The "do it yourself" or DIY concept fits in nicely with environmentalism. Making things rather than buying them or making something new out of things already on hand is a great way to reduce waste and packaging and to reuse and recycle.
DIY is not a new concept but a return to an older, practical lifestyle that existed before post-WWII hyper-consumerism spawned the current excess of malls, megastores, and specialty shops. In those days the average American was familiar with floursack dresses, jury rigging, and jokes about Rube Goldberg contraptions, humorous caricatures of DIY run amok.
DIY resurfaced in the late 1960's and early 1970's as part of the same "back to the land", self-sufficiency movement that also spawned Earth Day and recycling. The Whole Earth Catalog, a directory of environmentally-friendly DIY resources and activist info, which was last published in 1972, is considered a forerunner of the internet.
Today's DIY trend is considered by some afficiandos as artistry because of the handcrafting involved and also, perhaps, because it is more often a personal lifestyle choice than a necessity for many trend followers. DIY may also be considered useable/wearable/edible "art" because of the unique characteristics of each individual piece or product as compared to the soulless consistency of store-bought, manufactured goods.
Some DIY Subject Headings (Click for Catalog Links)
Herbal Cosmetics
Household Supplies (make your own cleaning products) and House Cleaning - Environmental Aspects
Household Supplies (make your own cleaning products) and House Cleaning - Environmental Aspects
Rube Goldberg Pencil Sharpener
Rube Goldberg gets his think-tank working and evolves the simplified pencil-sharpener.
Open window (A) and fly kite (B). String (C) lifts small door (D) allowing moths (E) to escape and eat red flannel shirt (F). As weight of shirt becomes less, shoe (G) steps on switch (H) which heats electric iron (I) and burns hole in pants (J). Smoke (K) enters hole in tree (L), smoking out opossum (M) which jumps into basket (N), pulling rope (O) and lifting cage (P), allowing woodpecker (Q) to chew wood from pencil (R), exposing lead. Emergency knife (S) is always handy in case opossum or the woodpecker gets sick and can't work.
Open window (A) and fly kite (B). String (C) lifts small door (D) allowing moths (E) to escape and eat red flannel shirt (F). As weight of shirt becomes less, shoe (G) steps on switch (H) which heats electric iron (I) and burns hole in pants (J). Smoke (K) enters hole in tree (L), smoking out opossum (M) which jumps into basket (N), pulling rope (O) and lifting cage (P), allowing woodpecker (Q) to chew wood from pencil (R), exposing lead. Emergency knife (S) is always handy in case opossum or the woodpecker gets sick and can't work.
From http://www.rubegoldberg.com/. Accessed 5/30/08.
KS/STA
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