The challenge of transitioning from plastic connects us across cultures and continents. By valuing the securing of plastic by individuals and communities, the GoBrik platform enables currency and connection to empower projects and people.
GoBrik is a social action platform providing ecobrickers and their communities around the world with the tools to log, track, exchange and manage their ecobricking. GoBrik is a project of the Global Ecobrick Alliance (GEA) Earth Enterprise. Launched in 2017, GoBrik now connects 50,000 users and 5,000 communities from 120 countries through their ecobricking. The core of the platform is our community of planet passionate ecobrickers. Through their hard word, our ecobrick authentication system is generating our brikcoin manual blockchain.
Our Vision
We’re firm beleivers that ‘the problem is always the solution‘. And that includes plastic. Plastic is not just an ugly consequence of the petro-capital economy– it is our spring board to transcending it.
To solve plastic pollution and to transcend the petro-capital economy at the root of it, we must dive deep into… plastic. Rather than sending our personal plastic on polluting journeys, through ecobricking we can generate the buidling blocks and currency. By connecting ecobrickers– uniquely committed planet-passionate global citizens– GoBrik has a tremendously unique base of users who, like the GEA, are not motivated by capital or profit– but ecological and community concern.
United by this shared passion, ecobricking lays the foundation for much more than just ecobricking! With a shared currency, a shared metric and vision of plastic transition, our vision is of a decentralized app that can be deployed by regenerative communities around the world to coalesce their local efforts and unite them to the global movement.
In the recycling industry plastic is only valued as a raw material. GoBrik enables us to value plastic for precisely the opposite: its removal from the global industrial system to be secured and put to good local use. Our vision is of the GoBrik platform doing just this– accelerating the sequestration of plastic and our transition from it. By generating currency and connection on the valuation of their service, we envision not just making a dent in the the millions of tons of plastic that will be produced in the next decade, but using that plastic as the building blocks for a whole new regenerative world.
Serving the People Serving the Planet
The GoBrik platform serves ecobrickers around the world, enabling them to manage their plastic transition. GoBrik offers the tools to log, manage, validate, authenticate and exchange their ecobricks.
Ecobricks that are logged on GoBrik are given a serial number and their unique data (weight, color, volume, density, maker etc.) is saved and managed in the database. Once logged, ecobricks are automatically submitted to the validation queue where they are reviewed by the community of ecobrickers. Ecobricks that are successfully authenticated (the reviewers concur on the visible data) are then eligible to be exchanged and traded on the platform. Those who helped out with the validation, are rewarded with Brikcoins.
Ecobrick Authentications & Brikcoins
On GoBrik, the value of the ecological service of securing plastic from contaminating the biosphere is quantified. The peer authentication of ecobricks generates what we call brikcoins which reward the validators and makers of the ecobrick.
Download our Brikcoin White Paper for a full description of the Brikcoin Manual Blockchain.
Brikcoins (BRK / ß) are a digital token based on real world plastic that has been sequestered and authenticated by ecobrickers around the world on a manual blockchain. Brikcoins are generated each time an ecobrick is authenticated by the ecobricker community on GoBrik. For each Kg of authenticated plastic, 10 ß are generated. These coins are distributed equally among the validators and the GoBrik system. Brikcoins can be used to exchange for ecobricks, to register for GEA courses, to purchase regenerative products on the Regen Shop, and to purchase plastic offset credits. Anyone with an GoBrik account can invest their time and effort to earn brikcoins by assisting the ecobrick authentication process.
Regen Store
A Repository for Regenerative Products
The GoBrik Regenerative Store is a new feature on GoBrik featuring GEA and Trainer products. The store enables sellers to calculate the plastic and CO2 impact of their products before listing them on the store. In this way, buyers can see a full accounting of the net impact of the product before they purchase it. Products can be purchased in regular currency and in brikcoins. Sellers who accept Brikcoin purchases can use their coins to purchase plastic offset credits.
Live Community Courses
GoBrik is the repository for GEA Courses
The Global Ecobrick Alliance uses GoBrik to list and promote its full range of courses. Our interactive trainer map can be used to find a GEA Trainer near you and book a live starter workshop in your community. Our full listing of online courses can also be found– from ecobrick starter workshops, to trainer of trainers. Users can register for courses using Brikcoins or normal currency.
Shortly, our full network of trainers will be able to use the platform to list and manage their own courses.
History
Over 2388 Ecobricks were logged in our first three month run of the first Ecobrick App in Jogja.
From the very beginning, we observed that schools that kept track of their ecobricking were most likely to have the highest quality ecobricks, to build the coolest stuff, and to see the deepest plastic transition. These schools were then able to speak of their success with solid numbers. Inspired, we’re working to build the GoBrik app to help ecobrickers everywhere track and connect their ecobricking and we’re developing Brikcoins as a means to value the hard and valuable work of ecobrickers securing plastic from contaminating the biosphere.
In March 2016, we launched the first version of our app to a team of twenty trainers in the city of Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Basically an upgraded google form embedded in a WordPress site, they were able to log the Ecobricking of hundreds of Jogjans over the course of three months. In June 2016, we were able to host a ecobrick media event to unveil the Ecobricks that had been made in three months, as well as detailed statistics of the amount of plastic packed, participation and C02 sequestered. This was followed by the launch of an improved app for NU, a large muslim organization in Jakarta. Empowered with their own NU App, they began logging and tracking their ecobricks.
Despite the success of our first Jogja and NU apps, the logging functionality was significantly limited. One could not see or track one’s personal ecobricking. The logging thus became the responsibility of one or two trainers– the rest recording on paper for these people to process.
With the insights that we have gleaned from our sociological observations of the spread of Ecobricks in Indonesia and the Philippines, coupled with our prototype app field testing, we went back to the drawing board.
In early 2017, with the guidance of veteran programmers, crypto-currency experts, and data base designer, we had a massive breakthrough in our app development. Having designed a relational database, we found the Knack.com platform to create it. Within two months the pieces were in place. The second version of our Ecobricks app was launched in the second half of 2017.
In mid 2018 our Ecobrick & Brikcoin White Paper was released and shortly thereafter our Brikcoin manual block chain.
Plastic Offset Credits
Ecobricks are one of the few ways to ensure that plastic is indefinitely kept out of the waste industry and out of the biosphere.
On GoBrik, each gram of plastic has been reviewed by independent ecobrickers to make sure that has been packed to GEA standards. Each gram of plastic is accounted for in our manual block chain system. Every ecobrick authentication is stored on our human searchable brickchain and every cash transaction is stored in our open books accounting system.
Authenticated Ecobricked Plastic is…
- Plastic that can no longer be contaminated with the Covid-19 virus
- Plastic that won’t degrade into microplastics, CO2 or green house gases
- Plastic that can now be put to local use for shorterm household projects
- Plastic that can be put to use to build earth and ecobrick green spaces
- The result of a process that raises ecological awareness and lowers plastic consumption
The cost incurred in the ongoing sequestration of plastic through the maintenance and development of GoBrik are tracked in our Open Books. By comparing the past year’s net cost of running the platform vs. the amount amount of plastic authenticated in that year, enables us to determine the next year’s price per Kg. This value also corresponds to the total Brikcoins generated in the year. The purchase price of each Kg of plastic offset is thus at a set price and a set Brikcoin correlation– with the buyer’s personal or company account being credited with both plastic offsets and brikcoins. The transaction is recorded in both our blockchain and our open books.
Offset purchases enables the GEA to continue our work. Purchases also help float the fiat value of brikcoins– which distributes value and incentive for the entire ecobricker network.
A Global Ecobrick Alliance Project
The GoBrik platform and its development are managed by the Global Ecobrick Alliance. The GEA is a not-for-profit Earth Enterprise, that operates under regenerative principles and a mission to support the global plastic transition movement.
The GoBrik platform is our way of supporting the technological and philosophical infrastructure of the plastic transition movement. GoBrik helps maintain the clarity of the mandalic core pattern and intention of the ecobrick movement. The platform promotes the terminologies, best practices and principles that continental ecobrick leaders have agreed upon and which are established in the wikipedia official ecobrick page.
As an independent Earth Enterprise that by principle does not accept government or corporation funding. We strive to make our work open source and strive to use only platforms and services that are likewise open source. GoBrik enables us to support and amplify the work and example of our 327 Trainers around the world, whose in-turn regular contributions helps us cover our maintenance and development costs. Teams of trainers work on the various aspects of development, translation, content and concept of the platform.
Development Team
Russell Maier – Lead developer, GEA Co-Founder
Russell Maier is one of the co-founders of the Global Ecobrick Alliance and has spearheaded the the spread of ecobricks in South East Asia and the UK. Russell’s regenerative inventions, ideas and projects have been covered by the BBC, the Guardian, the Jarkata post, hundreds of local media outlets and recently an hour long special on CNN Indonesia. With almost two decades of web development experience, an academic background in philosophy and a decade of leading large collaborative projects, Russell is the catalyst behind the Gobrik and Brikcoin projects. With a perspective gleaned from integrating in some of the most politically and economically challenged cultures on the planet — from refugee camps in Gaza, rainforests in Costa Rica, to four years living with the Igorots in the mountains of the Northern Philippines, Russell brings to the Brikcoin team, his passion for solving ecological and social challenges with a low tech, regenerative approach.
Ani Himawati – GEA Principal, CDD Advisor
Ani Himawati is an Indonesian anthropologist who has worked to empower communities around the country in cities, towns and remote villages. For the last fifteen years she has worked simultaneously at the grass roots and executive level in the Community Driven Development (CDD) programs with NGOs, Government and Development Aid Agencies, such as the UN and the World Bank. Ani is one of the principals of the Global Ecobrick Alliance and has assisted in GEA Training of Trainers workshops all around South East Asia. She brings her first hand experience of CDD programs to the GEA team, as well as her development work experience designing nation wide implementation programs.
Stephen DeMeulenaere – Token Model Advisor
Stephen has over 25 years experience with digital currencies and 8 years experience with cryptographically secured digital currencies. Before the word ‘Bitcoin’ was coined, his contributions in the field of monetary design have been noted in dozens of books and magazines from “The Future of Money” by Bernard Lietaer to “The End of Money and the Future of Civilization” by Thomas Greco. Focused on the potential of how restructuring capital can solve environmental and social problems, Stephen has been a natural fit to the Brikcoin project, advising over the last two years. Previous positions include the organizer of the Blockchains for Sustainable Development for the UNCTAD World Investment Forum in Geneva, brand ambassador for the Malta AI and Blockchain summit and Asia Region Leader at Qoin – Smart City Currencies. Stephen brings his field and theoretical experience in complimentary currency design and implementation as a senior advisor to the Brikcoin team.
Leon Stafford – Server Configuration Designer & Manager
Leon is a veteran WordPress developer with extensive experience optimizing servers, sites and databases for clients around the world. Leon is the lead developer of the WP2Static plugin for optimizing site performance and security. Leon couples his IT ingenuity with his passion for solving plastic. In 2017 he joined the GEA Trainer team and has since been advising on the GEA server infrastructure. With the global awakening to the perils of plastic pollution, Leon has been instrumental in configuring a short and long term solution to seamlessly serving the exponential rise in traffic to Ecobricks.org and GoBrik.com.
Shiloh Vermaak – Senior User Experience Manager
A senior GEA Trainer based in Durban, South Africa, Shiloh brings her passion for solving plastic and her extensive experience with customer account management to the team. Shiloh’s role is on the front lines of user interaction, managing the GEA social media accounts and interfacing with the various ecobricker movements and communities around the world. Shiloh manages the interaction between our users, new team members and our technical team, ensuring we are constantly staying human friendly, relevant and engaging to the ecobrick movement.
Richard Goldsmith – Development & Deployment
With a combined total of over four decades of experience as a relational database designer, SQL developer, data centre manager and computer engineer, Richard brings to the GoBrik team his extensive background in financial and treasury systems development. After leading Sybase database and software development teams for Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments, Prudential Banking and other multinational BlueChip enterprises, Richard retired from the financial industry keen to re-invest his energies and skills in endeavours that fully resonated with his values. With a deep passion for the earth as a long-time green party member and climate advocate, Richard was one of the early adopters of ecobricking in the UK as a means to supplement his already 100% renewable energy home in Surrey. Richard’s passion, background and skills now merge as he assists the team establish development protocols for GoBrik and Brikcoin platforms.
Corporate Sponsors
None!
Single Use Plastic & CoVid-19
GoBrik has been updated to assist with the CoVid-19 pandemic. Breaking research into corona-viruses outside the body, shows that of all surfaces tested, the virus lasts the longest and is the most transmissible on plastic. The GEA’s new Enhanced Ecobricking Guidelines can help prevent this transmission. Follow the Guidelines and log ecobricks with a ‘C’ during this time.
Why Ecobrick?
Ecobricks keep plastic & C02 out of the biosphere. Ecobricks raise ecological consciousness. And more!
Regenerative
Ecobricking is a what we call a regenerative technology. Rather than "sustaining" the status quo, we're careful that everything we do re-greens rather than greys.
