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A Solarpunk mobile phone, Part 1: A Screen and Chassis made from Wood
Replacing hard-to-recycle materials in mobile phones with sustainable ones is a lot easier than it would seem. A small change in common practice could help build a sustainable, beautiful world. One more step toward the solarpunk future.
Solarpunk, if you’re not familiar, is a genre based on a possible future where humans live in balance with the environment and continue to increase our technological capability. It focuses on recycleability, sustainability, and cradle-to-cradle thinking about the machines, materials, and systems we create. An ideal system of justice that recognizes human/environmental interaction, where we realize that we are part of the world we live in. Stewardship instead of Domination. It also has a gorgeous aesthetic, which helps sell the vision of cities with integrated forests and clean water. Every part is created with the end goal of recycling its materials, or repairing it, when it is worn out. Any technology that cannot be recycled is avoided — this is the ideal. The future of electric vehicles meshes well with the idea of cities, and smart grids, and renewable energy. In this case, it’s easy to see the big vision. While this ideal is big and beautiful, it hand-waves away some of the smaller choices that happen on the aggregate, many technological, about how we all live our daily lives that might not…
