Cheap hacks the world already uses
Low-cost resilience proven in the Global South — household biogas, appropriate technology, informal water, food and shelter workarounds — costed for what each one takes to copy in a Western home.
Why This Path Matters
Much of the world already meets its needs — energy, water, food, shelter — for a fraction of what the West pays, using fixes that are proven, repairable, and cheap. This path takes those workarounds seriously: not as charity stories, but as engineering the West can copy. For each one we ask the only question that matters here — what does it cost to build and run a version in a US or DACH home, and how does that compare to the expensive standard system it replaces? The goal is to hack the expensive system with solutions that already work somewhere.
What to Focus on First
Steal what already works — Household biogas, evaporative coolers, pot-in-pot fridges, low-cost water filters — practices refined over decades where budgets are tight. Start from a fix that is already proven in the field, not a lab.
Cost the Western copy — The question is never "how do they live there" — it is what the same fix costs to build and run here, versus the expensive system it replaces. Every figure scoped to US or DACH, and sourced.
Repairable beats high-tech — The best workarounds are low-complexity and fixable with local materials. Prioritise the ones that survive without a supply chain — that is where the real resilience is.
Topics in This Path
- Appropriate Technology
- Biogas
- Off Grid Living
- Rainwater Harvesting
- Natural Building
- Water Filtration
- Solar Energy
- Food Preservation
- Self Sufficiency