41,359
In the end, the logic of nature
will win out
2222
01:52:41,359 --> 01:52:46,097
over the logic of capitalism,
the logic of the factory,
2223
01:52:46,097 --> 01:52:47,064
the logic of efficiency.
2224
01:52:47,064 --> 01:52:49,233
It's always been so
and it always will be so.
2225
01:52:49,233 --> 01:52:53,304
Nature is stronger
than any of our designs.
2226
01:52:53,304 --> 01:52:58,276
And nature resists our control.
2227
01:53:07,218 --> 01:53:10,187
For me,
the most important lessons
2228
01:53:10,187 --> 01:53:14,258
to take away from these tales
is that we are not simply
2229
01:53:14,258 --> 01:53:17,194
standing outside
the web of life,
2230
01:53:17,194 --> 01:53:20,097
but that we are part
of that web of life
2231
01:53:20,097 --> 01:53:21,332
and that everything we do --
2232
01:53:21,332 --> 01:53:23,200
what we choose to eat,
2233
01:53:23,200 --> 01:53:26,304
what flowers we choose
to put on our tables,
2234
01:53:26,304 --> 01:53:28,372
what drugs we choose to take --
2235
01:53:28,372 --> 01:53:30,174
these are evolutionary votes
2236
01:53:30,174 --> 01:53:35,146
we are casting every day
in many, many different ways.
2237
01:53:39,183 --> 01:53:41,285
When we use these metaphors
and we talk
2238
01:53:41,285 --> 01:53:44,188
about plants having a strategy
to do this
2239
01:53:44,188 --> 01:53:47,158
or wanting this
or desiring this,
2240
01:53:47,158 --> 01:53:49,126
we're being metaphorical,
obviously.
2241
01:53:49,126 --> 01:53:51,228
I mean, plants
do not have consciousness.
2242
01:53:51,228 --> 01:53:54,365
But this is a fault
of our own vocabulary.
2243
01:53:54,365 --> 01:53:57,401
We don't have a very good
vocabulary to describe
2244
01:53:57,401 --> 01:54:00,371
what other species do to us --
because we think we're
2245
01:54:00,371 --> 01:54:05,343
the only species that really
does anything.
2246
01:54:07,211 --> 01:54:10,314
But to the extent
that you can put yourself
2247
01:54:10,314 --> 01:54:13,250
in the place
of these other species
2248
01:54:13,250 --> 01:54:15,219
and look at the world
from their point of view,
2249
01:54:15,219 --> 01:54:19,256
I think it frees us from our
sense of alienation from nature,
2250
01:54:19,256 --> 01:54:22,460
and we become members
of the biotic community,
2251
01:54:22,460 --> 01:54:26,297
one among many species,
all of them together
2252
01:54:26,297 --> 01:54:31,268
creating this wondrous web
that we call life.
2253
01:54:39,443 --> 01:54:42,446
Explore "the botany of desire"
online at pbs.org.
2254
01:54:42,446 --> 01:54:45,383
See more of Michael Pollan's
interview,
2255
01:54:45,383 --> 01:54:48,419
watch additional video,
and get better acquainted
2256
01:54:48,419 --> 01:54:53,391
with the plant's point of view.
2257
01:55:41,439 --> 01:55:42,406
Major funding for this program
2258
01:55:42,406 --> 01:55:46,310
is provided by the national
science foundation,
2259
01:55:46,310 --> 01:55:48,312
where discoveries begin.
2260
01:55:48,312 --> 01:55:50,481
Additional funding
is provided by
2261
01:55:50,481 --> 01:55:52,450
the Alfred P. Sloan foundation,
2262
01:55:52,450 --> 01:55:54,251
to enhance public understanding
2263
01:55:54,251 --> 01:55:58,289
of science and technology
in the modern world.
2264
01:55:58,289 --> 01:56:01,292
And by the Columbia foundation,
San Francisco,
2265
01:56:01,292 --> 01:56:06,330
which supports the transition
to sustainable communities.
2266
01:56:06,330 --> 01:56:09,567
And by contributions
to your local station
2267
01:56:09,567 --> 01:56:14,538
by viewers like you.
170433
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