The Eden Project (and how environmental education should be fun as well as valuable!)

Our favourite facts about Eden

Before we get into how this incredible place came to be, let’s look at some of the surprising, funny and frankly mind-boggling facts we’ve learned about the Eden Project over our many trips there…

• • The Eden Project is home to over 1,000 plant species and 2 million plants in total, plus birds, lizards, and insects.

• • The biomes and gardens take up a space equivalent to 35 football pitches.

• • The Eden Project uses around 30,000 litres of water per day. However, what’s even more remarkable is that over two-thirds of that is recycled rainwater.

• • Eden is home to some of the weirdest plants in the world. One of the most famous being the Titan Arum. And why is this plant so special?

    • • There are less than 1,000 titan arums in the whole world.
    • • It takes years to grow but only blooms for 2 days. When it does bloom, it doesn’t smell like perfume either… titan arums are famous for their powerful smell of rotting flesh. Because of this, it’s often called the ‘corpse flower’. Yuk!
    • • This stinky plant is the largest of its type and it even produces heat as it grows. The dedicated team at Eden had to pollinate it using paintbrushes on long sticks, dipped in pollen.
    • • The titan arum at Eden once grew to 291cm—only 19cm off of the world record!

There are too many amazing facts to list and we love learning more with our students on every new visit.

The origins of the Eden Project

The land north of St Austell was a china-clay mining territory for centuries. However, many were abandoned as deposits dwindled in the early 1900s. Much of the area became a barren wasteland, deserted for decades.

That was until the late 1990s when a small group of climate and biodiversity champions decided to embark on an exciting new adventure. They bought up one of these abandoned china-clay pits and hatched a plan. They had an important vision to demonstrate to people how our most derelict wastelands can be reborn into a place where nature and life can flourish once again.

The build was a huge challenge. They achieved a new World Record for the amount of scaffolding used: 370 kilometres in total! Not to mention the ruthless weather conditions. Over the space of 90 days, around 43 million gallons of rainwater fell during the build.

However, the team persevered and by 2001, Eden was opening its doors to its very first visitors. The first of millions.