After reading Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, my perspective on our relationship with nature has changed. Replacing my traditional belief that humans are in control of their garden is the new idea that all every species is in charge. I choose the plants, I pull the weeds, I harvest the crops. This is the traditional idea of a human in a garden, where he alone is the subject. However, in reality these plants are manipulating humans into increasing numbers. Pollan focuses on apples, tulips, cannabis, and potatoes, and explores sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control.
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| http://mshallarvadahs.pbworks.com/w/page/38617351/Coevolution%20and%20Pollinators |
One very important relationship that exists in nature is the relationship between flowers and bees. The flower has actually manipulated the bee into moving its pollen from place to place. This is known as coevolution, because the flower increases its number by having its pollen moved from flower to flower, and the bee increases its number by have an abundant amount of hector to feed on. So while both parties are only looking after their won individual interests, they end up both helping each other.
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| http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/guides/the-crops-of-texas/tree-fruit-crops/ |
The apple's sweetness is what attracts us, and bees, into eating it. Since we love the sweetness of the apple, we grow many apple trees. As a result, the number of apples increases, so the apple's plan succeeds.
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip |
Tulips make us do things because of there beauty. We have a desire to plant more tulips because we like to look at them. This is the intention of the tulip, and an important method for the growth of its numbers.
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| http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/colorado-cannabis-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ |
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| http://potatonewstoday.com |
An important question that Pollan asks is "Did I choose to plant these potatoes, or did the potato make me do it?". This is a question that Pollan asks throughout the who chapter. He makes the claim that both statements are indeed true. That we choose the potato because we want to eat it, and the potato entices us to choose it because it wants to be grown in the highest numbers possible. So while we may be remaking the potato to make it as large and tasteful as possible, the potato is remaking us, changing our way of life in a way that will cause us to grow more potatoes. The potatoes have manipulated us into moving and thinking for them
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| http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-wolf-and-dog/ |
One human mistake is thinking of domesticated animal as less impressive than wild animals. For example, people think of wolves as a more impressive animal than domesticated dogs. However, in reality the dogs are more impressive because they have developed something that allows them to increase their numbers, which is being man's best friend. By doing this, dog population is more than 5 times greater than that of the wolves.
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| http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/earth3.htm |
Pollan makes the valid argument that plants are more evolved than humans, despite humans displaying consciousness. Plants have invented photosynthesis, making them able to use the sun as a source of food. Humans on the other hand must grow food and harvest food. Also, plants have developed defense mechanisms, such as thorns and poisons, as well as developed chemical compounds that heal, and make humans want to use them.
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| http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-10/charles-darwin-gets-4000-votes-in-us-election/4364602 |
In Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species, he first starts by talking about artificial selection, in which the humans select the most fit species, or at least in their eyes, to survive. However, he said that human desire plays the exact same role as nature, and that nature chooses the best fit species to survive.
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| http://www.divorcesaloon.com/2010/01/01/new-york-is-global-warming-behind-the-increasing-divorce-rate-around-the-world/ |
Pollan talks about how in a sense, everything is now domesticated, because humans have effected everywhere on earth by affecting the weather. He also says that humans are a part of nature as much as any other animal, and the idea that we have separated from nature is false.
