
Could Boxes of Water Help Reforest the World? - stretchwithme
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=could-a-water-box-help-reforest-the-world
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ars
With this paragraph alone, he has doomed his project to failure:

"Right now, Hoff sells the boxes for $275 for 10, manufactured in his native
Holland, but he envisions local production wherever the box is sold. "I think
it's a disaster that the only people who know how to weave clothing are in
China," he said. Gardening and home-improvement stores could sell them for
about $15, he said."

The problem is that local production costs more. If it costs more it will be
used less. It's as simple as that.

He should pick his battles. Conserving water, and growing trees is awesome.
Let others worry about China, focus on your mission.

My prediction: Unless he gives up this ideal you will never hear about these
boxes again.

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thwarted
The last slide on <http://www.groasis.com/page/uk/principle.php> seems
particularly odd in an idealistic sense:

 _With the waterboxx we can transform most of the deserts into forests_

Deserts are an obvious harsh climate, to humans who live in, uh, more
temperate zones in urban areas, but they are not completely barren to the
point they need to be "saved". All one needs to do is watch the popular Planet
Earth series to see that. Reforestation should be concentrated on in those
areas that are having trouble recovering after we've explicitly removed all
the trees, not areas that never had trees to begin with.

~~~
DennisP
How about the Sahara? Pretty darn barren and a lot bigger than it used to be.

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hartror
One of the major issues we have in Australia is people stealing the saplings.
Likely the box would be stolen as well, mores the pity.

~~~
pyre
Unless they are destroying them or exporting them far, far away, then it's
still a net increase in the number of trees in a certain area, no?

~~~
sdfx
Or maybe they steal them in order to sell them back to you?

~~~
pyre
That may not be good for your pocket book, but it still doesn't decrease the
number of trees in a certain area.

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bh42
_... which argues that policymakers should leave the climate debate aside and
focus on planting trees. Planting 5 billion acres of trees -- about 2.5 times
the surface area of Canada_

That's a lot of trees!

~~~
Groxx
s/trees/boxes/

s/boxes/sales!/

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ww520
Interesting idea, distributed reservoir with a shading house. It should be
produced as cheaply as possible to ensure the widest use. $15 is very
expensive in other countries, and yes, thief would happen. If it's dirt cheap,
no one would care.

Also for people stealing sapling, how about planting unattractive trees? Like
poisonous trees. Nature doesn't care one way or the other.

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WorkerBee
How does he prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the small pools of standing
water?

~~~
ovi256
The pool is enclosed and accessible only through a siphon.

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froggy
The box is brilliant but I don't understand the recommendation to bury the
young tree in up to 4 inches of sand after removing the box. It doesn't seem
natural and wouldn't it stress and possibly suffocate the small roots and
trunk base? It sounds worse than a "mulch volcano". The hemp cloth could be
staked to the ground and a small amount of mulch or nearby soil used instead.

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viggity
The idea is really neat. If you want a really nice visualization of how the
whole thing works you can find it on his website:

<http://www.groasis.com/page/uk/principle.php>

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sliverstorm
The problem is not lack of rainwater. Trees are not mysteriously vanishing, we
are cutting them down.

~~~
hartror
What this addresses is the lack of water once we have cut down the trees.
Because we are chopping them down the way the soil holds the water changes.
Deep in the earth it often raises the water table (which can lead to increased
soil salinity as the rising water table dissolves salts). Critically however
for saplings, the soil close to the surface dries out as the natural mulch and
shade a pre-existing forest provides no longer exists.

~~~
sliverstorm
I suppose I did not really expand upon my point as much as I should have. You
are right, it is a useful development, and may prove crucial in the future. I
am familiar with why it can be needed in areas devoid of trees.

However, it seems that planting trees is like giving a blood transfusion to
someone who has a massive arterial bleed. Yes, you are helping, and it is
needed, but the real problem should be addressed first- deforestation.

~~~
hartror
I'm certainly not saying deforestation should not be addressed but there also
needs to be practical solutions to fix the enormous areas of land have already
been logged.

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JoeAltmaier
$27 for a plastic box? My city gives recycling boxes away for free, about the
same size. No reason these should cost above a dollar or two.

~~~
joshfinnie
Watch the flash video given in a previous comment
(<http://www.groasis.com/page/uk/principle.php>). There is a lot more to this
"box" than what you get with your recycling bin.

~~~
sammyo
Standard mass production should bring the cost way down. As for theft, just
make sure they are free for anyone that wants to have one, the biggest cost
for a big program will be the planting labor. But it will not solve global
warming in the period of any politician so it's unlikely to be funded at the
level really needed.

