🌍 This Week in Web3forGood
Winter Solstice Edition
Editors’ note: Web3ForGood is welcoming thought leaders in Web3 to share on our platform as guest posters for the month of December. This week’s newsletter was authored by Coleen from The Solar Foundation. We hope you enjoy as much as we did! Interested in contributing a future guest post? Reply to this email and say hello :)
gm gm,
Thank you to Abeera & Sam for this opportunity to be a guest editor for one of my all-time fave email newsletters, This Week in Web3ForGood.
Happy Winter Solstice Edition, because I am writing this from the N. Hemisphere where we are about to experience the shortest day of the year with the least amount of daylight hours. I’m also in the US where we’ve recently completed an election cycle, and for those of us working on regenerative, climate-action initiatives, we are fighting a feeling of darkness for our shared Earth, fellow beings, and efforts to create a livable planet for ALL. This is a great reminder of why I originally started working in Web3: in the hope that these new technologies, tools and ideas can help accelerate climate action and create new solutions to the myriad of complex and intersecting global problems we’re facing.
Did you know that throughout the ages, people believe that the winter solstice marks a rebirth of the sun? That’s why this edition of Web3ForGood will be even more focused on finding inspiration, enlightenment and good works all around us including guiding philosophy and mindsets that can be applied to our impactful work in 2025. I hope this edition will be a gift to your spirit, a call to action, and a deep feeling of being in community and collaboration that will extend well into the coming new year.
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
What’s Inside
📚 Inspiring Quotes & Books for 2025
🔦 Spotlight: The Solar Foundation, Projects & Collaborations for 2025
🔍 What I’m Thinking About: Cooperatives, Energy Revolutions & DePINs for Impact
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
🚀 AI for Good; AI + Web3
🎪Funding, Events, & Learning Opportunities
📡 Going Deeper: Cypherpunk Philosophy & Adventures in Democracy
✨ And Two More Things
📚 Inspiring Quotes & Books for 2025
The Solstice is a perfect time to grab a new book, light a candle and find inspiration for the coming new year. Here are a few quotes from outstanding books that inspire expanded views and new ways of being and can influence our 2025 work in Web3 for good.
“Blockchain carries the scent of rebellion…challenging the financial industry by threatening the need for one.”
Be More Pirate by Sam Conniff Allende. Here’s Sam in a delightful TEDx talk, How pirates changed the course of history, and how you can too, that will give you a taste of this fun, inspiring and vital instruction manual on being a rebel for good. There’s so much wisdom that can be applied to Web3 for Good in this little book, including: the similarities between pirate codes and cooperative founding principles, branding by retelling tall tales, creating your own pirate code 2.0 and modern day pirates such as Satoshi Nakamoto.
“To name the world as a gift is to feel your membership in the web of reciprocity.”
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer is the gift I planned to give all of my best friends but then it quickly sold out from my local bookstores! It’s a beautiful little read by an indigenous scientist who is the author of the bestseller, Braiding Sweetgrass. Learn more in this book review by Meera Subramanian in Scientific American: How the Author of Braiding Sweetgrass Imagines a New Economy (15 Oct. 2024)
“No mud, no lotus. Despair is a very rich mud for transformation.”
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh is invaluable for finding ways to take care of our despair and suffering, and to transform our pain into energy and healing for ourselves and the world. I also recommend the Plum Village 7-week online course of the same name for those who are engaged in mindful action to address climate change.
“Markets make good servants. They’re not good masters, and they’re a lousy religion. We know the basic shape of the regenerative principles that must guide the world we want to create.”
L. Hunter Lovins from the book: Thrive, Fundamentals for a New Economy by Kees Klomp & Shinta Oosterwall with contributions by Kate Raworth, Charles Eisenstein, David Bollier, Joe Brewer, Helena Norberg-Hodge, John Fullerton, etc. This is a valuable book if you agree that we won’t be able to address climate change and other global problems without changing our economic system. Topics include: Economics of Wellbeing, Ecofeminist Economics, Buddhist Economics, Sacred Economics, Doughnut Economics, Radical Circular Economy and so many more!
🔦 Spotlight: The Solar Foundation, Projects & Collaborations for 2025
As co-founder of The Solar Foundation, along with my partner in impact, Jon Ruth, we are a small foundation that coordinates with partners around the world to achieve our mission and accelerate energy independence, financial sovereignty, and climate resilience, especially for women and children in Africa. All of our impact is achieved through local NGOS and collaborative relationships. Here are some exciting partnerships and initiatives we’ll be working on for 2025:
How to facilitate decentralized, community owned internet? Wicrypt & Althea
Locally developed technology solution for women’s savings and lending groups in Africa: @NEDA Labs’ WashikaDAO Protocol
Simple, secure, easy wallet solution for onboarding and off-ramping in Africa: MiniPay (Note: so far we’ve found this to be easy for onboarding, but challenging for off-ramping in Tanzania)
Virtual, visual, and valuable Solar Energy Education: ForkinWisdom
Mutual credit to help facilitate cooperation and thriving in local communities: Radiical Systems and their Good Standing app
Combining solar into a more holistic solution: OffGrid Box, Tech and Sun
Combining solar power and disaster relief: Footprint Project and Solarpunk Nomads in collaboration with GEN Ukraine.
Solar-Powered Community Centers in Uganda: Pipeline Worldwide
Monetizing solar power & finding new models of sustainable funding to enable more solar solutions for off-grid communities in Africa: Arkreen, Octant, ChangeCode.io.
Solar-powered clean cooking through electric pressure cookers: Solageo
Do you have ideas for how to utilize new technology to increase solar power and productive use of energy appliances in off-grid communities? Is there a decentralized telecom solution or a solar-powered business idea you are thinking about? We’re open to new partnerships and solutions, please reach out to us!
🔍 What I’m Thinking About: Cooperatives, Energy Revolutions, & DePINs for Impact
🫶 Cooperatives
Did you know that 2025 is the UN Year of the Cooperative? Many people in Web3 are interested in different economic mechanisms, and lately I’ve been learning about cooperatives and mutualism. I’m thinking about how these models can be utilized with The Solar Foundation, for example, to help local communities in Africa develop community owned internet.
If you’re looking for information and ideas about cooperatives, mutualism, and Web3, be sure to follow the work of Nathan Schneider. You can learn more by listening to the Everything Co-op podcast (Oct. 17, 2024) - Professor Nathan Schneider Discusses the Role Cooperatives Play in Shaping the Next Economy
Here’s a great quote to ponder: "Mutualists should turn their usual strategies upside down—and, in doing so, start thinking of mutualism less as an alternative to mainstream economy and more as the new normal." - Nathan Schneider: How to Restore Community Economies: Re-establishing the Right to Associate (NP, Nov. 13, 2024)
For 2025, I’m excited to check out Hylo, the open source, non-profit, group collaboration and coordination platform for purpose-driven and place-based groups. Learn more by following Tibet Sprague on Bluesky. He's a communitarian technologist and the Director of Technology at Hylo (Did I mention I’m also on Bluesky and that I’m hoping we might be able to start a Web3ForGood group there?!)
🔋 Energy Revolution
YouTube Video: Welcome to the Era of Energy Disruption by Gerard Reid who provides evidence for his thesis that we are experiencing an energy revolution not an energy transition, a revolution driven by solar, batteries, energy intelligence, and China. For me, the important question is: how can this energy revolution be more inclusive, just, and accelerated by Web3 tools?
💻 DePINs for Impact
The DePIN on Ethereum: Redefining Coordination Systems report by 2077 Research provides interesting examples of impactful DePIN initiatives. The report highlights projects like Wicrypt, Glow, Arkreen, WeatherXM, and more that are working to address challenges faced by many communities such as decentralized internet, improving climate resilience through weather forecasting, and monetizing clean energy.
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
Regenerative Technology with Jessica Groopman & Danielle Lanyard, ReFi Podcast S4E9: Regeneration Nexus. Don’t miss this fascinating and timely discussion led by the super-insightful hosts, Maya Dentzel and Tereza Bízková, on technology in service to life from the deep- thinking founders of the Regenerative Technology Project
Crypto Altruism’s Trailblazers of Octant Series Episode One: Building a Sustainable Web3 Public Goods Funding Ecosystem. I’m excited to learn more about Octant’s impact bonds and Degens to Dragons initiatives. Speaking of Crypto Altruism, be sure to watch for their Crypto Altruism + Web3ForGood 2024 Year in Review episode coming January 7th (and have you seen Crypto Altruism’s exciting new branding as Crypto Altruists?)
While it’s not Web3 per se, blockchain and new tech are discussed on some of the episodes of Optimism & Outrage, my favorite weekly climate podcast which, as the name implies, discusses both reasons for optimism & outrage and features lively, informative and engaging discussion on the urgent topic of climate action. Global Optimism also has a fantastic newsletter; learn more and sign up at the Global Optimism website.
Upcoming spaces to join:
Friday community discussions with the ReFi Podcast team are always informative and engaging, a great opportunity to discuss recent episodes and key ReFi topics.
🚀 AI for Good; AI + Web3
🤖 How can we be better together? As we develop this more and more powerful technology, that is the guiding question to keep in the forefront of our minds. Are you thinking about AI + Web3 for good? Do not miss Episode 100 of Your Undivided Attention: The Tech-God Complex: Why We Need to be Skeptics produced by the Center for Humane Technology
👩💻 Do you have a New Year’s resolution to improve your AI skills? Join one of the 7-day learning challenges from 100 schools that sends “free, fun, and effective 30-minute ‘explain it like I’m 5’ bite-sized lessons” delivered to your email daily. I’m going to try the 7 Days of AI Prompting challenge which starts on January 1, 2025.
🎪Funding, Events, & Learning Opportunities
Funding
Gitcoin just released its Gitcoin Grants in 2025 Strategy & Updates. Gitcoin is going multi-mechanism with Futarchy, Dynamic Quadratic Funding, and Retro Funding; I appreciate that they included the projected dates for GG23 (March 2024), GG24 (June/July 2025) and GG25 (October 2025).
Giveth announced a new GIVbacks raffle system program, starting with Round 77 on Nov. 26, 2024, to encourage more substantial contributions, create a fairer and more accessible reward system, and build a more engaged and active donor community. Excited to see how this will impact the Giveth platform in 2025!
Be sure to follow Octant’s Degens to Dragons Octant V2, especially the impact bond idea (see Crypto Altruim’s podcast highlighted in the Podcast section above).
DeepFunding.org is a new Public Goods funding experiment orchestrated by Gitcoin, Vitalik Buterin, and collaborators in the public goods ecosystem. This initiative opened on Dec. 12th and will close Feb. 20th, with the winner(s) announced at Schelling Point in Denver. Learn more by listening to the Dec. 13th GreenPill episode: DeepFunding.Org with Vitalik Buterin.
Climate Coordination Network (CCN): The CCN team continues to be committed to Web3 Climate Solutions and is currently planning next steps for 2025. In the meantime, look for the upcoming CCN Impact Report featuring key projects that have been supported through the Climate Solutions rounds.
Virtual Events
Blockchain4Good Summits: April & July, 2025 (specific dates TBD)
IRL Events
Funding the Commons + Earth Commons: The first event for 2025 will be held in San Francisco (specific dates TBD)
ETHDenver, Feb. 23rd - Mar 2nd, 2025, Denver, CO
SheFi Summit, Feb. 26, 2025, Denver, CO
Schelling Point, Feb. 27, 2025 at ETHDenver. More details coming in January!
Opportunities to Learn, Collaborate, and Build Community
SheFi Season 13 is coming in February 2025! SheFi empowers professional women to master Web3 in 8 weeks. I loved participating in SheFi Season 10 last year and highly recommend taking this valuable blockchain education course and joining the SheFi community of 7,000 members worldwide. Sign up here to receive updates.
Kernel’s KBX (Kernel Block 10) runs January – April 2025, and will bring together approximately 100 fellows who are each building a project towards a better web. As a member of KB8 in 2024, I highly recommend participating in Kernel when the time is right for you! Note: Applications for KB10 are due TODAY (December 20th).
The ReFi Club is a new initiative from Trinity Morphy of CARBON Copy—a valuable source of ReFi news—committed to onboarding local, grassroots NGO members to Web3. Learn more by reading Onboarding Impact Enthusiasts with the ReFi Club.
📡 Going Deeper: Cypherpunk Philosophy & Adventures in Democracy
🧠 This is well worth a watch: Scott Moore’s recent talk, The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work: “If cryptography is a tool that rearranges power, then cryptography is a tool for the people and a means of reclaiming our digital autonomy and our rights to privacy and our freedom of expression and, in that context, we should be very careful about the tools that we’re building.”
🏦 Are you also a fan of the mind-expanding Audrey Tang? If so, be sure to watch: Adventures in Democracy with Audrey Tang & Jon Alexander. I also recommend the book Citizens by Jon Alexander as a framework for shifting away from seeing yourself and others as consumers to seeing ourselves and others as citizens (while being wary of those trying to get us to go backwards to being subjects!)
✨ And Two More Things
🎁 Looking for cool gifts and merch related to Web3 for good? Check out the Unchained Elephants’ Store for high quality, impactful shirts, hats, mugs, notebooks, etc. Every purchase helps Unchained Elephants achieve their mission to save elephants and improve elephant welfare in Thailand. If you love elephants like I do, be sure to follow this innovative Web3 for good project that was recently featured in Giveth’s GIVNews and is working to build an elephant sanctuary!
💚 And last but not least: remember to give yourself the gift of disconnecting from tech and getting outside to celebrate Nature: “Indeed, the beauty of nature is often the wisest balm for it gently relieves and releases the caged mind” - John O’Donohue, The Beauty of Nature is the Wisest Balm.
