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The Eden Project
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If you want a fun educational experience, drive about 400 kilometers west of London to the city of
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Plymouth. Follow the signs until you reach the Eden Project where you will see the 2 largest
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greenhouses in the world. The project covers 120 dunams, full of over 1 million different plants. The
plants in the tropical greenhouse come from rainforests while the plants in the other one from the
Mediterranean region. Each greenhouse has a carefully controlled environment like the one the
plants come from. For example, the temperature in the tropical greenhouse is 35 degrees Celsius and
it's humid just like a tropical jungle.
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Tim Smit started the Eden Project in the 1990s. Smit worried that most people are not aware of the
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results of damaging nature. For example, he felt they don't realize that cutting down trees in
rainforests harms the animals living there and causes changes in the world's climate. He decided to
set up an educational project where visitors could see the wonders of nature, and learn how to
protect them.
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The Eden Project has become popular. 20 million visitors of all ages have already walked 4 hours
through its greenhouses and participated in its educational programs. Smit is planning Eden Projects
for other parts of the world. One project is going to be built soon in China focusing on environmental
problems regarding water. Other Eden Projects are going to be built in Australia and New Zealand.
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Each project costs hundreds of millions of dollars to build because it is very big and
complicated. Many governments and organizations are afraid to make such a large investment. Smit
thinks they shouldn't be afraid because like the Eden Project in England, visitors will cover the costs
in less than ten years. Moreover, he says, educating millions of people about our responsibility for
the world around us has an enormous value that cannot be calculated in dollars.