Meet Jasmine, a seasoned mentor at the ReLeaf Cooperative in Austin. The cooperative had just received a bonanza of e-waste from circa 2023. Eager to seize the opportunity, Jasmine gathered her mentees around her to teach them how to repurpose this electronic treasure.
The sunlit workshop bustled with anticipation as Jasmine began. "We're going to breathe new life into discarded technology," she explained, a spark in her eyes. "Today, we're making a soil moisture controller."
First, they needed the right components. Digging through the pile of e-waste, they found an Arduino Uno, a soil moisture sensor, and a normally-closed solenoid valve. Some of the mentees also salvaged wires and resistors.
Jasmine connected the Arduino to a computer, installed the IDE, and ran a simple 'blink' sketch. Satisfied it was functional, she moved onto the soil moisture sensor. She carefully wired it to the Arduino, explaining as she went. "VCC to power, GND to ground, SIG to A0."
Next, she held up a small solenoid valve. "This will control the water flow," she explained. Jasmine connected it to the Arduino, linking one wire to the D2 pin and the other to the ground.
In the hustle and bustle of assembly, one mentee found a discarded battery that could power their system. With everything connected, Jasmine turned to write the code. The mentees watched in awe as she set up a program to monitor the soil moisture and trigger the valve.
Finally, it was time to test their creation. Jasmine placed the sensor into a pot of dry soil, and the valve opened, letting water through. When she added water to the pot, the valve closed. A cheer went around the room.
The atmosphere was jubilant as the session drew to a close. Then, something odd happened. One mentee was scanning a standard Arduino and suddenly looked puzzled. "This one's showing as already having a Life Story metadata ID," he announced, holding up the screen for everyone to see.
The room fell silent. The ID was supposedly unique, assigned only when an item joined the ReLeaf program. This piece of e-waste had come from the past but bore the mark of ReLeaf's future. Was it a glitch? A secret message? Or had it time-travelled?
As the workshop buzzed with speculation, Jasmine looked at the screen, the cliffhanger to their solarpunk story. "Well," she said, a twinkle in her eye, "looks like we've got a mystery to solve."
To be continued...