This story really appeals to my internal geek and my love of the subversive!
With his ‘open sourced blue-prints for civilisation’ Marcin Jakubowski , with colleagues from around the world, is creating a Global Village Construction Set – DIY instruction kits for the 50 most useful machines to support us in living sustainably. Marcin says “When the idea of open source has worked so well for software and creativity, why not try it for hardware too?” With Marcin’s blueprints, he is presenting us with an opportunity to bypass the barriers to a more local, sustainable economy using a few basic DIY skills and reusable materials.
Find out how by watching the video.
This site seeks to explore the heart and soul of downshifting to a more sustainable, ethical and holistic way of living and working, in keeping with the needs of the planet, humanity as a whole and ourselves as individuals. 
Thank you for this positive, exciting and encouraging video.
At the end of a hard week it was great to spend a few minutes considering the potential that we all have …. and can share.
Have a great weekend!
Being a Computer Engineer, I loved this! Thanks for finding and posting it.
5 years ago I bought some plans and build a cute little 3 person boat out of four, 1/4 inch plywood sheets, a few odds and ends of wood, and paint. What a feeling to float on something you build yourself (yes I have life jackets LOL). I have built lots of things, but making something big like a boat – or the machines in the video – make it really a tangible success feeling… at least for me.
I have been doing some projects myself, on a very small scale. Simple things, which have given me amazing feelings of satisfaction. One of them was taking a half hour this week and building a digital TV antenna out of coat hangers and wood and screws. I only bought one coax adaptor part for $6 dollars, the rest were just things I had around the house. It is part of an effort we are doing to find lower cost ways of doing things we like. Our cable TV bill is over $100/month here in the part of Florida we live in, but we have now replaced that with free, over the air TV (picked up by the antenna) and various free streaming sites on the Internet. Store bought amplified antennas run $30 to over $100, BUT they all are terrible. I found the antenna design on YouTube searching HDTV Coat hanger. Seriously, it is 200% better than the ones sold that I and my neighbors have tried, plus it feels good to make something.
The next project is a worm tray farm. We went to a plant show and there were people selling $200 plastic worm farms with 2 trays, the kind you put table scraps into and they turn into soil. Really cool, but I already found some designs online that you can make for $20 worth of plastic containers :)
David – thanks for your comment and good to know that you found the video encouraging.
Jamie – Lovely to read about your DIY ventures and that they seem to have worked out so well. The boat, in particular sounds like a lot of fun. And incredible that a home made digital TV antenna should out perform a store bought version. Good for you!