Farmers are working hard to produce more diverse products. Entrepreneurs are seeking new channels to market their goods. In one noteworthy example, housewives have organized their own theater troupe as a way to express and release their terror, pain, and frustration. Meanwhile bioengineering, developed cooperatively by authorities, scholars and construction firms, is helping protect many mountain areas from mudslides by recruiting local people as the defenders of their own environment.
九二一重建委員會與學者、建築業者共同研發推廣的「自然工法」不但保住了好些山區不再受土石流肆虐，更結合了在地人士「收拾舊山河」，成為生態最佳的守護者。