3

SPARK

Letters

REGULAR

EARTH SONG

Thanks for the recycling focus of last

issue. There’s something about the

disposable nature of a lot of making,

3D printing in particular, that makes

me feel uncomfortable. Maybe it was

seeing David Attenborough’s Blue

Planet 2 and watching all the plastic

being thrown in the oceans, but I

don’t want to contribute to that by

printing extra plastic objects when I

can use scrap wood or recycled metal.

There are plenty of projects to keep

me busy so I don’t need to clog up the

world with more 3D printing. I hope to

see more environmental subjects in

HackSpace mag in the future.

David

Wharfedale

Ben says We know how you feel,

when you’re throwing away your

third failed print at the weekend it

can feel like you’re wasting plastic,

but in reality 3D printing is going to

save a lot more waste than it creates.

Think of all those appliances that

get thrown away because one fitting

has snapped – just one little bit of

printing could

save a whole

load of waste

materials, not

to mention

the energy

that goes into

manufacturing

and shipping

the thing.

MAKE THAT CHANGE

Your Humanitarian Makers piece in

issue 3 showed what making is all about:

the DIY ethos that means you can see a

problem and fix it for yourself without

waiting for someone else to come

along and tell you what to do. There’s

something about the independence

of it that I really love. It’s not about

saving money on parts or whatever, but

about the feeling of accomplishment

you get from taking ownership of

something that’s broken and turning

it into something that works. Humans

are amazing – the more tools we put in

the hands of humans to fix their own

problems, the better off we’ll all be.

Helen

South Shields

DEAD TREES

Is it just me who pays for a print

subscription and then ends up

reading it on my iPad? The printed

magazines look too good to mess

up by turning the pages, and by the

time the magazines have arrived

round here, I’m already halfway

through the PDF version. I do the

same thing with vinyl too – buy the

album, then download the FLAC

and listen to that.

Gary

London

Letters

ATTENTION

ALL MAKERS!

If you have something you’d

like to get off your chest (or

even throw a word of praise

in our direction) let us know at

hsmag.cc/hello

SPARK