Roots & Shoots: Hooked by the call of the wild, er, garden

You might imagine that if you asked a Chinese school kid how she’d most like to spend her free time, she’d say something properly Gen-Y like surfing Youku.com while snacking on KFC. However, an ambitious program by global environmental NGO Roots & Shoots is providing some miraculous evidence that if children are given a taste of the natural, organic world, they’re quickly hooked by the call of the wild.

Get with the program

Roots & Shoots officially launched their Organic Garden Program in Shanghai just last year, but already 37 schools, both local and international, have signed up, and hundreds of students are knee-deep in their own schoolyard gardens, getting dirty hands and green thumbs.

The mantra of “local, sustainable and organic” eating may be something that foodies in the West take for granted. In Shanghai, this is a brand new concept for young students.

At the International Language Middle School, young urbanite students all have a favorite memory from a semester of gardening: Twelve-year-old Cai Zhiheng says, “I like the time of sowing most. It’s a beginning full of hope.”

Her classmate Dong Yifei quickly adds: “Every afternoon I water the plants and I remember the first time when I saw a green sprout coming up, I was so excited!”

The knowledge these students have gained in a single semester with this Roots & Shoots program is impressive. Eighth grade students describe the environmental degradation caused by factory farming, and the health and transportation advantages of eating local, sustainable food.

Meanwhile over at Jincai High School, students are so energized about organic ideas they have given a lecture at a Shanghai technology conference, won a school-wide award for a gardening project, and even convinced their parents to buy more organic foods.

How it works

Any interested school which has a small plot of land for a garden can sign up for the Roots & Shoots Organic Garden Program.

Schools are assigned a volunteer who will visit once a week to plant a garden with students, starting from the very first tilling of the soil all the way to harvest day, and even including starting a composting pile. The volunteers also give lessons on the basics of organic science and health.

Local farms BIOfarm, Tongchu Organics and Shanghai Organics provide expert help and seeds.

On a visit in late spring to Jincai High School, students had just taken their all-important final exams. After a full day of tests they were exhausted. But as soon as the Roots & Shoots gardening project was mentioned, they began talking with animation. When they gave a tour of their garden, the group threw off their bags, ran to get rakes and hoes and unbidden, began turning over the soil to prepare for the next planting.

Qin Tianhong, 16, says: “In the past I only knew that organic food was more expensive but I didn’t know why. Now I understand. I’d like to teach more people the concepts of being environmentally friendly. China is a big agricultural country, but many people have misunderstandings about organic foods. I want to try to correct people’s misunderstandings.”

New school year, new lessons

A few months later, in late September, a full busload of Roots & Shoots volunteers prepared for the new semester with a visit to BIOfarm for an organic workshop which included tilling soil, touring greenhouses and learning how to stomp out bugs without the aid of chemical pesticides.

The eager group, including dozens of local college students and several American expats, will soon fan out to schools across the city to plant new gardens, and new ideas.

Roots & Shoots is not only changing the way Shanghai school children think about food and how it’s grown, it’s even converting their teachers: “In the beginning I knew nothing about organics either. When I first heard they wanted to plant a garden, the first thing I thought was: it’s going to smell!” says Jincai High School teacher Chu Yi. “But a science teacher told me it was okay to farm at the school and after we started, I learned along with the students. Actually, I grew along with this garden, too.”

getting there

Roots & Shoot organic gardening program
grace.cao@jgi-shanghai.org
+86 21 5306 0001 ext. 870
www.jgi-shanghai.org