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*[http://factorefarm.org/ FactorEFarm.org] is our main communications center.
*[http://factorefarm.org/ FactorEFarm.org] is our main communications center.
We apologize for the confusing layout of the sites while we are going through growing pains. Eventually we will move to OpenSourceEcology.org with a more coherent site design.
=Inventing a New Civilization on a Shoestring Budget=
=Inventing a New Civilization on a Shoestring Budget=
Revision as of 04:02, 16 June 2009
What is Open Source Ecology (OSE)?
Check out our short brochure: Factor e Farm in Five Minutes
Distillations videos
The Distillations videos give an overview of OSE and the progress at Factor e Farm in 2008.
Introduction
Open Source Ecology's goal and current engagement is creating tools to build replicable, open source, modern off-grid resilient communities using open source permaculture and technology to work together for providing basic needs and self replicating the entire operation at the cost of scrap metal. We seek societal transformation through interconnected self-sufficient villages and homes. This is a stepping stone to transcending survival and evolving to freedom . Factor e Farm is the land-based facility where we put this theory into practice.
We are developing and testing the set of tools required to build such a village - the Resilient Community Construction Set (formerly the Global Village Construction Set ). Land stewardship and local production via open source design and digital fabrication - founded on open sharing of information - are the key features of this adventure. Right livelihood and resolution of pressing world issues is the intended byproduct.
Taken literally, open source means that the goods and knowledge for reproducing the complete product (the "source") is freely accessible (open), and ecology is the study of living interactions between organisms and their natural environment. From a human perspective, we seek to push our vision of ecology beyond ecological crisis and into ecological harmony and human productivity.
You can read the entire theory of Open Source Ecology in the OSE Proposal document.
OSE Websites
The OSE Wiki which you are reading right now is our main information and development center.
The Weblog is the main news center.
We apologize for the confusing layout of the sites while we are going through growing pains. Eventually we will move to OpenSourceEcology.org with a more coherent site design.
Inventing a New Civilization on a Shoestring Budget
Say you want to build a village, enterprise, or for that matter - an entire civilization – because civilization is just a compilation of productive enterprises. Say you have only $10k in your pocket. You can begin to build your habitat with a CEB press of 3000 bricks per day production, and a sawmill with 3000 board feet per day of production – easily. You will need a tractor for earth moving and power. These 3 tools total $6500 for materials to build these tools from open source plans. You can then build the entire technological infrastructure with a personal fabrication open source Fab Lab – with metal melting furnace, 3D printer, CNC machines, and circuit fabrication, for another $3500 in materials, for a total of $10k. You’ll have to learn the skill to build and operate the production machinery. We can teach you, and you can even propagate a 5-kingdom gene bank for an entire agricultural infrastructure – it’s on the house. You’ll just have to find yourself some land, sun, water, and scrap steel. What if this package could be self-replicating? Fab Lab and gene bank make it so. Now we’re talking.
An imaginary situation? Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but we’re taking the development of the above very seriously at Factor e Farm. See the Distillations videos . And if you are compelled to help - we started a request for proposals for the First World Conference on Open Source Ecology . Please consider applying.
If you can’t make it to the Conference, but would like to support this as a True Fan of this work, then subscribe to our campaign by going to our blog .
Factor e Farm
Our main open source collaboratory and land-based development facility, since 2007, is Factor e Farm , in the Kansas City area, central USA. See our weblog for ongoing updates.
See our legacy webpage here.
Archives of some of our theory and history are here .
External Links
Videos
Highlights of our Work
Collaboration
See the Appropedia entry for an overview of Open Source Ecology:
http://www.appropedia.org/index.php?title=Open_Source_Ecology