NEAR NEARCON | 2021, 16 Nov 2021

Previous Meeting Next Meeting

⏯

youtube image

►

From YouTube: THE VAULT - Day 1 - Panel: Green NFTs

Description

The most legendary women in blockchain have an open panel discussion about green NFTs!

Checkout the video Angela del Sol Varela & her team put together to help grasp the magnitude of what Seed Evolution is doing, its quite amazing:

Dani Osorio - Satori,
Carolin Wend - Mintbase,
Susie Batt - Opera,
Angela del Sol Varela - Seed Evolution

Follow the latest from NEAR Protocol on:
Website: https://near.org/
Discord: https://near.chat/
Blog: https://near.org/blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NEARProtocol
GitHub: https://github.com/near https://github.com/nearprotocol
#Blockchain #FutureIsNEAR #NEAR #nearprotocol

A

Hello, hello, um thank you. Everyone for joining us here today, um I'm danny, I'm the co-founder of satori and you're here for the uh carbon free web 3 panel, so welcome to a future of green nfts.

A

We have here today the anti-mantle, so just a group of incredibly talented women who are going to talk to us about their respective journeys in the space. So uh we have the uh illustrious suzy batt, who leads crypto community at opera browser.

A

um We have angela del sol, who is the founder of um nf, trees, project and um seed evolution, and then we have carolyn wendell from minbase. Who was actually, I think, one of our very first pioneers in the space. So we're uh really grateful to have you with us today and um welcome to everyone. So all right so just to kick it off. I'm gonna ask you then.

A

Maybe, like you know one or two minutes, you tell us a little bit about um your project so that everyone can have an idea of what you're working on. So uh maybe carolyn kick us off.

B

Thank you, hi, I'm carolyn, I'm the co-founder of mintbase, and we are an ft protocol on neo um we launched about four months ago and we used to be. We started off on ethereum and then last year the ethereum gas fees just became absolutely crazy and we looked for different options. We looked at um different blockchains uh who wrote which wrote their smart contracts in rust, and then we had like solana and nia and polkadot as an option, and then we chose to go with nir because it's just the best and yeah.

B

So we do nfts, but not only that so we do have an sdk where other people can build their own nft marketplaces, because we see the future not with like one nft marketplace like openc, where everyone goes to, but we want to see a future where everyone spins up their own nft marketplaces, focused on different use cases like ticketing, music, ngos whatever and we're empowering those people and yeah super happy with nir so far check it out.

B

We have a normal interface where you can just create your own smart contract, which we call store, means your tokens. You can split the revenues of an nft between up to 50 people, but yeah more than that check out the sdk of your developer and we'll be happy to have more nft market places on board.

C

Thank you. So my name is angela del sol and I started a project called seed evolution and the idea is to accelerate the evolution of humanity through web 3 through the connection of art, immersive, art and impact.

C

So the idea is to empower and accelerate groundbreaking and scalable climate solutions around the world and we're doing it by connecting grassroots organizations empowering ngos on the ground and connecting them with web 3..

C

So the idea was born as an nf tree, a very fun play on the word nft and the idea is what would happen if we create digital trees that are connected with actual land assets and ecosystems that are in danger, because right now we only have 33 percent left biodiversity in our world and if we don't have a healthy planet, there's no blockchain, there's no crypto, there's no nfps.

C

So the idea is to really use seed evolution as an avenue to bring that energy into the ecosystem and making it very easy to support projects like those um and yeah. We are very focused on creative partnerships and collaboration.

C

So right now we're in talks about creating a dao for earth restoration projects and really have an umbrella where we can make this very easy and create different nft collections that support these projects and, of course, we're building with near, because the idea is to be coherent uh with our mission right like we can talk about sustainability and climate if we're not actually working with projects that are aligned with our values and outside of the environmental side of it, there's also the community side of it.

C

So it feels really good to be in a community of so many like-minded individuals. Thank you.

D

uh Bundia, that's like almost everything I know um in portuguese, but I'm susie batt and I um head up all crypto projects at opera browser um I'm formerly at um was at consensus and just got the bug. um I'm currently working on all things. Web 3 and my dream is to onboard as many people as possible to crypto um opera was the first browser to integrate a native crypto wallet.

D

So when you download the browser, you can click on that feature for a non-custodial wallet and in q1 we'll be integrating the near protocol as one of our tokens and um and chains, and really excited about that.

D

Because again we talked about energy consumption. Gas fees, carbon footprint and near is extremely conscious about that and we'll talk about that soon. I'm working on a few projects.

D

The first is offsetting nft and exchanges with carbon offsets through impact scope, which is a geneva-based uh company, and I also am kind of dabbling with dows right now and I'm really fascinated by fractionalized ownership in nfts through daos.

D

So if that's, what you're doing I'm going to come? Find you and talk to you about that.

A

Awesome, thank you so much so something that really like comes to um you know top of mind is really like. Why are we doing like green nfts and like? Why do we care.

C

I'll go, don't get me started talking about climate and green things, um so I think that we're living in a moment where it's really hard to hide right, like we're living in a world where more and more information is available to all of us and is becoming more and more apparent that we are living in a climate and a climate emergency and that we are having more and more and more climate events. We experience them this summer in germany, we've seen snow in texas, we're seeing fires in greece we're seeing fires in san francisco.

C

I think that I don't have to go on and on and all of the reasons why we are living in a moment where our planet earth is screaming at us, and a lot of a lot of people are choosing to go business as usual, but the new generation and I'm speaking about generation z. um They are super awake and they're, realizing that you know who cares about going to get your? You know your graduate degree at a great school when you have uh that scenario of your city flooding.

C

So I think that it's becoming more and more apparent that climate does matter for many places right from a financial space. It's gonna cost us a lot of money. If we don't actually do something about it, so I think more people are realizing that it matters, and I think that a lot of artists and a lot of creatives you know they care to be coherent and align with what they're building.

C

So I think a lot of the artists community are are looking for alternatives to be expressed in web 3 in a way, that's not um recreating the same systems that are hurting our planet, yeah.

A

That's great and carolyn have you seen from the artist perspective that artists are talking about this and whether they they're interested or care about whether their art is going on a carbon neutral platform.

B

Yeah, absolutely so more and more people are asking and questioning um how sustainable is it to mend my nfts, and I really have seen it in the last two to three months, like the conversation switching towards this, but um going back to like. Why are we doing all this? So um I read this book a while ago from naomi klein.

B

I don't know if you know her she's, like this canadian researcher, but um our financial system is just so broken and at the like, the root cause of the like the whole problem is our financial system why we are destroying the climate, so it's like the oil and the gas companies and all this stuff like pushing their whatever, but we don't need to get into this, but nfts really empower people and switch the model, the old model financial model on its head.

B

So if we look at ticketing, if we look at spotify, if we look at all the different use cases and all the artists and creatives like currently, they have no chance to make money like uh I have a friend who's, a dj. He has 1 million streams a year. He earns maybe like a thousand bucks or something- and this is nothing so wherever you look in whatever industry like other creatives- are completely underpaid, they don't earn anything and you always have those massive middlemen grabbing all the money.

B

So I think, like nfts, are so valuable because they help to like that. Those artists can make money and have a peer-to-peer system, and then the second component is that we are not only empowering artists and creatives and revolutionizing the financial system, but we're making it more carbon neutral. So that's another kind of component, so I'm really proud of what we guys are doing with this sorry to go a little bit around, but yeah just um yeah. Definitely more and more artists are asking about this climate neutral aspect.

B

A

That's great and.

B

A

Susie, I'm actually wondering whether corporations are like thinking about this narrative, because I mean opera is one of the largest browsers in the world. It's a multi-billion dollar corporation. That's been doing. I mean it's been setting internet standards since web 2 existed right, um so I'm wondering have you had those conversations internally? How do corporations look at this? This kind of dilemma, or you know, opportunity.

D

So um opera has around 400 million users worldwide, it's been around for over 20 years. It's a scandinavian-based company in oslo, so you can only imagine that's in their dna, it's culturally imperative and to to be thought to be thought of as being green. But let's step back a moment and ask ourselves like what is green, to have a green product means what so, essentially it means two things. It means you are.

D

um Your goals are to reduce waste and to minimize uh resource, sorry to maximize resource efficiency um and whether that is in the case of nfts, because that's what this panel is. um You know, let's think about how big this number is, and I just I'm looking at my notes, because I actually pulled numbers from dap radar this morning and green ft green nfts matter, because the sheer volume um is mind-blowing 2.4 billion dollars in transactions in q2 of this year.

D

So that's over a hundred percent um growth in just one quarter from q1, so that doesn't even include um off chain sales transfers through auction houses like people, but the effects of 2.4 billion dollars in transactions times either what four four cents to 44 cents a ton to offset carbon is an enormous opportunity for just this sliver of crypto um to make an impact worldwide. So opera, is by by virtue of integrating near, um is endorsing that movement.

D

We're proud of that.

A

That's really cool so actually going on the notion of like what does it mean to you know to be green, then um you know this takes me actually to the idea of added utility of something beyond manufacturing right so like as a protocol near is making green nft is manufactured because it's climate neutral, but how can we go further and I think angela, your project is a really good example of how that can be going. Many many steps further into the conservation side of the movement.

C

Yeah, I think that one of the main reasons why I'm so passionate about web 3 and nfts is because we're actually are able to trace and have more transparency. um There's a lot of obscurity when you hear oh yeah when you swipe your car we're planting one tree.

C

um I just came back from the rainforest in colombia and I actually made a little video for you guys. Perhaps we can play it in a little bit. I don't know if they can hear me hi hi, so I'm not gonna talk about it. I'm just gonna show you what we actually uh what I mean by going beyond nfts, um it's restoration.

C

So I just came from southam I'm from colombia originally, and this is.

C

E

A pretty big journey to just plant trees.

F

C

That's ethical.

F

And the way that we look right now we're planting trees because.

C

In the past 60 years, human beings have been able to destroy three trillion trees and right now. Biodiversity that we have left in our earth is less than 33 in our entire planet, and when it comes to agroforestry, the idea is to plant a variety of trees.

E

C

And here we can see a 10 year old tree here to our right. This is a karakoli.

C

Harmony is a very important word to think about when we think about climate.

F

Is how can we restore a bit more harmony between humans and nature, and it is to continue supporting grassroots organizations like coward siembra, who are doing this type of work with a lot of integrity.

G

E

C

um So yeah, when we talk our nfts right, how can we actually ground them into the irl and show the process? And when we talk about impact, what we're missing in the environmental space is the human side of it right and when and and I think what seed evolution wants to do- is to become that bridge of web 3 and humanize it in a way. That's not just a data point somewhere that you are thinking that these nfts are backed by some len and some people.

C

We see the evolution want to make it super real and through storytelling we want to show that the work is actually getting done and that you know you're not paying five. You know five euros for a tree. It's actually cost way more because we're working with human beings and the land, you know the land stores of the biodiversity. That's left in our earth.

A

Yeah, that's super cool. Thank you. So much.

D

Doesn't everybody just want to buy carbon offsets now after watching that this is just gorgeous.

A

Actually, on that note, um so angela and then afterwards, teams are organizing an exhibit in miami yard, basel for anyone, who's interested and we're also planning a tree planting adventure to the colombian rainforest. So if you are interested in joining for that, just find us after um tell me something something cool I actually was wondering about is: did you say, there's an oracle that comes from google that finds your trees.

C

Yeah, so speaking of transparency, so jower siembra, they are the grassroots organization that we work with. They are based in vienna and basically we're trying to create economical incentives for the communities that are taking care of the land and because transparency and people want to actually know where these trees are being planted. We are working with restore that eco. They actually were just at the airshot price, where they presented their project, their bike by google.

C

So we actually can see exactly where we're planting the trees and through ai, we can see how much these trees are populating. What species are are being born around them.

C

We have all that data and the idea is to connect with other parts around the world that are working on reforestation conservation projects and continue to share data and information, and that's why I think the dao like creating this big earth, restoration dao with people like like pamela pasquale, from amber foundation, who has been a great supporter who's, also working on key, ground-breaking climate projects like oyster farms in china that are sequestering carbon at a really large scale and super ground-breaking projects. We're going to be able to connect them and like us in our ecosystem.

C

Share information right like mint base, is an amazing project where we can have all of our dows, create these products and be part of that, and the idea is to you know: act like an ecosystem. Right, like everyone can be a different animal, but we can all play together.

A

Yeah, so speaking of the ecosystem, actually um I know I remember that, like a couple months ago, uh carolyn yeah, you guys hosted the first green nft collection, exhibit a coalition of artists that came together. Can you tell us about that and who was involved and and how.

B

It happened sure, so, um a few months ago we launched launched with a south pole like a green nft project, so um we asked our artist if they want to collaborate and we created one smart contract, the south pole, smart contract- and we added, I think, over 50 people, 50 artists onto the smart contract, because that's a function we can do on mint base and they minted their artworks on mint base.

B

And then we have the split revenue feature so they could send or they could tokenize their art by putting in 50 that goes to south pole, dot near and then 50 went to them. So it was really nice because uh we could show off the technology like a split revenue feature, but also like how we can give something um like to the organization for a good cause and also uh everything is unchained on a climate neutral blockchain. So it was really cool and yeah. I hope to see more of those projects.

B

um So claudia is actually one- I don't know if she's on this panel here she really pushed the space forward she's from zurich. I think she was amazing and we have so many great artists, uh jordan from starpos. I'm sure you guys know him. He also did some great works um and then zeit warp just so many yeah. There are so many amazing people in this space. Yeah.

A

Thank you, um I think, what's what's been happening with southpaw global is like really really interesting, because it was actually a collaboration that uh nier's cfo started a long long time ago before people even started talking about sustainability for blockchain technology.

A

The certification, southport global has been around for a really long time. They're one of the like strongest advocates for climate preservation. They're super well respected. You know old school institution and getting these kind of collaborations and certifications take like a year to a year and a half to go through the process, and I remember I first realized nier was doing this probably last summer when I was getting messages about um where in the world was I located and how much space I was consuming and what flights I was taking and I realized they were doing.

A

An accounting of you know everything that is involved in running a blockchain all the way from the validators and the energy consumption to the people that were part of the organization and the foundation that was uh actually running the chain itself. So again you know technology and humans as a blend, and then when we did that partnership with softball global it was, uh you know the certification that even the proof of stake is significantly more um energy efficient than proof of work.

A

It still is creating some sort of some sort of output that needs to go through some sort of offset, and that was where the partnership with south folk level was born. So it was exciting to then see the community. Take that into you know on their own and uh and start this kind of exhibit to even support that further, so that maybe instead of being climate neutral, maybe at some point will actually what be climate negative is that it will be contributing positively towards that side of it um susie.

A

So I know that you have a history of development work before you enter the blockchain space. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that and how you feel like the two worlds could interact? I know you're also on the board of some social um blockchain for social impact initiatives. So maybe tell us a little bit about that.

D

um Thanks, um I I worlds collide uh in crypto and um the more I attend these conferences and meet everyone like you guys, and you guys. um I see that disciplines really um flow in and out of crypto, which makes it so robust.

D

um I came from an environmental technical assistance background with the world bank and usaid, and mostly doing ta projects in the middle east, um like converting um diesel buses to cng back in the late 90s, and I um my foray into blockchain was reading a use case of biometrics being used for syrian refugees in jordanian camps and instead of using vouchers, they were being their retina retinal scans were allowing for disbursements of goods on blockchain.

D

It was like reconciling real time instead of going through uh banks, so I got hooked into into blockchain, but my passion's always been around social impact, and my work in blockchain for social impact coalition um is just one avenue where I can express that there is an nft if you're a dev or amend um you're in this space, you would like to participate in our incubator coming up november, 4th we'll start recruiting mentors for our incubator that runs um through january, and um you can also look up blockchain for social impact and see the links there.

D

But again you know the beauty of this space is that we look at things we meaning collectively look at things in a holographic manner, instead of just two-dimensionally um with peer-to-peer train payments which crypto really begins with. You know the underlying functionality, um so everything from climate change to um um you know, um inclusive um banking.

D

um Gender neutrality um can be woven into this technology.

A

Yeah, that's super cool and actually, um as we're kind of starting to to wrap up. I want to really ask you: where do you think the future of you know green nfts and sustainable blockchain technology is headed.

B

um Yeah, I think it's gonna increase more and more and more artists. Some more like other kind of people, are coming to the space for utility nft, so nft is really being used for tickets and music and smaller value items, and I think they are looking at pos chains and at blockchains like nia, and it's just gonna increase.

C

Yeah, I think it's going to be a non-negotiable right. I'm some of my key inspiration of working in this industry is because I've been in places that have been destroyed by climate events. You know I was in puerto rico, after the hurricane, when the entire island flooded and I'll tell you that when we don't have electricity or gasoline, it doesn't matter. If you live in a mansion with your lambo like just your internet, won't work because your cities will be flooded.

C

So I think that the more and more we continue to see this climate events. I think the more and more we're going to realize that the cost of being inactive and not jump on the evolution that we need to be moving into the cost of it is so much more higher.

C

So I think that it's going to become a non-negotiable, and I think that companies like oprah and other companies that are really trying to place themselves into the future. If you're smart enough, you will, you will go in the route of of doing green nfts and really thinking a holistic way to think about your your carbon footprint as an individual and as an organization.

C

So I'm really excited for it, um and, as danny mentioned, we are organizing an event at our basel miami, because a big component of our project is to use art as the way to us to share the message um and we're looking for artists, we can set you up with really incredible animators. If you would like to participate, the theme is ancient future.

C

um So so the idea is to really draw back from the past and what like really is inside of us as humans and merge them with this futuristic, pioneering spirit that I think all of us in this room share so get in touch with me. If you want a collab.

D

That's a good title, ancient future. um It's like hipster, ironic right. It's like this sort.

A

D

It um I think the future is- and I think satori near's um nft marketplace is setting the the tone and the expectations that minting and transaction costs should be offset.

D

I think they're real innovators in this nft space and they're paving the way. So I look to see really great things from satori in the future, and I also think more companies like region, network and impact scope.

E

D

Are like blockchain-based offset carbon offset platforms will emerge and maybe work together in projects like seed evolution, where you have optionality as a user to choose where you want to offset and what your preferences are, and you know I think, coming to events like this. Keep our minds sharp and the innovations um present.

A

Wonderful well, thank you so much to our panelists for uh joining us today and to all of you so looking forward to what the future brings. Thank you.

F