OSE Europe February Update

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Nikolay Georgiev

Dear OSE Friends,

since January Open Source Ecology is spreading more and more in Europe. In addition to Spain and Germany, Greece and Italy started to self-organize and the Cohabitat Group from Poland is applying already the OSE principles. Here is a short overview of the current activities by country.

Germany

We are in the process of creating the open self-organizing network from which project will form in organic way. The website is taking form. Currently Nikolay is connecting with variety of people and organizations in Berlin who are interested in Open Source Ecology.

Creating an OSE Community would be one project from the network and it is relatively open to how it could happen. Possible would be collaboration with other communities or finding a small village or a region willing to engage in open source sustainable development.

OSE(E) will be presented at the KarmaKonsum conference in Frankfurt. (Info by Nikolay Georgiev)

Greece

In January some of the people listening to the OSE call for local action decided to start an informational campaign. The first step was made by creating an open blog to archive collected materials. Step two has initiated the translation of brochures and articles for the general population to get informed about the project. Step three, there is some interest to construct something in the island of Crete. There is a forming ecological prototype community showing signs of future experimentation and development of the machines and the tools, yet some priorities have to be finished to move this forward.

There were given 2 lectures about OSE too. One in Athens at a Hackerspace by Diomidis Skalistis and one in Serres at the local Linux Users Group by Nikos Vasileiadis. Things are moving and it is very early. (Info by Nikos Vasileiadis)

Italy

The OSE Network expanded rapidly in Italy and we are now planing to create a cooperative and ways to finance the projects. We are also organizing a structure in Marcon (Venice), a farm, to let us start a worksop construction and a worm greenhouse for non hybrid-seeds and plants.

We have possibility to have a meeting with the Arduino’s factory managers in Torino (arduino is the core eletronic system of gvcs) and start a collaboration with them to let them help us design a specific universal Arduino for the OSE needs.

Also we have the big opportunity to participate to the 3rd International Conference on Degrowth in Venice this September. A lot of people from all over the world will meet in Venice and it is an occasion for us to spread OSE in others part of the world. (Info by Jacopo Amistani)

Poland

Cohabitat Group is working on the open source buildings – nanoHabitat, macroHabitat (in collaboration with FeF) and root cellar. They are working on a modular system for conducting research in natural buildings allowing to measure Rh and T inside walls and wather conditions outside.

CohabitatHackerspace is a prototypng center for alternative technologies, located in Kwilno near Lodz. The purpose of its existence is to create an open and accessible solutions for the construction of autonomous open-source habitats – a new generation of living spaces in XXI century. Infrastructure located here will allow to build and test machinery, installations, structures … from construction, through biological systems to electronics and democratic social models.

Planned are Arduino Workshops, a two-day International Cohabitat Gathering Festival, open source reed-plant and the traditional strawbale building workshops. A Cohabitat Foundation will be created to cover all the field connected to non-profit activity – open-source projects, education, festival, workshops and research. Planned is a social enterprise for building natural homes and small open source civilizations. (Info by Pawel Sroczynski)

Spain

The Open E Land (OEL) community is developing. First six meter dome is assembled and covered in tarpaulins, strawbales will be put inside. Water is found from a nearby spring. Wood burner is to be installed, mezzanine, as well as cooking, working and sleeping space. Planned are also a composting toilet and one or two other structures. There is a generator for electricity on site and hopefully 300 watts of solar arriving soon. Currently there are two people, but after the Dome completion and other comforts more people are expected. OEL is looking for a Permaculture expert to help with the site.

Possibly an OSEE Camp could be organized this year at OEL, where people from different countries could meet, build and learn together. (Info by Daniel Connell)

Jose Bravo is in conversation with the town of Marinaleda for application of the OSE principles.

In summary, OSE Europe is growing and learning and we are encouraging more people and organizations to engage in Open Source Ecology.

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Global Anchor UPEACE Movie

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Ino Fleischmann

Dear Friends and Fellows,

we are happy to announce a movie, filmed at the UN United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica in December 2011. The speakers were students, interested in sustainability and renewable energy. Have a look:

Global Anchor and the Venecia open source Renewable Energy Center (www.VosREC.org) in Nicaragua are Open Source hardware projects, like Open Source Ecology. We believe in the Open Source technology approach and we focus on the energy sector, since we defined energy as a crucial and very important field. The GVCS is not covering hydroelectric turbines and small scale wind turbines. For that reason we are complementing the GVCS in that area with our renewable energy solutions.

Our designs aim to remote area / rural electrification for small households and communities. We are developing and contributing these technologies in a open way and we share almost all core values of the Open Source Ecology project, which are Open Source, Low Cost, Modularity, User Friendlyness, DIY etc.. It is great to see how different open source hardware projects work among themselves and develop in such a high speed way.

Check out our website for more information: GlobalAnchor.org

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Co-Creating Open Source Ecology

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Nikolay Georgiev

Often in conversations about Open Source Ecology, the project is viewed more as a product to be consumed than a constantly evolving co-creation.

What is the most common consumer thinking?

Some people say that the Global Village Construction Set is not enough to create resilient communities and then they don’t participate in the project. Often there are the questions – “So what can I do with this machine?”, “I cannot do that activitiy with this machine”, “this machines is useless”, “this machine is missing” and so on.

In Germany there are people who think that OSE makes sense mostly for the developing countries like Africa and India, but not in an industrial country as Germany.

For some people the GVCS is too advanced! They would like to build lower level technology. Other people don’t like that the current machines and documentation are not up to the industrial standards.

There are people who don’t like some situations that happened in the past with specific people from Open Source Ecology and they are giving no hope for the whole OSE movement.

Others are just waiting for Factor E Farm to finish the products and do not help to accelerate their creation.

The potential disadvantage of such consumer thinking is that it can lead to not understanding all the good things and possibilities of OSE and the time is spent in waiting and inaction with thoughts from the past. A consumer has its important role in providing constructive feedback and everyone of us can avoid its potential disadvantages by becoming also a co-creator.

Becoming co-creators

We still have to learn to think and act as co-creators! What is happening in OSE and every other situation depends also on us!

The core OSE vision is clear – open sourcing economically significant information and distributing it to as many people as possible! For that we need not only few people, but much more and diverse people creating this commons.

There are already some people giving their best on a specific GVCS project by using their skills and covering their needs. Other people can contribute to these projects or start other projects.

We will need a variety of people engaged in creating this vision of an open society. And this includes me and you!

See what you don’t like in the GVCS and fix it. See what is missing and create it. See what your economic needs are and open source them to everyone.

If you want lower technology, open source it. If you want high performance industrial technology, open source it. If you didn’t like the past, start creating what you want now. If you cannot create what you want, know that you are not alone with the same desires and search for help. Finding help is part of the creation process.

Think about your environment, about your knowledge, your needs and desires, and see what actions would bring most value. Then see how you can distribute this value to as many people as possible and start acting. Be a co-creator!

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Aufbau der OSE Community in Deutschland

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Nikolay Georgiev

Es findet ein Paradigmenwechsel statt, und neue praktische Lösungen werden gebraucht. In diesem Jahr möchten wir mit der Open Source Ecology (OSE) Community in Deutschland starten und suchen dafür nach einem engagierten Team.

Die Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer dieses Projektes teilen offen und kostenlos wirtschaftlich bedeutsame Informationen. Wir möchten die gesamte Bandbreite der ökologischen, sozialen und technischen Systeme öffentlich verfügbar machen, um damit direkt zur Schaffung einer Open-Source-Ökonomie beizutragen – einer Ökonomie, die die Produktion und Verteilung von Gütern verbessert und gleichzeitig nachhaltig und sozial gerecht ist.

Wir beginnen mit der Technologie, die nötig ist, um eine Zivilisation im kleinen Maßstab mit modernem Komfort zu schaffen – das Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) und andere relevante Werkzeuge. Von Traktoren über Windturbinen bis hin zu Autos – alle Techniken werden im Hinblick auf Modularität, Einfachheit, langlebiges Design, niedrige Kosten, geschlossene Kreisläufe, Eigenbau (DIY), flexible Fertigung und hohe Leistung entwickelt. Wir wollen den kompletten Lebenszyklus jeder Technologie als Open Source zur Verfügung stellen – von den Stücklisten und der Herstellung, über die Benutzung, Wartung und Reparatur bis zur Wiederverwendung und dem Recycling.

Wir werden auch unsere ökologische Nahrungsherstellung als Open Source veröffentlichen, den Wohnungs- und Werkstattbau und die Geschäftsmodelle – unsere komplette Ökonomie. Alle diese ökonomisch wichtigen Informationen werden digital im Internet gespeichert, in Form von Texten, Fertigungsdateien, Bildern und Videos, um die Daten nicht nur unserer Generation, sondern auch allen zukünftigen Generationen zu Verfügung zu stellen – die diese dann nutzen und darauf aufbauen können! Wir suchen nach den Pionierinnen und Pionieren, die das mit uns erschaffen wollen!

Unser erstes Ziel ist die Gründung des Entwicklungsteams, das sich 2012 der Gründung der Community widmet. Neben diesem Entwicklungsteam, das für jeden, der an der Gründung und Entwicklung der Community mitarbeiten will offen ist, gibt es ein Kernteam, das sich hauptsächlich mit diesen vordringlichen Zielen beschäftigt. Wir brauchen Hilfe in allen Bereichen: Organisation, Kommunikation, Landsuche, ökologischer Hausbau, Werkstatt-Architektur und -Konstruktion, Fertigung, Maschinenbau, Mechatronik, Permakultur, ökologische Landwirtschaft, Betriebswirtschaft, rechtliche und soziale Fragen und Finanzen, um nur einige zu nennen.

Wir haben einen vorläufigen Meilensteinplan erstellt. Im Januar werden wir mit einer Menge Menschen in Verbindung treten, uns kennenlernen und die Möglichkeiten erkunden, eine Community aufzubauen. Es sind Besuche in Frankfurt und Berlin geplant. Die Planung wird erweitert und konkretisiert in dem Maße wie wir wachsen.

Warum Deutschland? Die Menschen in Deutschland können und werden bei der OSE-Entwicklung in Europa und der Welt eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Es gibt in Deutschland sehr gute Ingenieurinnen und Ingenieure, die meisten Menschen sind finanziell abgesichert, und die Nachhaltigkeits- und Open-Source-Kultur ist eine der Besten der Welt. Es ist der perfekte Ort, um eine OSE-Community zu gründen.

Egal ob Vollzeit, Teilzeit oder was auch immer du leisten kannst, jede Hilfe ist willkommen. Schreib uns einfach und erzähl etwas von dir:

  • für direkte Kontaktaufnahme sende eine E-Mail an Nikolay: nikolay.h.georgiev (at) gmail [dot] com
  • um an das ganze Team zu schreiben, benutze bitte die Google Mailingliste (ose-germany (at) googlegroups [dot] com).
    Alternativ zur Mailingliste gibt es noch das OSE Europe Forum unter http://oseeurope.org/forum/

Um mehr über OSE zu erfahren schaue dir den TED Talk und lies das Open Source Ecology Paradigm.

Bitte erzähl deinen Freundinnen und Freunden von diesem Aufruf – und allen Anderen, die es interessieren könnte. Danke!

Neu: Schaue dir die neue Webseite für OSE Germany http://osede.org/ an.

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Creating OSE Community in Germany

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Nikolay Georgiev

Paradigms are shifting and new practical solutions are needed. This year we want to start an Open Source Ecology (OSE) community in Germany and we are looking for a Dedicated Team to make this happen.

The people involved in the project will be sharing openly and for free economically significant information. We want to open source the ecology of the environmental, societal and technological systems so that we contribute directly to the creation of an open source economy – an economy that optimizes both production and distribution, while providing environmental regeneration and social justice.

We start with the technology needed for the creation of a small scale civilization with modern comforts – the Global Village Construction Set and other relevant tools. From tractors, wind turbines to cars. Every technology will be developed with values like modularity, simplicity, lifetime design, low-cost, closed loop manufacturing, Do-It-Yourself, flexible fabrication and high performance. We want to open source the whole lifecycle of each technology – from its parts sourcing, fabrication, use, maintain and repair to its reuse and recycle. We will open source also our ecological food production, housing, workshop constructions and business models – our complete economy. All this economically signicant information will be saved digitally on the Internet as text, manufacturing files, pictures and videos so that we distribute it not only to our current generation, but to all other future generations on Earth – who can use it and build upon it! We are looking for the pioneers to join us in this endeavor!

Our first main goal is to establish the initial Development Team dedicated to create the community in 2012. The Development Team is open to everyone who works on the creation of the community and has a specific group of people, the Core Team, who will start up and develop the community no matter where or how. We would need help with all areas of community creation and development: organization, communication, land search, ecological housing and workshop architecture and construction, fabrication, engineering, mechatronics, permaculture and organic farming, business, law, social, financial etc.

We have laid out an initial Roadmap. In January we will connect with a lot of people and learn about each other and the possibilities to start the community. Visits are planned in Frankfurt and Berlin. The Roadmap will be expanded and become more concrete as we grow.

Why Germany? The people in Germany can and will play a vital role in the OSE development in Europe and the world. In Germany there are very good engineers, most people are well financially and here is one of the best sustainability and open source cultures in the world. It is a perfect place to start an OSE community.

You can help us full-time, part-time or however you can. Let’s connect and learn about each other:

  • for direct contact send email to Nikolay: nikolay.h.georgiev (at) gmail [dot] com
  • to write to everyone involved use this Google Group (Email is: ose-germany (at) googlegroups [dot] com). Alternative to Google is the OSE Europe forum for Germany.

For more info about OSE watch the TED Talk and read the Open Source Ecology Paradigm.

Please spread this call to your friends and people who may be interested. Thank you!

Update: Check the new site for OSE Germany http://osede.org/

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