World is in better place than when Eden Project created 25 years ago, founder says | Eden Project
Sir Tim Smit says the world is in a better state than it was when he co-founded the Eden Project 25 years ago and he believes people are more in tune with the natural world.
Speaking as the Cornwall project celebrates its 25th anniversary, Smit described extreme political views as the “roar” of people fearing they cannot control the future, but said they would fade away when people realized good things were around the corner.
“When people see that part of this future is going to be amazing, they will stop wanting to control it in the same way,” he said.
Smit, a visionary, outspoken and sometimes controversial figure, likened people’s support for Reform UK to a messy night out that they would regret, then leave.
“It’s like people going out for a bachelor party and feeling stupid the next day,” he said. “You wake up full of contrition. And then you think, actually, we should do things in a more moral way. I think this is going to become a more moral time.
“Humans are very strange in the way they think the past has always been a better place. In fact, today is pretty good and tomorrow will be even better.
“People are basically good. Basically, humans’ instincts are those of tribal primates. We like to take care of each other. We like to be gentle. We really love to laugh. And we tend to be toughest only when resources are dwindling.”
Eden opened its doors in 2001 with the aim of exploring man’s place in nature. The growing climate emergency was discussed but was not at the top of the agenda.
Smit said: “The main inspiration was that most people didn’t realize that without plants there is no life on earth. In fact, the Eden Project is a monument to the importance of plants.”
He said the “Holy Grail” in Eden was to create a “story arc” that would lead humans to see the natural world as something they truly belonged to. “So if they damage the natural world, they damage themselves.”
Smit said the situation was perilous. “Our winters are getting wetter and our summers are getting drier. We know that a little change in climate can create things we can’t control. Our consumer culture is incredibly detrimental to our ability to plan.
“We are not conserving our water; we are allowing people to poison it. Water privatization was a complete mistake. It was tied to the dogma of ownership rather than the best use of things for the civic good.”
But he said there is hope, including in the plant world, such as advances in understanding mycelium: the threadlike network that forms the bulk of a fungus, which can be grown to make building materials and clean up contaminated environments.
About 25 million people have visited Eden, not only to wander its rainforest biome but also to attend everything from concerts (next year’s lineup includes the Pixies and Becky Hill) to community events.
“I always thought bringing groups of people together was a good thing,” Smit said. “It’s a spiritual experience with a small ‘s’. It’s special, full of hope.”
Smit said that as an island nation, one of the vital things for Britain was reliable energy.
He said: “I find it absolutely crazy that there is no British vision to become completely energy independent. If you have energy independence, there is nothing you can’t grow. And if there is nothing you can’t grow, that means you have two of the main things – food and energy – under the control of your island nation. regenerate.
Smit was criticized in 2022 for suggesting that Cornish people do not express themselves properly and are too fond of looking back to the imaginary “good old days”. Another of his plans, to build a horticulture, agronomy and cookery education center on a hill above the Cornish town of Lostwithiel, sparked strong protests and was rejected by councillors.
But Eden contributed many millions of dollars to the Cornish economy. The organization estimates this figure at £2.2 billion in 2019 and will give an updated total in the new year, which it says is much larger.
There are plans to build new Edens on the seafront in Morecambe in Lancashire and Dundee, Scotland. An “Eastern Eden” opens to Qingdao, eastern China.
Smit admitted that when Eden first opened, he didn’t like the public to come. “It was our baby then. Now I feel happy. I think it’s beautiful.
“The real magic of the natural world is that the plants have adapted and created the same leaf structures as in the rainforest, which shows that there is a pattern, that a system is in place. Nature knows a thing or two, but the absolute joy of the Eden Project is that the young people who come here feel like it gives them permission to dream.”
