{"id":62622,"date":"2012-01-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-to-create-demonstration-garden-in-china\/"},"modified":"2012-01-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T00:00:00","slug":"uri-to-create-demonstration-garden-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2012\/01\/uri-to-create-demonstration-garden-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 to create demonstration garden in China"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 6, 2012 \u2013Two or three container ships will leave Rhode Island waters next March for Caofeidian, China containing plant materials and other goods carefully selected by 溏心vlog免费B站 plant scientist W. Michael Sullivan. <\/p>\n


\n\tCaofeidian, the largest man-made island in the world, was formed by sucking and then drying the sand out of the Yellow Sea, creating a deepwater seaport twice the size of the much-heralded Palm Island in Dubai.<\/p>\n


\n\tCaofeidian boasts a 50-square kilometer development zone that\u2019s still under construction. The island is already home to China\u2019s largest steel mill and biggest container port in the world. China designed the island to be a model of an environmentally friendly industrial base. <\/p>\n


\n\tYet the island has some of the saltiest soil in the world. Trying to get something environmentally friendly to grow and thrive there has already stumped two national teams from Sweden and Japan. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cChina is now where the U.S. was environmentally in the late \u201840s and early \u201850s,\u201d said Mark Cheung, an entrepreneur who divides his time between homes in New Hampshire and Hong Kong. \u201cChina wants to grow sustainability and live in harmony with nature and has designated nearly $150 million to accomplish that goal.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tCheung discovered the University\u2019s plant science expertise by chance when he became interested in the 溏心vlog免费B站 Foundation\u2019s boat program and met Sharon Pavignano, assistant director of the Foundation\u2019s Corporate and Foundation Relations. \u201cI\u2019ve become fascinated with the technology at 溏心vlog免费B站,\u201d says the 52-year-old Chinese-born businessman who won a scholarship to college in Nova Scotia and later earned an economics degree. One of Cheung\u2019s companies, Sino Development Corp., is funding the three-year, $100,000 溏心vlog免费B站 project.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe plant material being shipped will help transform three acres of residential land on Caofeidian. Currently, one million residents live on the island. The population is expected to reach 4 million when the island is fully developed. <\/p>\n


\n\tSullivan\u2019s challenge is to turn that moonscape-like site into a flourishing demonstration garden. In addition to its high salt content, the sand\/land lacks moisture, resulting in layers of sand on everything when the wind blows.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe initial focus will be on turf grass and utility grasses that can supply soil stabilization. Sullivan\u2019s plans call for high quality plants that not only possess a superior tolerance to the land\u2019s nearly lethal salt conditions, but also are aesthetically attractive. He will employ a variety of color, textures, and blooms that are reflective of their Chinese environment. <\/p>\n


\n\tFor example, Sullivan will ship cuttings from the Honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos a deciduous tree native to America that resembles the Chinese Honey Locust, but is more salt tolerant. Sullivan will also send 15 different cultivars of spirea, a shrub that\u2019s attractive yet unkempt, good in mass plantings, and has a reasonable salt tolerance. \t<\/p>\n


\n\tThe 500 soil-less plants that will be shipped will receive some TLC in a controlled nursery near the site. Sullivan is overseeing the establishment of the first 100 plants that were air freight shipped there late last month. <\/p>\n


\n\tOne of the acres will be a demonstration vegetable garden for freshness and sustainability, in line with best practices promoted in the states. The acre will be devoted to growing fruits, vegetables, grains, fodder, and beverage crops.<\/p>\n


\n\tThere is zero soil organic matter at the site, a vital ingredient needed to create a more favorable condition for plant development and success. An alternative source was found in Massachusetts: 20 tons of pretreated Boston sludge, heated to 500 degrees and turned into sterile, dry, organic pellets. The pellets, which are light and easy to ship, decay slowly to make inexpensive, but effective organic fertilizer. <\/p>\n


\n\tThese demonstration plantings will be nurtured by both Chinese student workers and by visiting 溏心vlog免费B站 undergraduates who will accompany Sullivan at different times of the year.<\/p>\n


\n\tSullivan joined 溏心vlog免费B站 in 1981. His research focuses on land use management and the applications of science in urbanizing areas. He is particularly interested in management practices and their impact or potential impact on water quality. He has authored scores of articles in scientific journals and is a member of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, and the Crop Science Society of America.<\/p>\n


\n\tIn 2005, then Gov. Donald L. Carcieri appointed Sullivan director of the Department of Environmental Management where he oversaw a broad range of environmental programs, ranging from permitting and enforcement to fish and wildlife, agriculture, forest, open space preservation, and management of the state\u2019s parks and beaches. He left the directorship and returned to campus last January.<\/p>\n


\nMike Sullivan and a Chinese student.

\nPhoto courtesy of Sharon Pavignano, 溏心vlog免费B站 Foundation<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 6, 2012 \u2013Two or three container ships will leave Rhode Island waters next March for Caofeidian, China containing plant materials and other goods carefully selected by 溏心vlog免费B站 plant scientist W. Michael Sullivan. Caofeidian, the largest man-made island in the world, was formed by sucking and then drying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}