Stefan Trego
Biomedical Studies
March 7, 2014
Pollan Response
From apples to tulips to marijuana, it may seem that capitalism and demand has driven
the propagation of these (mostly) freely growing plants. A symbiotic relationship has developed
between humans and plants that have accelerated the process of growing, selling, and
distribution on a global scale.
Plants can be viewed as natures biggest manipulators — they trick humans into planting
them, genetically modifying them for better performance, grafting them for enhanced sweetness,
and/or depriving them of cross pollination to enhance the chemical effectiveness of the plant. In
the twenty-first-century, commerce is the main force behind distribution and profit in the world.
The plants described in The Botany of Desire take advantage of this circulation by presenting
qualities that humans love and crave: colorful, beautiful, sweet, crisp, wholesome, savory, and
producing a great high.
The tulip for instance — is a beautiful flower that was first cultivated in Persia around the
10th century. The tulip is a flower that wasn’t harvested and produced because it appealed to
birds, bee’s, or other animals — but because it visually appealed to us. The reasoning behind the
appeal was due to the intricate colors, designs, and symmetry that made this tall, narrow plant so
beautiful. Between 1634-1637, the tulip had manipulated the Dutch into a frenzy, which grew to
become one of the largest investment bubbles in history. Tulip bulbs were purchased and traded
like expensive jewelry and considered an elite status symbol. The tulip at the time became one of
the best investment commodities in the world. One of the best ways for the Dutch to display their
wealth during that time was planting tulips in large gardens, which displayed a variety of
intricate colors and patterns. Fast forwarding to the 21st century, the Dutch are still in love with
the tulip and it is still a money driven product which is grown on land-plots at an incredible scale
to fuel the worlds demand. Distribution of these plants must also be executed very quickly. Once
a tulip has been cultivated, it will lose fifteen-percent of its value by the next day. The process of
harvesting tulips, storing them temporarily, and rapidly shipping them to customers within a
short time for a plant that has no practical value requires a lot of human energy. This is
especially impressive for a plant that has such a short expiration date and has no practical value
other than being aesthetically beautiful to the eye.
Cannabis, also known as marijuana, is a plant that has no beautiful flower, sweet or
savory taste, or wholesome benefit. Its main purpose is inducing intoxication by altering the
chemicals in the brain. Continuing the manipulation of humans, the cannabis plant has convinced
humans to plant and distribute itself all around the world for the evolutionary characteristic of
providing an altered consciousness that is obtained by smoking or ingesting the plant. Like the
tulip, commerce is a large component driving the sale and consumption of cannabis —
conversely, it is also illegal. Recently, a number of states have made the use of medical
marijuana legal that includes: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware,
Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and even Washington D.C..
Only two-states have legalized recreational use of Marijuana: Washington and Colorado. Due to
the stringent laws facing those who grow and consume marijuana, over 740,000 individuals are
arrested for cannabis consumption, which costs taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually. The
function of cannabis in societies was not only recreational, but also medicinal, and used in
applications such as: reducing pain, reducing nausea that arises from chemotherapy, and easing
muscle spasticity. Marijuana production has developed into a global enterprise that requires a
vast amount of human energy. Because marijuana is a global industry, the market is lucrative —
economists, reformists, law enforcement, and the pro-marijuana lobby have calculated global
sales from marijuana range from $10 billion to $120 billion annually. These are huge numbers
for a plant that has no nutritional or practical value. Like the tulip, cannabis has developed a way
to entice humans into growing at a global scale, spurring controversy, and inducing an altered
state of mind.
The apple is a fruit that isn’t harvested for a beautiful flower or mind-altering chemical,
but for its sweet, crisp, and wholesome satisfaction. The apple got its start in America from John
Chapman, better known as Jonny Appleseed, an early entrepreneur when it came to growing
apples commercially. Johnny Appleseed traveled through the Ohio River Valley, planting and
selling apple trees to settlers. According to Pollan, “Johnny Appleseed likened himself to a bee
— like a bee, was spreading these plants around.” He was a very forward thinking individual
that, in anticipation of locating an area that expected incoming settlers, would clear a section of
land and set-up a nursery of apple tree saplings. By the time settlers arrived he would have
saplings to sell to the settlers for a few cents a piece — this became a very lucrative business
model for Johnny. As apples became more mature, they started to become developed for hard
cider. Hard cider, a form of alcoholic beverage, can also elicit changes in brain function similar
to cannabis. Cider was heavily consumed by early pioneers and into the 1800s. By the 1830s,
cider became consumed so heavily that it evolved into a drink that was vilified much like
cannabis in the 1960s. Even though sour-types of apples produced an acidity that was processed
specifically for cider — there was a sweeter side of the apple that was still consumed for food.
As the sweet apple evolved it became rebranded as a wholesome food — “an apple a day keeps
the doctor away.”
During the 1960s, the apple developed into a smaller subset that could be found in
grocery stores across America. This vacuum of a market made it commercially easier for
marketers of the apple and created a monoculture that produced a small amount of genetic
varieties that adversely turned the apples into an easier target for pests. Shifting away from the
monoculture production model, walk into any Wegmans grocery store and you’ll see that the
current customer has access to Empires, Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Red Delicious,
Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Acey Macs, SweeTangos, Braeburns, Crispins, Macouns, Rainers,
and Jonagolds, just to name a few. This essential biodiversity of sweet, edible apples has given
the fruit genetic fruition. There are endless varieties of apples that are being produced for
consumption, cider, ingredients, and other edible forms. From a commercial standpoint, this is
incredibly valuable to the apple-farming infrastructure. Like the tulip and marijuana, apples are
being purchased and distributed worldwide. According to the World Apple and Pear Association,
as of 2012, the United States has imported 183,453 tons of apples. On a global scale, the total
imports of apples exceeded 8 million tons of apples. Like tulips and cannabis, apples are also
heavily valued and internationally distributed. In contrast to cannabis and tulips, they are
incredibly practical and a building block to a healthy diet.
According to Michael Pollan, “In the end, the logic of nature will win out over the logic
of capitalism, the logic of the factory, and the logic of efficiency. It has always been so, and it
will always be so. Nature is stronger than any of our designs and nature will always resist our
control.” From the incredible popularity of the beautiful symmetric tulip, the addictive
controversial cannabis plant, to the sweet-sour acidic apple — it’s truly amazing to ponder the
expansion of a plant that may have been isolated to a specific region but instead, drastically
globalized and became the fibers of commerce. Legal or illegal, plants will always manipulate
humans and resist their control in every step of the way.
Works Cited
"20 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org." ProConorg
Headlines. N.p., 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
<http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881>.
"NORML.org - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws." About Marijuana. N.p., 9 Mar. 2014.
Web. 10 Mar. 2014. <http://norml.org/marijuana>.
"State Marijuana Laws Map." State Marijuana Laws Map. N.p., 9 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 Mar.
2014. <http://www.governing.com/gov-data/state-marijuana-laws-map-medicalrecreational.html>.
"THE WORLD APPLE AND PEAR ASSOCIATION." WAPA. N.p., 9 Mar. 2014. Web. 10
Mar.
2014. <http://www.wapa-association.org/asp/index.asp>.