Open Source Ecology, an interview

Open Source Ecology

Building Functional, Sustainable Agriculture in Wisconsin

"I love watching things grow. I put a seed in the ground and then
there’s this plant and then there’s this tomato on this plant. It makes
me think of life and beauty and purpose and growth," states Brittany
Gill, co-partner of the emerging organization Open Source Ecology.

And watching things grow she has done, as she and her partner,
Marcin Jakubowski, have planted the seeds to create accessible and
sustainable ways of living. With hard work, and some help, the roots of
their organization are starting to take hold and their powerful vision
is coming closer to sprouting into a reality.

Brittany allowed me to talk to her about Open
Source Ecology, its connection into the bigger picture, and what she
envisions for its future.

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About our wiki

These days we are struggling with finding a way to communicate the message of  the work at openfarmtech.org. Brittany and Vinay Gupta (hexayurt.com) have been slashing through the thicket of expression choices to narrow down the message so it could be understood by others. The goal is to attract interest in a few, dedicated co-developers. I am convinced that such co-developers exist, yet, for some reason, they are not appearing as I would expect they should.

The website at openfarmtech.org started as a finite but comprehensive Global Village Construction Set. This concept started earlies at the Worknets.org wiki, under http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?OpenSourceEcology. It was there that some of the technology on the Compressed Earth Block Press and the Sawmill were posted. The focus is technologies that are necessary for the infrastructure of a Global Village community, akin to Franz Nahrada's concept at globalvillages.info.

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A replicable global village model

Imagine a village with buildings of dirt (CEB) with year-round greenhouses (sawmill, CEB, bioplastics from local trees), with all
facility energy produced by a solar turbine, where people drive hybrid cars with car bodies (bioplastics) made from local weeds, with critical motors and metal structures (aluminum) extracted from on-site clay, which are fueled by alcohol produced on-site, on a wireless
network linked to the greater world. That's just a sampling of the technology base. Food, energy, housing sufficiency. There are no poor among us – because we are all evolving human beings and farmer scientists.

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500 Plus Plan

The cornerstone of Open Source Ecology’s program for transformative economics is the 500 Plus Plan. This is a plan for producing a financial incentive in order to attract new fellows on demand. This Plan is the development of an integrated, primarily agricultural product package that may be deployed by people joining OSE on a month’s time frame in order to capture a business opportunity from a basic farmer’s market.
 
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OSE Transformative Economics Program

The basic OSE model is shown below:

 

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Practical Application of Open Source Economics

by Marcin Jakubowski 

The present challenge is to develop a working model of the Regenerative Island Project as described under Mission. In the last couple of years, this concept refined itself to a replicable open source enterprise community, in the form of an Open Source Research and Development Center. This is an entity that may be understood by the greater mainstream world, though its essence is far ahead of any institution known to humankind. This is because of its radical teleology: to make a viable sub-economy – an economy within the mainstream – operating on principles of unrestrained, open source development.

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OSE Yearly Plan — April 2006/April 2007

 

This plan shows the work to be done in the period from April 2006 to April   2007.   The   majority   of   new   developments   revolves   around   the development of novel social technology and a flexible hardware technology which we are proposing herein. Technical developments include energy,
vehicle, and farm equipment infrastructure. This is part of background developments of an integrated land-based enterprise community.

 OSE Yearly Plan — April 2006/April 2007 (pdf)

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OSE Progress Report for 2005/2006

We are forming an enterprise community focusing on open source technology for sustainable living. Part A is a review of OSE's first season at our land-based facility in Osborn, MO. The facility is leased and operated by Marcin and Brittany. Corresponding future direction based on the experience gained is described in Part B.

OSE Progress Report for 2005/2006

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OSE Sustainable Investment Group, LLC

Open Source Ecology Sustainable Investment Group LLC is a for-profit company used to fund the non-profit company Open Source Ecology, Inc. It will raise money through this offering to acquire land and build a hydroponic lettuce greenhouse. The Company will sell greenhouse produce and sustainably-harvested lumber. The company will also engage in marketing of other sustainable products from its affiliates. Here's the financial offering plan (s.c.o.r.)

OSE SIG S.C.O.R. 

 

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Open Source Ecology, Inc.

by Marcin Jakubowski, Ph.D. 

 

"(…) It may be more desirable to pursue and promote modes of production and societal organization that are more integrated and skilled, where time is liberated for other personal and civic pursuits. A skilled worker in the information age is one who tries to piece together the disconnected elements of societal dysorganization. They are social and civic entrepreneurs who strive to acquire a broad set of skills and an integrated understanding of how the system works in order to affect a change for the better. Integrated learning towards these ends means that the student of the system is crossing disciplinary boundaries, pursuing broad, applied, experiential learning. This is the type of learning that we are creating in our organization, Open Source Ecology, Inc. Open Source Ecology refers to the integration of the natural, societal, and industrial ecologies aimed at sustainable and regenerative economics. Participatory models of production represent the core of any truly democratic society. It is only in such a system that a balance can be found between human activity and the sustainable use of natural resources. Part of this process involves the exploration of societal structures and productive activities to determine what is truly appropriate to meeting human needs. The goal is to provide human needs while liberating our time so that we can engage in exactly that which each of us wants to be doing in this life, instead of spending all of one’s time on the necessities of survival."

 

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