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PR firms would start a boycott of Atlantic swordfish. And, in fact, statistically,
Atlantic swordfish stopped being ordered, and it helped bring back the fishery and
it really works. I think there is enormous potential for consumer consciousness-
raising and then consumer action. I think it s actually where it all has to be.
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The Botany of Desire
MICHAEL POLLAN: I agree. To identify ourselves as consumers has always struck
me as kind of a pathetic identity. And we ve all learned about how small that is.
But it doesn t have to be that. I mean, consumers are creators, also, and with their
decisions can produce changes in the world. You can approach your consumption
decisions in a very narrow, self-interested way to just get what satisfies your own
needs or desires, or you can approach it the way Patricia is talking about. We ve
been encouraged in this society to separate our identity as consumers from our
identity as citizens, but, of course, we don t have to do that. We can consume as
citizens, we can consume with a larger sense of what our interests are, or our
collective interests, or the interests of other species.
And people are starting to do that. I mean, that s what the organic label
is all about. Yes, a lot of people buy organic because they believe it s healthier,
which it may or may not be. But many people also buy organic because they re
voting for a certain kind of agriculture. And it s worked. It s been an enormous
success, and it s becoming a very big business. So I actually think that the emer-
gence of that model of consumption is bigger than food. I find that incredibly
hopeful.
But people don t eat the way they do in Berkeley. I mean, there s definitely
a higher consciousness about these issues here. But it s definitely spreading also.
The other side, the other power of the consumer that I ve had some
direct experience with that is worth bearing in mind is that food companies are
uniquely vulnerable, I think, to any kind of action on the part of consumers.
They re very sensitive. Food is tied up with our health, with our very life, so food
companies get scared very quickly.
What happened with the new leaf potato that I started out talking about
a while ago, is that it s off the market now. It has failed as a product. How did it
fail? Well, it s kind of an interesting story. There was a line in my article saying,
By the way, you know, you think this is way out there, but in fact, if you ve been
to McDonald s in the last year, you have eaten genetically modified potatoes. And
if you ve bought a Frito-Lay potato chip, you have eaten genetically modified
potato. That sort of got around, and a certain number of consumers, probably
quite small, started calling McDonald s saying, Is it true you serve genetically
modified potatoes? Now, I ve been told that McDonald s has stopped using that
potato.
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Occasional Papers
CONTRIBUTOR BIOGRAPHIES
Contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, MICHAEL POLLAN
has done a range of work in journalism, environmentalism, and
architecture. Pollan earned his college degrees at Bennington College,
Oxford University (Mansfield College), and Columbia University, where
he received a masters in English in 1981. He served for many years as
executive editor for Harper's magazine.
Pollan s first book, Second Nature: A Gardener's Education (1991),
and his most recent, The Botany of Desire (2001), are among his many
works that examine the intersections between science and culture. Pollan
has given lectures on environmentalism, gardening, and nature at the
Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the New York Public Library, the Harvard
Graduate School of Design, and the New York Botanical Garden.
IGNACIO CHAPELA is Assistant Professor of Microbial Ecology in the
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at
Berkeley. He is also the founder of The Mycological Facility, a facility
dealing with questions of natural resources and indigenous rights,
based in and run by indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. His
publications include academic work and various media collaborations
with journalists worldwide, including documentaries and news media.
Chapela has worked for the pharmaceutical/agrochemical industry as a
scientific researcher, as well as with the Agricultural Research Service of
the USDA. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Pesticide
Action Network, an international civic group dedicated to the promo-
tion of alternatives to the use of pesticides.
CATHERINE GALLAGHER is Eggers Professor of English Literature at the
University of California at Berkeley, where she has taught since 1980.
Her books include The Industrial Reformation of English Fiction: Social
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