Inside PBS Blog

When "The Botany of Desire" aired last week on PBS you, the viewers, had a lot to say about it. We had a hunch that would happen so we asked producer Michael Schwarz to answer your questions about the film here.

Read his responses below and let us know what you think. You can also watch the entire program again online and learn more about each of the four plants featured in the film.

Can you please talk about the pollination of these plants? Are these 4 essential plants tied to the honeybee? Rose

In the wild, bees play an important role in the pollination of the apple, the tulip and the potato, though marijuana plants can reproduce without them (they just need the wind).  Commercial varieties of apples, tulips and potatoes are a different story.  Breeders use existing parts of the plant to reproduce them. The list of other crops that require some kind of bee for pollination is a long one, including almonds, artichokes, asparagus, avocados, blackberries, blueberries, broccoli, cacao, carrots, cashews, cherries, currants, eggplants, garlic, kale, lavender, peaches, pears, pumpkins, sunflowers, tea, turnips and watermelons.

In the book, the chapter on the potato was far more explicit about the use (and overuse) of pesticides and fertilizers and their disastrous downstream consequences. I thought the show strayed from the book significantly here and missed an important point that is certainly germane, albeit a "hot potato." Peter [Betty, PBS: How did you decide what to focus on, and what to leave out, of the film?]

A two-hour film can’t possibly cover as much ground as a full-length non-fiction book, so we constantly had to make choices about what to include and what not to include.  Our point was not to demonize pesticides or those who use them, especially when they are complying with federal regulations, but rather to explore the choices that ensue from decisions to grow monoculture crops, and to suggest some possible alternatives.

For the most part I found Botany of Desire enjoyable and appropriate for the intended audience. It is not a one-sided rant, nor a highly-technical research article... Patrick [Betty, PBS: Who did you imagine would be the "intended audience"?]

I’m glad you liked it.  We try to tell the story in a way that allows all sides to make their cases as clearly and persuasively as possible, in a manner that’s easily understood by a general audience.

This documentary on the merits of polyculture and humans becoming more literate about our relationships with plants and their relationships with us was an extraordinary production of Michael Pollan's thesis. I look forward to more. Melvin [Betty, PBS: Are you working on any upcoming shows or films?]

We’re developing a few projects that I hope will provide further opportunities to bring Michael’s ideas to the PBS audience.

Seemed to be pro-pot. No mention of harsh health consequences of smoking. Otherwise a fine program. Gregory [Betty, PBS: How do you respond to this criticism about the film?]

We don’t think of the marijuana sequence as either pro- or anti-pot.  It’s about what we’ve learned about the workings of our brains as a result of our long relationship with cannabis.  There’s more information about some of the health consequences of cannabis and other intoxicants on the web site (see the “Altering Consciousness” interactive feature).  But that was not the focus of the story in either the book or the program.