Airing tonight on most PBS stations is the documentary version of Botany of Desire, Berkeley journalism professor Michael Pollan's "plant's eye view" of evolution. The story ranges far and wide, from the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan to the underground pot-growing operations of suburban America, all the while explaining how (metaphorically speaking) plants have used us for their own ends. It promises to be an interesting show, but we're still sorry we missed the musical.
How Berkeley Made the National Parks
If you've missed any or all of Ken Burns's latest documentary series, "The National Parks: American's Best Idea," you can still catch all six episodes from the beginning at PBS Online. But hurry: The video streams are only available through tomorrow, Friday, October 9.
As it turns out, at least three Berkeley alumni are featured prominently in Burns's film, beginning with California-born Stephen Mather, who made his millions in the borax industry before becoming the first director of the National Park Service. He graduated from Cal in 1887. Together with his first assistant director, Horace Albright, class of 1912, Mather helped unify the parks into one nationwide system. Finally, Melendez Wright '27, a forestry and zoology major at Cal, conducted one of the first extensive surveys of the national parks' plants and animals.
This is a challenging time for the parks, in no small part due to inadequate funding but also because of the threats posed by climate change. For more on the latter, see Ken Brower's article, "Disturbing Yosemite," from our May/June 2006 issue. And next time you make it up to the Valley, remember that Berkeley grads were instrumental in ensuring the safekeeping of national jewels like Yosemite. Who knows? Perhaps some of today's students will be equally instrumental in preserving them for the future.
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