A Global Village Construction Set

What do you need to run a small, sustainable civilization with modern day comforts? If you eat bread, you rely on an Agricultural Combine. If you live in a wooden house, you rely on a sawmill. Each of these machines, in turn, rely on other machines.

The farmers and engineers from Open Source Ecology have broken down this complex web of machines into a reproduceable, closed-loop system and are sharing the technology with everyone! Their Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) outlines how to build 50 low-cost industrial machines that are needed to build a small civilization. The cost of making or buying their machines are, on average,  eight times cheaper than buying from an industrial manufacturer.


What kinds of industrial machines does the GVCS include?
- Bulldozer
- Bioplastic extruder (which takes plastic and extrudes a useful form, such as greenhouse glazing or water tubing)
- Hydraulic motor
- Industrial robot
- Open source truck
- 50kW wind turbine

This life-sized lego set of modular tools reduces barriers to entry into farming, building, and manufacturing. Whether you're living in Vancouver,  Hong Kong, or Kenya, you can use these tools to build a sustainable civilization with modern comforts.

Marcin Jakubowski (founder) and his team are putting their theories into practice at their Factor e Farm (picture above). You can check out his Ted Talk for more info!