I was first exposed to the SEEDS project and network through an initiative to clean up trash in local areas (such as parks) called #cleanplanet. During an exploratory call about #cleanplanet, one of their members, @chrisaiki, suggested checking out the SEEDS network along with the ACORNS UBI project. Both of these projects run on Telos Blockchain Technology as I’ve come to find out over time.
My journey through SEEDS is a bit of a microcosm of my journey through the field of currency design in general. An intersection of economics, governance, technology, and other fields of human endeavor. The blockchain space certainly has a learning curve and I was overwhelmed at first and I am still overwhelmed to some degree. Fittingly, my first impression with SEEDS was…
“Wow! This is such a cool idea! A regenerative economy meant to support the regenerative movement as a whole!
Hmm, but it’s kind of confusing and the app doesn’t seem to be finished yet. What can I do? Who will want to trade with Seeds instead of Dollars? How do I vote?…”
So I was at an impasse. I could just give up and move on because it seems too difficult or I could try to learn and work around stuff I don’t understand. I chose the latter because I was curious and too intrigued with the idea to let it go at that point. Let’s now move on to see what comes next in my journey further down the rabbit hole 🙂
Over the next two to three months, I visited the Seeds (Digital) Town Square from time to time. Well, it’s actually a communication/chat app called Discord. At first, it was a little disorienting because many of the people there were discussing specific topics of which I didn’t have the contextual background info to understand fully. However, many of the SEEDS members in the discord server are happy to help, so that made me feel more supported.
I’m not gonna lie. Being an early adopter in the intersectional space between blockchain, regenerative ecology, and alternative economic systems feels a little incoherent and chaotic at times. Even in the last eight months, the SEEDS app and the blockchain space in general has become much more welcoming to newcomers, but there still is a steep learning curve for anyone but the most techie personality types.
So fast forward a few months to about February. A friend who I joined SEEDS with at around the same time reached out to me to mutually support ourselves and others to become citizens. And so we did. That opened a whole other portal. Creating and voting on proposals made by other SEEDS members. And other specific privileges of being a citizen but mostly a sense of accomplishment, belonging and confidence to learn even more and contribute more.
So I did.
Once I became a citizen, I started learning about other opportunities to up-level not only my participation and contribution impact within the SEEDS ecosystem, but also my general skills as we approach the loveworker (a human who engages in regenerative and loving activities.) era of humanity.
One such opportunity was joining the workshop/course titled, Tools for the Regenerative Renaissance. I applied for the course the first time in February but got rejected ? perhaps because I didn’t actually fill in my application with much detail as I didn’t expect such a “competitive” process to be accepted into the course.
I didn’t make the same mistake the next time around when the course was offered again starting in May. I recently completed that course and I highly recommend it. Unlike any other course I’ve taken in my life, participants get paid to complete the course. As the hosts of the course explain (Stephen Reid | Phoebe Tickell) — if we are transitioning into a Game(B) paradigm, perhaps education should not only be free — but also perhaps humans can also be rewarded for educating themselves about subjects that leads to regenerative outcomes, attitudes, mindsets, skills, etc.
Upon completion of the Tools for Regenerative Renaissance Course, I applied for the SEEDS Ambassador Academy. The approach to spread the movement in a bioregional way appealed to me greatly, and I wanted to become more knowledgeable about how I can facilitate a Seeds micro-economy in the bioregion I now live in.
One last thing, I have found a magic in the SEEDS community in that there are still only a very small number of very active members, yet somehow there is an amazingly representative amount of diversity within the movement across many demographics. In the ambassador academy I am now a part of, there are people from all over the world, of all genders, different personalities and perspectives, but all with a commonality to catalyze the most inspiring and beautiful visions for earth we can imagine!
