Shanghai and Sustainability?

Shanghai and Sustainability?

Shanghai, China. If you know even the slightest bit about this city, you know it doesn’t exactly conjure images of lush gardens and nature abound. Like most major urban centers, Shanghai is host to a dense expanse of smog and pollution that continues to grow each day as all 20 million of its inhabitants leave their greasy carbon footprints – not exactly ideal for an organic home garden. But not ideal does not mean impossible – if neatly trimmed green lawns and sculpted bushes can thrive in this habitat, plenty of other landscaping possibilities should be available. During my trip to Shanghai this July, those beautified lawns were all I saw along public roads and corporate buildings. To be fair, Shanghai receives much more rainfall than San Diego (of the three weeks I was there, it rained for at least one week) and is constantly humid, so plants are easier to maintain. But still, it’s a little disappointing seeing how much public land is used planting a bunch of bushes instead of sustainable, edible crop, especially considering how crowded Shanghai is.

But while there’s not much one can do about public landscaping, there are more opportunities in the home. There are two sections of Shanghai, Pudong (East of River) and Puxi (West). Puxi is the commercial and entertainment center, and is most commonly associated with Shanghai. Here, everyone lives in apartments or condos stacked into hundreds of towering skyscrapers. This is urban Shanghai. Pudong, however, is a little different. I guess it would be considered the suburbs, but recent development has rendered this false in some areas bordering the river. However, drive far enough into Pudong and you’ll find single-standing houses and mansions…with their own yards. There are even a few farms in this area, mostly corn and lotus (yes they eat that) from what I’ve seen. Fruit vendors in Puxi probably get some of their produce from here, though most are probably delivered from even further out, in the countryside. Unfortunately, due to recent government beautification efforts for the World Expo, Pudong’s public landscape has fallen prey to more sculpted bushes and saturated green vegetation pumped with pesticides, but with a bit of education many families could easily start a sustainable garden in their yard. I stayed at an aunt’s house in Pudong for a few days, and unfortunately their backyard consisted of nothing but a few nameless shrubs and weeds.

Fortunately, there are emerging programs and organizations dedicated to helping Shanghai denizens create their own garden, even in an urban environment. A non-profit group called Roots and Shoots, for example, is teaching organic gardening at local schools and shows people how to turn their balcony or windowsill into a small urban garden in an environmentally-friendly, pesticide-free way. Shanghai has a long way to go to organic, as it’s still developing and paving its way in world economy. But in the words of the founder of Roots and Shoots, “Try a little bit at first…start with a small space, gain some experience then expand your selection.”

Read more about Roots and Shoots: http://www.jgi-shanghai.org/ColumnList.aspx?NodeID=2