Former Landfill Transformed into Paradise

Today I believe in miracles. I believe that people can change. Here in Daegu I found a miracle, a green miracle. The pictures you are looking at are from what was Daegu's waste landfill from December 1986 through April 1990 where it had 4.1 million tons of waste. It was left to the city to develop this landfill and what this city has done is shown the world it is possible to coexist with the environment.

The city took aggressive steps to deal with the environmental issues. From 1996-1997 the site was covered with surplus soil from construction sites. It was then developed into an urban arboretum with 5 years of planning from 1998 t0 2002. Now 7 years later, what has flourished is 244,630 square meters of paradise, boasting an inventory 1,500 plant species.

When I think that this area used to be a landfill, I looked around at this transformation as a living illustration..it can be done anywhere...people just have to stop saying it's impossible, that it can't happen or that the problem is too big.

The Daegu Arboretum has a global vision and has devoted themselves to scientific research and opens their doors to researchers or laypersons from around the world. To enhance community involvement, they offer seedlings during the month of March (planting season in Daegu) to their local citizenry. offering 100,000 tree seedlings, wildflower seeds, flowering trees, vines, etc. just to encourage the love of nature within the community.

This immense area contains 19 gardens with paved footpaths and a greenhouse with over 200 species of cactus.

Just think, they could have done absolutely nothing, dropped their hands to their sides...declaring the problem was just too big.

If they can do it, why can't it be done in the West?