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Michael Pollan (b. 6 February 1955) is a professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism.

Pollan is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, a former executive editor for Harper's Magazine, and author of four books: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World (2001), A Place of My Own (1997), and Second Nature: A Gardener's Education (1991). He is married to painter Judith Belzer.

Pollan received a BA from Bennington College, and continued his studies at Mansfield College at Oxford University and Columbia University, where he earned his master's degree in English and was awarded a President's Fellowship as a PhD student.

His recent work has dealt with the practices of the meat industry, and he has written a number of articles regarding the trends of American agriculture.

He has received the Reuters World Conservation Union Global Awards in environmental journalism, the James Beard Foundation Awards for best magazine series in 2003, and the Genesis Award from the American Humane Association. His articles have been anthologized in Best American Science Writing (2004), Best American Essays (1990 and 2003), and the Norton Book of Nature Writing.

Pollan is the brother of actress Tracy Pollan and the brother-in-law of Michael J. Fox, Tracy's husband.

[edit] Books

In his latest book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan writes about the destructiveness of how food is now grown by modern agribusiness. According to Pollan, agribusiness has lost touch with the natural cycles of farming, wherein livestock and crops intertwine in mutually beneficial circles. Intensive petrochemical use underscores Pollan's analysis of modern agribusiness, but the overuse of corn itself, for everything from fattenning up cows to massive production of corn oil, high-fructose corn syrup and other corn derivatives, is the focus of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. He describes the inefficiencies and other drawbacks of factory farming, and assesses organic food production and what it is like to actually hunt and gather food. He blames those who set the rules (i.e., politicians in Washington, D.C., bureaucrats at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), profiteers on Wall Street, and agricultural conglomerates like Archer Daniels Midland) for the destructive and precarious agricultural system that have wrought havoc upon the diet, nutrition and well being of Americans. On the other hand, Pollan finds hope in Joel Salatin's farm "Polyface" in Virginia, which he sees as a model sustainable commercial farm.

In Botany of Desire, Pollan explores the concept of co-evolution, specifically of mankind's evolutionary relationship with four plants: apples, tulips, marijuana and potatoes, from the dual perspectives of both humans and the plants themselves. He uses case examples that fit the archetype of four basic human desires, demonstrating how each of these botanical species are selectively grown, bred, and genetically engineered. The apple reflects the desire for sweetness, the tulip beauty, marijuana intoxication, and the potato control. Pollan then unravels the narrative of his own experience with each of the plants, which he then intertwines with a well-researched exploration into their social history. Each section presents a unique element of human domestication, or the "human bumblebee" as Pollan calls us. The stories in each part are varied, often fascinating, even hilarious. These range from the true story of Johnny Appleseed to Pollan's first-hand research with sophisticated marijuana hybrids in Amsterdam, to the alarming and paradigm-shifting possibilities of genetically engineered potatoes.

[edit] External links

• MichaelPollan.com - homepage
• NewYorker.com - 'Paradise Sold: What are you buying when you buy organic?' Steven Shapin The New Yorker (May 15, 2006)
• NPR.org - 'A Plant's-Eye View Of The World' (interview with Michael Pollan), Ketzel Levine, NPR (2003)
• NPR.org - 'How Food Finds its Way to Your Plate', Talk of the Nation (Nov '06)
• MotherJones.com - "No Bar Code," an excerpt from Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma
• PBS.org - 'Modern Meat' (Michael Pollan interview), PBS
• Salon.com - 'We are what we eat: The Omnivore's Dilemma author Michael Pollan on how Wall Street has driven America's obesity epidemic, the misleading labels in Whole Foods, and why we should spend more money on food' (book review), Ira Boudway, Salon.com
• SierraClub.org - 'The Cheapest Calories Make You the Fattest: A "food-chain journalist" looks for stories in our meals' (interview with Pollan), Helen Wagenvoord, Sierra Club (September, 2004)
• TruthDig.com - 'Michael Pollan: The Truthdig Interview: Michael Pollan, best-selling author and Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley', Blair Golson, Truthdig (April 11, 2006)
• WashingtonPost.com - 'You Are What You Eat: A journalist traces the meal on his plate back through the food chain' (The Omnivore’s Dilemma book review), Bunny Crumpacker, Washington Post (April 9, 2006)
• Grist.org - 'Let's Make a Meal: Michael Pollan digs into the mysteries of the U.S. diet in The Omnivore's Dilemma', Tom Philpott, Grist Magazine (April 13, 2006)
• Article: An Animal's Place by Michael Pollan