The Botany of Desire Television Documentary

September 1st, 2003 - August 31st, 2010 | PROJECT

Kikim Media requests $743,316 to produce four half-hour television documentaries and associated outreach programs based on Michael Pollan's best-selling book, The Botany of Desire. The project explores the reciprocal nature of people's relationship with plants. The programs focus on the connections between apples and the human desire for sweetness; tulips and the desire for beauty; marijuana and the desire for intoxication; and corn and our desire for control over nature. The project will increase public understanding of diverse subjects including genetics, evolution, cognition and biochemistry as well as biodiversity, genetic diversity and the consequences of their loss. The project will have a broad impact through a national primetime PBS broadcast, an outreach program targeting adult audiences, and an educational module delivering appropriate content (excluding intoxication) to middle and high school audiences. Knight-Williams Research Communications will conduct the evaluation for The Botany of Desire television broadcast and outreach efforts.

Project Website(s)

(no project website provided)

Project Products

The Botany of Desire Summative Evaluation Report

Team Members

Michael Schwarz, Principal Investigator, Kikim Media, LLC

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 0307967
Funding Amount: 891965

Tags

Audience: Adults | Middle School Children (11-13) | Museum | ISE Professionals | Youth | Teen (up to 17)
Discipline: Chemistry | Life science | Social science and psychology
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Broadcast Media | Media and Technology