Think the Earth

Naha city in Okinawa prefecture announced that from fiscal year 2008 it will launch a program called "Green Curtain" at its elementary schools. This project involves greening the exterior walls of buildings with climbing plants like goya (Okinawan bitter melon) and gourd.

This project will select some schools in the city to serve as model schools. It will also explore the effectiveness of ecological and dietary education, as well as transmit information about case example of countermeasures for global warming and sustainable urban planning and development to areas not only within the prefecture, but also to other parts of Japan. More specifically, they expect to grow goya and gourd by putting a net on windows and exterior walls. This will act as a blind providing some shade from the sun. They also have hopes that greening will help with the regional development, and also with educating children about how fun it is to grow plants.

"The First National Green Curtain Forum" will be held in Naha city on March 29th to communicate about and to help spread these efforts from Okinawa to local municipalities, citizen groups, and NPOs all over Japan. Goya and gourd are very familiar vegetables in Okinawa and because they grow rapidly, they will contribute not only to help prevent global warming, but also to raise awareness for being more self-sufficient with respect to food.