Indigenous Thinkers

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Navajo teen, looking to reduce heating bills, devises a winner

Betty Reid
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 10, 2006 12:00 AM

Garrett Michael Yazzie pried a rusty radiator out a 1967 Pontiac in a
landfill and invented a solar water heater to warm his mother's hogan.

The contraption is a godsend in his community in northeastern Arizona on the
Navajo Reservation, where temperatures dip to nearly 7 degrees.

Garrett's home, an octagonal hogan connected to a trailer, lacks a central
heating system but has electricity. Georgia, mother of the award-winning
14-year-old, is an employee at Pinon Middle School and calls him "my little
inventor."

Garrett's radiator turned solar water heater placed seventh in the Discovery
Channel Young Scientist Challenge in October. The project also snatched many
first-place awards at the Arizona American Indian Science and Engineering
Fair in Chandler.

It earned a top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering
Fair middle school outreach fair at the Phoenix Civic Plaza Convention
Center in May. The young man from Pinon received an invitation from General
Motors to tour its plant in Detroit.

Garrett, an eighth-grade student at Pinon Middle School talked to us about
his project and life on the reservation.

Q. How did you become interested in science?

My teacher, Douglas Davis, asked, "Who wants to be part of the science
club?" I raised my hand. Then he said, "Pick a project, and we are going
down to Chandler and enter the science fair." I wanted to get out of Pinon
badly, and I wanted to see what Chandler looked like.

Mr. Davis, a special-education teacher, helped me with power tools. He
taught me how to use them and helped me make a box.

Q: How did you know to go to the landfill?

A: Out here, when trucks and cars die, they get parked in somebody's yard or
they go to the landfill. It was a Sunday afternoon my mom and I took some
tools and looked for a car with a radiator.

We went to seven trash dumps. We were looking for a complete radiator. We
found one Pontiac that had everything.

Q: How do you stay warm in the winter at your home?

A: We use a lot of blankets and a wooden stove to keep ourselves warm. Like
the community around here, people cut down trees, haul wood and heat their
homes and use it to cook. They also burn coal from the Black Mesa coal mine.

I've learned that type of heating can ruin the environment, and the smoke
from coal can hurt people and the environment if it is overused.

Q: What type of research did you conduct?

A: I researched on the Internet, and I learned about how a radiator works in
a truck. People drive a lot of trucks around here, and sometimes the warmest
places are in the cabs here in the winter. I thought, what should I do with
it?

I came up with the idea of a water heater. Then I asked myself, how would I
use the rays of the sun to warm the water? There is plenty of that out here,
too. I answered those questions, and that's how my project came together.

Q: What fun activities are available for teens in Pinon?

A: There's plenty to do. Teenagers go to school. I hang out after school at
my cousin's house, and we ride BMX bikes on dirt roads. Pinon has a Bashas',
a gas station and three stop signs. I listen to rock and heavy metal music.

My favorite artist is Slipknot. I read Transworld Motocross Magazine. I
don't have a scientist I admire, but I enjoy building things and seeing how
they work, and I like math.

Q: Do you have other projects in the works?

A: My mother complains about the electricity bill. The highest bill she
received was $156 last year.

Reach the reporter at
betty.reid@arizonarepublic.com or call (602) 444-8049