Blockchain for good
With the ever increasing threat of climate change, the world is strained to find a solution in an increasingly short amount of time. To deal with this we will have to make extensive, lifestyle altering changes in the sake of sustainability.
We see the example of this change in the blockchain realm itself as we move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake (or proof-of-x) based blockchains. With this move, the potential for incentivizing sustainable behavior at a minimal cost to the environment grows more achievable.
I'd like to present a couple of ideas of how we can utilize blockchain technology to benefit our climate and society.
1. Rewarding 'green' activities
The power of Hive lies in the network effect - that is, the more people who are using Hive, the more powerful Hive becomes. We set a cadence by being active on the site as individuals.
We can similarly utilize this network effect to promote things like environmentally friendly activities, articles about the state of the environment, journalist exposés on corporations - really anything that you think would benefit the environment or society as a whole. Using Hive we can encourage people to be socially sustainable and facilitate green activities by showing off and sharing their efforts.
A target bag I saw on my walk the other day. We could share photos or videos of environmentally friendly activities - beach cleanups, what you recycled that day, the compost bin you use for fertilizer - anything.
2. Rewarding 'green' purchases
Think about a quality used clothing market that operates on a blockchain - rewarding its users for buying and selling gently worn or upcycled clothing rather than purchasing new. We could incentivize people to use this service by giving them a certain amount of crypto for using the platform: buying items, selling items, rating transactions, reviewing users, staking, etc. The power in the platform would be in the size of the community.
A blockchain that encourages sustainability?
I remember a proposal on how we can re-structure our tax system to tax on the carbon footprint of the transaction, or creation, rather than the monetary value of it. However, the traditional system moves slow.
Could we achieve this sort of environmentally friendly tax system by instead creating a blockchain that encourages its users to be environmentally sustainable in some way?
This is a broad ask. This could be done by perhaps basing the transaction fee based on the environmental impact of the transaction. But how could we measure such a thing? How can we utilize the aspect of community and the network effect for this?
As a start, I think we can utilize the blockchain to create a "this is what we do, in order to be more sustainable, and we get rewarded for it" movement. People can then funnel their rewards into more green activities, continuing the cycle. Now, I do understand that we as individuals are just a small part of the equation; however, that doesn't mean we should feel powerless. We can contribute individually while campaigning for more.