If you missed this year’s Maker Faire in San Mateo you’ve got 621 fewer reasons to be optimistic about the future of the world than the tens of thousands of people who did attend. Count one reason for each presenter. Held May 30 and May 31 at the San Mateo Expo Center, the world’s largest Do-It-Yourself fair saw a greater attendance than in the previous three years (since its inception), felt less geeky-fringe than ever, and more like it was standing at the forefront of a greening revolution. That’s exactly what it was tabbed to be. By design, the event was staged as makers’ answer to Pres. Barack Obama’s call to “begin again the work of remaking America.” Nearly without exception, it was innovation with a heart. All the inventions served a socially or ecologically friendly purpose, including a project to convert the Toyota Prius into a car that’s capable of running solely on electrical power. But as in the case of the converted Prius, which is still financially impractical, the idea seems cooler to most of us than it is viable. Other smaller operations, such as Dustin Zuckerman’s Santa Rosa Tool Library, which lends tools for any Sonoma County resident who cannot afford them, are the sort of thing I wish I’d known about before I dumped my life savings off at Home Depot. The list of fascinating projects goes on and on. The video highlights some of the best makers at the fair.