Ring Mountain Students Combat Climate Change

With the help of an award-winning Dutch inventor, students got a crash course Wednesday in an innovative device that seeks to combat climate change by helping plants, trees and vegetables grow in places where groundwater is in short supply.

As part of its effort to bolster its science program, the private K-8 school brought in Pieter Hoff, the inventor of the "Groasis Waterboxx," which was named one of the top 10 inventions of 2010 by Popular Science magazine. The students had learned about the waterboxx prior to Hoff’s arrival and assembled several.

The waterboxx is a small circular basin approximately 20 inches in diameter in which seeds are planted. The box is constructed to trap water needed for the plant to grow but distributing that water in small increments, keeping the plant alive but forcing it to establish its own roots in search of groundwater.

Hoff, a former tulip grower, said the idea for the waterboxx originated with his interest in trying to grow in regions with scarce groundwater. The ultimate goal, he said, is to boost food production and decrease carbon dioxide levels in drouhgt’stricken regions.

Hoff and the Ring Mountain students planted birch tree seeds along the ridge of the school’s lower courtyard, with the inventor instructing each grade on the method of installation.

Hoff has distributed waterboxxes in countries including Morocco, Kenya, Spain and Ecuador in recent years, and connected with Ring Mountain through Petra Veerman, the head of the school’s parent association.