As with many who have become work-from-home-warriors, I rise to meet the day and make my laborious commute across my living room to my desk. Once there, I begin battling email chains and excel files until my eight hours are over. During the many lulls where a file is not loading or the meeting host is late, I turn to social media to pass the spare moments of boredom. What a waste! Should I get a zen garden? How can I turn these spare seconds into the peaceful glue of a healthy day? 

For this concept, I began by using the existing elements on your average desk, recombined them creatively, added a fish, and output the Desktop Biosphere. The Desktop Biosphere ingests solar energy, fish biowaste, and carbon dioxide and outputs electrical energy, plant growth, and fresh oxygen seamlessly and with very little human input. 

The biosphere plays upon an existing method of farming called aquaponics which is a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture. As the fish consumes and processes food, it produces a waste product which fertilizes and feeds the plants. The plant consumes carbon dioxide produced by their human desk-mate and produces oxygen. The human can further the symbiotic relationship by consuming the plant. 

A solar panel fixture will collect electrical energy and power a tank-bubbler for the aeration of the fish’s water. The relationship between these elements is essential for the survival of the plant and the fish. 

My hope is that the end product brings a little of the childish intrigue of an ant farm or sea monkey to an environment plagued with boring adult problems such as spreadsheets and presentation slides.