@faddat When you say Open Ecology, are you familiar with the guys over at Open Source Ecology? http://opensourceecology.org/
They are working on something they call the Global Village Construction Set
The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts. We’re developing open source industrial machines that can be made at a fraction of commercial costs, and sharing our designs online for free.
I don’t know how strong the community backing that effort is, but they really seem to be thinking forward.