Did you know that you can retrieve your step motor from your old scanner, do a bit of sodering to link it to a fan (or so it looked to me) and produce a power generator that will charge your cell phone?
producing new gadgets out of waste is what the Madagascar Institute does. for Hackett, clean solutions are usually exceedingly expensive, and sometimes a bit useless. take the wind farms: the infrastructure isn’t there, so how can we use this source of energy? most of the times, it is sufficient to look around to find solutions to activities that we do everyday (charging a cell phone) but we usually do so by further imparting pressure on our overloaded electrical system.
in a similar way, the group known as Foodjammers, now turned inventors, are finding elaborate DIY solutions to cook food, to grow plants in theaters (see picture), to move around, or just to entertain themselves.
Hackett and the “Madagascar Institute,” Micah Donovan and Nobu Adilman from “Food Jammers” , “Invention Nation” and “somewhatsketchy” belong to a generation of DIYers who prefer to build their own tools by recycling items that are just sitting around rather than buying some new fancy designer gadgets. in most cases, the solutions seem much more complicated than just plugging your cell phone to a wall. However, To people skeptical about the feasibility and the effectiveness of their solution, they answer that it is not all about the product, but about change and education. while not everybody have the time or the patience to become an inventor, it is the message that they hope to pass along: don’t waste, re-use; don’t be mesmerized by consumerism, reduce your waste.
Subtle Technology may have come to an end (of course followed by the hilarious seed bombing workshop), but I am taking home this final encouraging message. I won’t start making my own toasters or my own cell phone charger, but I won’t splurge my money to buy a gadget before I ask myself: what do I need it for?