ABSTRACT
Mined for metal and industrial minerals like clay, the Cornish landscape has been altered by humanity for centuries, and not until the turn of the twenty-first century has there been a concerted effort to rehabilitate the damage. Pits of china clay have dominated the mid-Cornwall region and the wastes generated from the extraction have been immense to the extent that artificial hills have been created over vast expanses of the region and are called the “Cornish Alps.” 1 The goal was to reclaim the mining heritage of this area by not just building a museum as a tribute to what had occurred in the past, but rather to celebrate the prospects for a sustainable future. Establishing a productive economic enterprise, albeit as a charity, was still very much part of the equation for Tim Smit, the founder of the project, which coincided with Britain’s “millennium” development efforts in 2000. Unlike the billion-dollar dome that was funded by the Millennium Commission and faltered into insolvency in 2003, the Eden project flourished and became an icon restoration success. The organization continues to be largely self-reliant to this day despite occasional rumblings of discontent about excessive traffic and congestion from the influx of tourists to this remote rural area.
