Crypto4ChangeMaking NFT: For Goodness Sake, Support this Charity Initiative!
We interviewed Crypto4ChangeMaking NFT, an initiative co-created by crypto-world professionals and real-world changemakers from Ashoka Fellows who want to use crypto to support systemic change for the common good.
Let's support this wonderful charity in any way possible- and we can start by reading about their ambitious plans and checking out their incredible NFTs upon launch.
1. How would you describe your artistic style?
We were carefully looking for an artist who would be able to bring our Wildflower NFTs to life. Most important for our team members from the Meadow Foundation was for the flowers to be true-to-nature and biologically accurate (<---bio-nerds).
The rest of the team just wanted them to be pretty. And we found just the person to enable that! Marta, our artist, is a book illustrator and an avid plant-lover.
When we saw her portfolio, our jaws dropped as her ethereal but detail-oriented style was precisely what we were looking for.
2. What drew you to NFT creation rather than traditional charity fundraising?
Well, the point is this is not about charity fundraising, so , people give money for other people to do good”. This is about a mindshift - by acquiring a C4Meadow NFT you do good, you yourself bring more biodiversity into the World, the agency is yours, the decision is yours. No intermediaries. Just you and your actions. The Meadow Foundation, Ashoka and all others are not there to do stuff instead of you but they create space for you to feel the natural high of doing something for the Planet, for other people, for yourself.
3. Are there any artists who have inspired you? What do you like about their work?
An artist with a botanical knowledge and passion created our NFT. We were inspired by nature! The flowers and pollinators that live on the NFTs are true-to-nature; you could make a meadow vademecum with our art.
Also, we added a little more artistic touch to our collection. Some of the backgrounds we use are inspired by classic painting styles from Klimt and Van Gogh.
4. What made you create NFTs?
Currently, there is a boom for NFTs, so when we decided to enter the crypto world - it was only natural that we would come where most people are. Also, NFTs are great!
Our take on NFTs is that their primary value is solid proof of donation. And a “thank you” for our supporters. We do not perceive them as “financial instruments” designed for speculation.
5. Can you tell us about your project?
C4Changemaking is an initiative co-created by crypto-world professionals and real-world changemakers from Ashoka Fellows who want to use crypto to support systemic change for the common good. With our campaigns, we want to address the roots of the problems, not the symptoms of systemic malfunction that cause societal and environmental issues locally and globally.
We also want to change the common understanding of crypto. We believe it can be used to make a real, positive change in the real world, instead of being just a virtual toy and a big polluter.
With our first collection: Crypto4Meadow, with every NFT sold, we will lease or purchase real-world plots of land and plant natural wildflowers on them, creating wildflower meadows that preserve biodiversity, provide sustenance for pollinators and absorb CO2 from the air.
Apart from those real-world benefits, each NFT will give virtual ownership of a piece of land in our Metaverse, while the flowers and pollinators will have a particular utility in our game.
6. How many NFTs will be minted? Can you talk us through the process of how you create the art?
We will mint 10,000 NFTs. The artwork is created from true to reality wildflower plants in different stages of growth, pollinators, stones, and a variety of backgrounds. Each NFT will contain two different flowers, one pollinator, a random amount of rocks, and a background.
Our artist prepared all elements using the paper & crayons technique! And only a minimum of Photoshop to make it digital. The complete NFT will be minted on our website during the launch.
7. Will people be able to breed, stake, rent your NFT, or will it ever be in a game?
Each species of wildflowers will have unique properties and be utilized in our Player vs. Environment Metaverse game.
For every minted NFT, the landowners will be able to plant their flowers in the Metaverse. Those plants will be a harvestable, renewable resource for crafting ingredients (mead from virtual bees could be among them).
We plan to add variables to land properties and the environment. Later on, that will influence the farmland properties. What’s more, landowners' choices on their farmland will affect the environment. Keeping the balance of nature will be the primary goal!
8. What benefits do you think the Internet Computer has over other L1 blockchains when it comes to creating NFTs?
For our project, the deal-breaker for the L1 blockchains was carbon emissions. Our team members from Ashoka made it clear that the organization will pull out if we won’t reach at least carbon neutrality with our project.
Ethereum or Bitcoin would be a BIG task to accomplish, given how much electricity is required to operate in those protocols.
IC, however, is proof-of-stake, and therefore it emits infinitely less carbon to the atmosphere.
What’s more, IC operates a reverse-gas model, which means the buyer will pay only for the NFT, with zero transaction fees! This is nice, especially for crypto newcomers who will never experience a gas war with our collections.
And finally, we believe that IC is a newcomer-friendly ecosystem, and we expect to have a lot of interest from non-crypto environments, so it’ll be nice to make it easy for them to enter our world :D
9. What other art have you seen that excites you in the Internet Computer NFT ecosystem?
Lots of good NFTs on the IC :) We are fond of ICircles amazing art and Infinite Charity Project, which are close to our cause of common good.
10. What excites you most about your launch, and which date is your launch?
Our first collection launches on January 27th, and we are super excited as it is a beginning of a beautiful journey for us and our Metaverse. We are excited about the unique combo of the crypto world and real-world Changemaking that our initiative embodies.
We are stoked and curious how other people from different environments will perceive it.
So far, so good, and we are hearing a lot of positive feedback and excitement, but we won’t know how people are fond of our project until the first launch and how NFTs sell, of course
The BIG Number
52.0 Billion
Total metric tons of greenhouse (most recent Data), according to Bloomberg*
11. What advice would you give to anyone trying to enter into the world of NFTs?
Firstly, of course, educate yourself, as your decisions are financial. We believe that resources you can find online - TikTok, Youtube, and educational platforms made by DFINITY or Binance give you an excellent base to understand this world.
Then, find a community you like and feel comfortable with. The NFT world is divided between the people who want to do and contribute to awesome things while building relationships and those who are here for quick financial gain.
Whatever floats your boat, though we recommend having fun while making great things rather than bouncing from wall to wall chasing a quick buck (or rather, we should say - token).
And lastly, ask yourself what you want from an NFT itself, regardless of whether you want to be behind creation or purchase. Are you looking for beautiful art supporting talented individuals? Maybe you search for a whimsical picture that proves that you are a member of a community you like or a token that supports some cause, or none of the above? Don’t chase the hype just to chase it. We recommend choosing art you like or art that stands for something you believe in.
12. Do you have further plans to work with ICP Squad in the future after this initial sale?
As long as you want to work with us, we are not leaving :D. We are (insanely) proud recipients of the DFINITY grant, and we have some fantastic plans for it. We already have two more collections in line after this one, and we are staying on the IC, so let’s sit down and plan some great stuff together ;)
13. Can you envisage a future where the most valuable NFT space is on the Internet Computer?
Of course! The bright spots of IC that drove us in are: the ease of use and low carbon emissions, combined with all of the projects and fans of the ecosystem, make it sustainable for the future. We are seeing some cool stuff happening now and can wait to see more, so we are here to stay :)
14. Why do you think NFTs have become so valuable in such a short space of time?
Good question. In general, we think that everything that carries on from crypto will have rapid growth and, at least, initially, some pull and success. Secondly, we believe that people see it as a tool to make things freely and anonymously.
Looking at people outside it, they kind of regret not getting in Bitcoin when it was worth pennies, so now that they are seeing those cool tokes coming in and gaining value, they jump right in as soon as they can.
15. Tell us about your team?
Our team is a mix of crypto pros, real-world change-making, and community building enthusiasts:
Maciek is the founder and CEO of Meadow Foundation. Educating, sowing seeds, and picking flowers 24/7. Father of two tiny humans (Lion and Raspberry) and one big minipig (Dumpling).
Agata is a Senior Change Leader at Ashoka and a Co-Director of Ashoka Poland. She is a social entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in launching and supporting social&business ventures all over Europe.
Wojtek is a co-Director of Ashoka Poland and an entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the IT industry.
Sylwia is a nerd and gamer that likes to breathe the fresh air. 10+ years as a business-IT consultant playing project manager/release manager/process analyst/scheduler roles.
Ola is our community manager and copywriter. She has a background in sustainability, communications, and global trade.
Przemek is a maven living & working in and in-between the worlds of business & society. Over 25+ years leading business, social, education, arts, and philanthropic ventures. Life-long learner, networker. Strives to live sustainably.
16. What advantages do you believe you have over other competitors?
First and foremost, our absolute goal is to be at least carbon neutral. As we speak, we have contracted professionals that are calculating CO2 emissions of every aspect of our operations, starting from sending an email and finishing on mining and IC transactions post-launch.
After those calculations are complete, we will offset the emissions with a renowned third party. But that is not the end. We will also publicize our findings so that other IC projects can use them and make sure that their activity does not negatively affect the atmosphere. We will do our best so that the IC community can advantage of our work too!
We want the space to be better, and we hope that our activity makes a positive impact in the long run.
Another notable thing about us is the variety of values we bring to our community. Our C4Meadow NFT is not only an excellent virtual token that has a utility in our Metaverse, but it also finances planting natural wildflowers into the actual ground. The benefits of our NFTs have a tangible real-world, positive impact, and we think that is pretty awesome.
17. Do you have partners? Tell us about them?
Our biggest partner with who we built this initiative is Ashoka. Ashoka is a global network of activists and social entrepreneurs. They have been active for more than 30 years now, and they have more than 4000 fellows in more than 90 countries. They are amazing.
We have some more collabs and partnerships, and we planned some cool activities with them before our launch, but we have to send you to our Twitter and Discord as we don’t want to spill all the beans 😄 To give you a hint, our current collab involves pineapple leather 😮
18. Tell us about the challenges you face while building your project?
Working with an extensive and renowned organization like Ashoka is as challenging as it is structuring. We had to ensure that our project and operations would be carbon-neutral. Our communications and claims also have to be realistic and 100% true. It’s not that we wanted to fudge the facts; we need to put a lot of time into discussing our roadmap, claims, and plans, ensuring that we can deliver and that all of our activities are in line with Ashoka’s ethical code and our mission.Well, we guess then it’s not called a challenge, more like a structure 😄
As the community is essential to us, we have to ensure that they are protected from scammers, bots, and whoever else is there to take advantage of our project. Again, it’s not a challenge, more like a caution we need to have as we grow more robust and prominent.
19. What are your short and long-term achievements and targets?
We are primarily focused now on our launch on January 27. As we are at it, we build the main structure and rules of our Metaverse and prepare for the subsequent launches. So:
Short term:
1. Launch C4Meadow.
2. Strengthen and take care of our community and their needs.
3. Build strong and trusted collabs and partnerships with other projects.
Long term:
1. Finalize, publish and publicize the carbon emissions calculations.
2. Build a Metaverse that all NFTs from all of our collections that have a particular utility.
3. Maintain the real-world meadows and keep up with publicity around it.
4. Prep and launch more NFT releases with more Ashoka Fellows.
20. Give us some details about your roadmap?
Here it is:
27.01.2022 Launch of first C4CH collection: Change #1: Meadows (Crypto4Meadow)
Q1 2022:
- Community driven process of finalizing details about first version of Metaverse mechanics
- Additional drops and sneak peaks for NFT owners
- Launch of planting real world meadows by Łąka Foundation
Q2 2022: - Map of the Metaverse
- Launch of Metaverse token
- Launch of Metaverse land plots initial claiming/sales
- Announcement of next Ashoka Fellow/noble cause along with second collection details
Q3 2022: - Closed beta of Metaverse
- Launch of second collection (Change#2: TBA)
Q4 2022: Launch of third collection (Change#3: TBA)
21. Any plan to move into Metaverse?
Hell yeah! We are also planning to involve our community in some decision-making, so if you want to make some cool choices, join us on Discord :D
22. Will your NFT be tokenized in the future?
That is the plan (go back up to see our roadmap).
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.😊
Something to think about
According to University of Maryland, Global Forest Watch ( Most recent Data)
The world loses more than 8,000 square meters of tree cover per second. That’s roughly equal to one soccer pitch per second.
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Graphic Designer - Jay Damani: Twitter | Instagram