EcoTech Intent – DrakeP LorenH

Abstract: We would like to make a project that uses the cardboard boxes that are discarded at the postal center to make planters to start a movement on campus encouraging people to grow their own vegetables and herbs, as well as crops that encourage bee populations.

Description: Our approach would have multiple steps:

1. The social media aspect — spreading the word.
2. Collecting the boxes ourselves to start the movement, but then we would also encourage others to collect and save cardboard boxes for their gardens.
3. We would schedule some events to get started where we would lead others in learning how to make the planters, care for the plants, etc – that way it can start as a community effort which may help it start and stay strong. Community roots is key to keeping the movement alive.
4. Possibly, we could make little starter care kits to send people home with after the event(s) (soil, seeds, etc) as well as multiple easily accessible resources to get the materials, read up on the plants and their care, the good they are doing for the world, etc.
5. Maybe we could make some sort of monument out of wood or something environmentally friendly where people can have their names written on it if they participate in the movement.

Description Part 2: Electric Boogaloo:

Most college students order things online constantly, and are left with various boxes that no longer have much of a use. Instead of throwing the boxes in the trash, or in a random recycling bin that you don’t know the destination of, we could use those boxes to create something better. Discarded boxes, as well as thin plastic (like plastic bags/plastic wrap) could easily be used to make planter boxes. You could even grow food in an old discarded postal box. So not only would you stop your boxes/bags from going to waste, but also create a cheap source of fresh food. Of course, what could be planted would depend on the size of the box, but even if you can’t grow a food source in your small postal box, you could still grow flowers, or herbs of some kind for decoration purposes.
This project would mostly be a DIY way to make food/grow plants with things many people already have or could easily get. It would also promote the recycling of old boxes and plastic bags instead of just throwing them out. Hopefully it would also get more people involved in growing their own food or at least learning how to grow food, which is really an invaluable skill that more people should know. The tech used in this project really isn’t much, but it doesn’t need that much. The purpose could perhaps be seen as using as little technology as possible to grow food, unlike greenhouses which are continuously trying to up their technology to produce more/better plants. The only digital technologies that would be used in the project are the internet and social media in order to spread awareness of events and hopefully create a community of DIY food gardeners on campus.
A secondary goal of this is to plant different things that will help the dwindling bee population. It may be difficult if people just keep their planters in their rooms, but boxes are easily portable and could be placed outside as well. This brings up a possible tertiary goal of the project: Mess with UMaine a little. UMaine seems to not really like people planting things like food, or anything really, on campus. Having food and other plants contained within boxes that could be easily moved around campus might make that a little harder to stop. Of course, the main goal is still to teach people how to grow their own food in an ecologically friendly and cheap way, but if it’s possible to nudge UMaine towards growing its own food that’s great too.

Budget:

Boxes: free (collected)

Social media presence: would need regular upkeep, as well as initial roll outs on facebook, instagram, twitter, and more.

Soil, seeds: 50$ worth of soil for each event, 20$ for seeds and starts for each event, and if we do the starter care kits, some combination of the above things.

Table and space to do event(s): ????