Eden Project Research Paper

The Eden Project – making a connection

John Blewitt* University of Exeter
Abstract The Eden Project is a major tourist attraction and learning environment. Three quarters of its visitors are on holiday travelling to Cornwall from beyond the South West region. The informal learning experiences fashioned for them are intended to offer pleasure, meaning and ecological significance. It strives to reach people by connecting and resonating with their everyday lives in a range of complementary and experimental ways. It is an exercise in edutainment. This paper examines the intentions, perceptions and expectations of the education and design team at Eden whose work since 2000 has informed the physical, cultural and ‘educational’ context of the
Although there is no straightforward division into camps as Gable (1996) found in his research on Colonial Williamsburg there is certainly a spectrum of attitudes ranging from highly committed deep green environmentalism to matter-of-fact pragmatism. When asked what is the Eden Project all about one guide told me ‘that is the question I find most difficult to answer’ and another said simply, ‘some guides push the core message more than others’. Their understanding and promotion of the greener messages vary in accordance to their own deep or shallow commitments, knowledge or interest. Eden’s approach is both pragmatic and principled. For instance at the launch of the Waste Neutral programme in the spring of 2004 Tim Smit spoke of the need for cultural change, for the opportunity to learn from its suppliers, to be a model learning organization and to model sustainable change. The Project will not compel changes by flexing its sub-regional economic muscle or forcing pro-environmental changes through its contractual arrangements with local businesses even though it possibly could. Rather, it proffers information, inspiration and choice. With a core message pervading the whole organization Eden aims to produce a ‘total experience’ for the visitor already familiar in the ‘superstar museum’ (Frey,1998). Eden’s retail outlet sells branded goods ranging from books on organic horticulture to locally caught ‘Eden Project’ tinned pilchards. The food in its restaurant is either locally sourced or organic. Its plant catalogue, launched in February 2004, sells plants ‘with stories to tell’ about global conservation and species protection. The Project has its own publishing house and many products sold in the shop display the Eden logo though the Project neither formally endorses nor certifies merchandise. Many goods are clearly linked to environmental issues. Jo