Molly Philbin is the Education and Community Garden director for the Earthbox Company.

MOLLY PHILBIN: “Kids really get engaged in science in the garden where it’s a kind of fun activity where they’re collecting data and seeing how different temperatures will change the amount of water that’s needed by a crop, so the science concepts come easily.”

JIM TEDDER: Ms. Philbin also says that growing food locally in a container helps lower pollution from burning fossil fuels like oil. Often food travels thousands of kilometers from the farm before it reaches the table at home. A lot of fuel is needed just to deliver the food. Farmers who use growing boxes do not have to plow the land before they plant crops. That saves on the cost of fuel and on the pollution from farm machinery.

The man who started it all, Blake Whisenant, still lives near his farm in Florida. Health problems and age…he is over eighty…now keep him from working in the fields. But he still goes to the Earthbox store nearly every day and enjoys teaching classes about agriculture to visitors. He says he likes the idea of passing along his knowledge to the next generation. Helping to educate the children, Blake says, has been a blessing.

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CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written, read and produced by Jim Tedder. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America. I’m Christopher Cruise.