Ark Eden: Mui Wo, Hong Kong

Ark Eden: Mui Wo, Hong Kong

When you think of Hong Kong what comes to mind? More often than not it will be the images of extraordinary density of buildings clustered on the island and creeping up each mountain slope. Every conceivable space in the city is taken up by human activity, commerce and industry. It powerfully demonstrates what human beings can do to influence the environment around them and provides a vision of the complex interrelationship of ideas, spaces and understanding that make up our cosmopolitan modern cities.

But there is another Hong Kong, equally as compelling and telling a complex story of age old connections, interrelationships and mutual dependencies that are every bit as compelling as those we have created. It lies all around the region, on the hillsides and within the islands, it is the rainforest and jungle of Hong Kong.

This week I spent a day on Mui Wo, with Jenny, the founder and inspiration behind the ArkEden programme. It takes a boat ride of 40 minutes to reach the island, leaving behind the intensity of the city the first thing you notice on reaching the jetty is the tranquility of the little community huddled on the edge of the waterfront. Instead of cars, there are bicycles, and footpaths, the noise comes from insects and birds instead of engines and air-conditioning units. We walked together along narrow lanes up and up into the jungle on the steep hillside. Leaving behind the village and working our way along a pathway that follows the contour of a small river with fish darting along in the clear water.

Forty minutes later, way, way up on the mountainside, deep into the jungle, we reach Jenny's home and the base for the programme. it is breathtaking, hot at 35degrees, humid, with cooling breezes that pushes air through the forest canopy the taste and smell of the jungle. There is an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder about the rainforest. The sheer abundance of exotic plants, the trees, spiders, the noises, all combine to bombard the senses to overload. We drink water from the stream and talk about our projects, Jenny asking about Incredible Edible, what we do, what we hope for, what we are learning, and me learning about how Ark Eden works to provide the people of the region with an opportunity to connect with a world which is all around them but also very distant from their daily lives. We walk the talk, on little pathways that weave around the massive forest, ducking under vast spiders webs, pushing aside huge leaves of banana trees and stopping to taste the fruits of plants which I have neither seen nor tasted before. The jungle is a natural food forest. Its abundance serves to feed and nourish the variety of life within it. Plants grow within and between each other in what at times looks like a great big dance of nature, beautiful complex connextions and colours that provide a dense tapestry of life. I am overwhelmed by this place.

Jenny has a wonderful relationship with the forest, built up over 25 years of living there. She shows how there is no need to do lots of the things we seem to need to do to understand our busy world, we just have to stop and observe to see what is needed. By being in this environment you simply connect with this simple idea, in every sense you witness here the power of nature. It is the most profound lesson that i have ever encountered of how we need to think our way forward and ensure that our living environment touches us and guides us to a different future. On leaving Mui Wo, and returning to the bustle of Hong Kong, I understand more than ever why our little project in Todmorden matters, it helps us to see and believe and trust in our natural world, if we can do that then we can make the right choices for a sustainable future.