What Can the Blockchain do for Our Environment?

Most people, if they know anything at all about the blockchain, probably think it is just the technology that makes Bitcoin, and all the other coins, work as they do. But most don’t realize this technology is set to change the world in so many ways there isn’t anyone who won’t be affected by it in some kind of way?

One way the blockchain will change the future is by changing how we view the world and the environment in which we live. Today, there are only a handful of people around the world working to mitigate the damage that humans have caused to the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the Earth we live on. But what if the blockchain could bring everyone into the fold and create an “environment’ where people are daily working to make the Earth a better place and incentivizing both individuals and corporations alike to do the right thing?

This is all possible using blockchain technology, and it couldn’t come at a better time. But how in the world can this technology, which brings us Bitcoin, go about changing the world’s environment?

When looking at the environmental crisis from the view that most ill causes that make these problems are rooted in our current economic system which places a premium on industry and making of things both useful to humans and harmful to the environment. They built this system to grow GDP by using and making of products with little or no interest as to the effect this would have on nature. Because of this, the natural capital was not considered our current system which created a strong incentive for people to overuse our natural resources. This, in turn, converted those resources into increased GDP, and lots of profits for companies.

Today we realize that this economic framework is unsustainable, and so is the damage we have been doing to the natural environment. At some point, unless radical changes are made, they both will collapse. One of the most effective ways to change our economic system, and the environment, is to attempt the incorporation of costs and benefits accruing from ecosystems entering economic models of accounting.

What that means is placing a value on the ecosystem so that people consider the full cost to the environment for every action they take that could affect said environment into a cost/benefit equation under which they will act (X + Environment/Actions = Y), otherwise known as Natural Capital Accounting (NCA).

This is not a new idea, and as time goes by it is becoming more mainstream. Still, many have not heard of these ideas yet. In a recent Earnston/Young report, (they who provide global services to help businesses keep the confidence of their investors, manage risks, and strengthen controls so they can achieve their “potential”) titled Accounting for Natural Capital — the Elephant in the Boardroom, it was the executive summary that puts this all into perspective:

“Natural capital will become as prominent a business concern in the 21st Century as the provision of adequate capital was in the 20th Century… We are already ‘drawing down’ on 50% more natural capital a year than the Earth can replenish — and the rate of depletion is accelerating. All too soon, businesses will face a stark choice: adapt or fail.”

The conversion to token economies has the power to fix/erase those things that incentivize bad action, and that is one of the most powerful aspects of the blockchain that will come with time. There will be new incentives for people to alter their behavior in ways that will protect and preserve our natural environment. Collaboration will become the new norm in a tokenized world where good action is rewarded and bad actions are penalized financially.

Collaborations to grow underlying technologies connected to the blockchain that help the communities invested in both the technology and the assets stored there is the same collaboration that can be expected for things like the environment.

When that happens it will make ECO-responsible activities rewarding in terms of natural capital and collectible assets that can be used for better lives. People will gain tokens/assets by choosing options to help the environment, and this will put the entire world to work conserving and replenishing our natural resources.

An example of this might be a town somewhere in the United States having a limited resource, say water for instance. A finite amount of “water tokens” would be issued and people would earn them for any activities conserving water. These tokens would be spendable elsewhere as tokens or traded for fiat currency. This incentive would not only change people’s minds about conservation but, in time, would change the mindset of the community towards the preservation of natural capital. If we create an economy around this notion, we can incentivize all kinds of activities needing serious and immediate changing.

Another instance would be in the realm of carbon emissions. A token economy would allow the creation of “carbon coin(s),” and every time you emit carbon it would cost you some of your coins, and every time you sequester carbon you would get paid in these carbon coins which could also be used for other things or turned into fiat currency. When all the carbon coins have been redeemed, we would know the world would run at net zero for carbon, and this would be a great thing for the planet.

As you can see, they can apply these kinds of tokenized incentives to anything needing to be fixed, and the fastest way to get people on board would be to give them an opportunity to earn assets for their time and efforts. For those who want to do things, like cutting down trees, for example, that is hurting the ecosystem, those people would have to purchase tokens from those who have them to make this happen and if no coins are available, or people don’t want to sell their tokens to people for this activity, then the activity, theoretically, wouldn’t happen.

The decentralized nature of a tokenized economy will exert peer, and financial, pressure on those not acting in good faith, and eventually those people would be in such hot water with the rest of the world, who will be trying to earn money by saving the environment, that they wouldn’t be able to operate because their activities would be monitored. Not only by a few people working for an understaffed and under-funded centralized government agency or non-profit, but by a world government of people who, as a whole, will stop such activities. Assets, in a token economy, would have to be verified using the blockchain, which would also foil those not acting in good faith. Transparency would be their number one enemy, and unfortunately for them, this transparency is built into the system in such a way it can’t be circumvented.

So, as you can see there are many potentials for the blockchain to change the world at its most basic levels to ensure the continuation of mankind. While saving the environment would probably be this technology’s greatest achievement, it will only be one of the many changes that it would bring about, and the faster we get out of the way and let it happen the better off we will be as humans.

—

Keeping up with the blockchain space is what I do for fun. The next upswing is not that far away and a few small investments today can turn into a lot of money later. For those who wish to join my community and get the latest research reports click here.