The one near me took a couple years to really fade. It’s mostly covered by Ivy that grew over it, but anyone could cut it down. Considering the somewhat progressive message I’m surprised nobody did so the day it went up.

Also ask around friends and family - in my experience lots of folks keep a couple old machines they no longer need because they don’t want to throw them out (or pay extra to throw them out) and once folks know you as the old computer guy you might be surprised at how many people message you to be like ‘you want this?’ before they throw something out.

And if that doesn’t work, there’s always free groups like Buy Nothing and Everything is Free online, usually local to your town or city.

Corporations and universities often have ewaste bins but getting access will depend on your circumstances. I find them there, clean them up, and pass them to a local refugee resettlement charity.

Your local recycling center may be accepting volunteers - I’ve been working with a guy who volunteers at our recycling center and he’s been working on setting up a reuse option for all the working laptops that come through. Currently their policy is that all computers must be securely destroyed to protect peoples’ information but if he can catch them and get permission to wipe the drives and give them away then he’s allowed to do so. He also saves hundreds of TVs and monitors per year - he could do more, tons still get thrown out, but they have some tight space limitations at the center and have already been giving him as much space for storage and organization as they can.

Also proplifting is easy as can be with succulents. You can pick leaves up off the floor around the display and just set them on some dirt at home. Next thing you know you have a new plant.

They’re doing their level best.

I don’t even know. I guess folks from the suburbs would call the cops and get an animal control officer to come out if they saw a bear in their yard? But my town was way too small to have animal control - theres like 2 cops and the emergency system switches over to the state troopers at night.

And again, bears live in the woods, of you build your house in their woods they’re gonna walk on your deck occasionally.

We get this in my hometown - people see the place, decide they want to live in the forest. They clearcut a chunk of it and build their house. Then when a bear wanders into their new yard (following the same territory it always has) they call the cops.

Between the massive corporate wealth at stake and the millions of people literally addicted to the product, it’s hard now to imagine governments being able to ban them (and I lived through it).

Beets?

Thanks for bringing me in! Both these articles are great, and both are good additions to resource lists I’ve put together for solarpunk writers/artists - I’ve added the auto engine one to my list of alternative uses for car parts, and the battery ship info to my nautical solarpunk piece. Thanks again!

I’ve only ever bought one new computer in my life (I currently own like a dozen laptops) and I’ve never actually bought a TV. I’ve gotten them all from friends and relatives, pulled them from ewaste and picked them up off the curb. I’m sure this varys wildly but where I am it feels like working electronics are so common and available in our world we’re one step short of just picking them up off the ground.

I’m a huge fan of rom archives! A few years ago I built an arcade cabinet using as many secondhand parts and materials as possible and set it up to run a ton of games on an ewaste retropie. It took months longer to make than it would have if I’d just gone to a lumberyard but I had the space and time, and I was already on the local free groups daily so keeping an eye out for stuff from my parts list wasn’t hard.

Sure! Always happy to hear any recommendations!

Same! I think I’ve only ever paid for one computer, everything else has been hand-me-downs or ewaste. I’ve never had a top of the line machine but I don’t need one for my hobbies or work. Usually when I start a new project I take a laptop off the pile, install a fresh os, and set it up just for that.

The power draw is a good point and definitely something to consider - one of my neighbors recently put a meter on his old one and was surprised to find it drew as much power as his air conditioner. I’m not sure how to balance the higher draw against the environmental cost of manufacturing and shipping and disposing of the TV, but I’m doing my best to contribute as little to the economy as I can, so I’ve settled for being careful to just turn it off whenever I’m not actively watching something. My city has options for sourcing power from green sources so what I do use hopefully encourages more investment in wind and solar in my region. (It seems pretty legit from what I’ve been able to find anyways.)

For private jets you probably want some sort of MANPADS rather than a rifle

This is a really good point! Thanks for the dates that’s quite useful

Sounds like a great location! I’m in a very different climate zone so most of my advice would have been around keeping the temperature warm enough through winter, while it sounds like you won’t have to deal with a lot of that.

I’ve seen some cool designs that made glass houses out of secondhand windows or slider doors - if that appeals I can share some links but it’s a certain kind of look, and Povoq’s suggestion of clear corrugated sheets is probably easier and more uniform. Rain collection from the house roof and greenhouse roof would be very useful.

I’ll see if I have any good links for you

Very cool project! I have a couple questions:

Do you get snow in your area? If it sheds from the house roof that could be an issue.

What is the siding on the house? Greenhouses can get pretty humid/damp so you’ll probably want to ensure it doesn’t/can’t rot the house. It can still be done but it’s good to plan for. If your house is concrete that would be much less of an issue.

Also what’s the directional orientation of the 12x24’ space? You’ll probably want to optimize your layout for sun exposure, so it’ll help to know what parts will be shaded when (such as by the garage) and where the sunlight will track.

I mean, you can’t have everything