The Global Ecobrick Alliance is an Earth Enterprise accelerating local and global plastic transition. We do so through the mandalic dissemination of principled and practical ecobricking to raise ecological consciousness.
The story of the Global Ecobrick Alliance begins in the traditional territory of the Igorot people (Kaigorotan) in the highlands of northern Luzon in the West Philippine Sea. Striving to keep our plastic out of the river, we developed means and methods for our homes and communities that embodied the Igorot Ayyew ethos. Inspired by indigenous wisdom, today ecobricking principles and methods are a means for households, enterprises and communities around the world to accelerate their plastic transition.
The Global Ecobrick Alliance (GEA) is made up of 400+ transition trainers from all walks of life, ages, and backgrounds. We are connected around the world in our concern for the biosphere and its harm by plastic pollution. We are united by the solution we have found in our ecobricking to transition from plastic to ever greener living.
Being the Change
We strive to lead by example in our households and enterprises.
As ecobrickers ourselves, we keep track of how much plastic we consume each month, clean and wash it, and put it aside. We pack our plastic into ecobricks which we use in our homes to make our furniture and gardens. We lead ecobrick trainings for companies and communities near and far. For both our households and enterprises we offset our plastic to make sure our household and our enterprises are net green. We track and disclose our plastic transition progress, just like the Global Ecobrick Alliance does each year.
Our ecobricking has given us a chance to reflect on our own plastic consumption. We feel that solving plastic is a lot more complex than bans and bamboo. While such steps are essential, deeply solving plastic requires an extensive transition of the very way our modern culture integrates with the biosphere.
We observe that our consumption and production of plastic is rooted in the global petroleum and capital powered economy.
In this way, the plastic that we handle each day is the tip of the iceberg of the petro-capital system that is at the root of today's many of our ecological crises. As such, plastic allows us to physically touch the petro-capital system that otherwise looms large and unseen around us. Our every plastic choice, from purchasing to disposing, results in factories spinning, trucks transporting, and oil refined-- or, not.
What we do with our plastic, as it adds or decreases the momentum of the petro-capital economy has imminent ecological consequence. Even though our personal choices may seem small, we observe that over time as our choices reverberate with others, they gather a momentum over that time that has enormous ecological consequences. In this way, ‘leading by personal example’ is one of our core principles.
As we have come together as the Global Ecobrick Alliance, we’ve realized that to deeply solve plastic, we also have to lead by our allied action, enterprise structure and principles in manifesting plastic transition, ecological value and Earth service.
“When you sit in council for the welfare of the people, you must not think of yourself or of your family, not even of your generation. Make your decisions on behalf of the seven generations coming, so that they may enjoy what you have today.
— Oren Lyons (Seneca), Onondaga Nation
Earth Enterprise
Our not-for-profit enterprise is focused on Earth service.
The Global Ecobrick Alliance operates as a not-for-profit enterprise with the mandate of for-Earth service. This means that, unlike a company, we have no share-holders or owners who gather profits. It also means that unlike an organization, we do not receive charity, grants, or CSR funds. This way we are not beholden to agendas outside of our mission and vision, nor a mandate of growth and profits.
As an Earth enterprise our focus is on generating authentic ecological value.
Revenue Generation
Through our Brikcoin blockchain this value is authenticated, quantified, and valued in regular currency. We then sell Authenticated Ecobrick Sequestrated Plastic (AES plastic offsets) to fund our operations.
The GEA develops workshops and trainings that raise ecological consciousness around the dangers of plastic. These courses are led by our trainer team, and serve as a means for them to fund their own work (profit is shared 80/20 with the GEA).
The GEA develops regenerative, open source products that are made to specification by makers local to the country in which they are sold. These products are sold by our trainers to assist with their practice (see our EarthWand page for an example).
All of our operations are manifested through our GEA Trainer and Core Team– folks who have been through one of our advanced trainings and are perpetually committed and resonant with our mission, vision, and principles. Our trainer team is constantly running GEA Trainings around the world, and are remunerated professionally for these services by the community groups, companies, governments, NGOs, or organizations that hire them.
“In a world with NFP business at its heart, profit is a means by which social and environmental well-being is achieved; it is not a goal in itself.”
– How on Earth, Hinton & Maclurcan (2016)
Principled Practice
As an Earth Enterprise the GEA follows seven principles that ensure our goals, operations and our results are deeply in line with our vision and mission in both the short and long-term.
1. For-Earth Service
Our enterprise follows the Earth's example in generating ecological value. To do so we strive to follow the principles of Earthen ethics: to serve the Earth first by supporting biodiversity, raising ecological awareness and maintaining a net-subtraction of carbon and plastic out of the biosphere by our enterprise.
2. Leading by Example
We strive to ensure that the processes, methods, products and services of our enterprise are fully in line with our principles. We track and disclose our ecological impacts to ensure that the net result of our enterprise is the subtraction of CO2 and plastic from the biosphere and the support of biodiversification. We work to raise ecological consciousness and empower others to follow our example.
3. Open Source
We make our resources, guides, and code open under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licenses.
4. Gender, Age, Status Transcendent
We strive to craft methods and processes that enable the participation of men and women, young and old, rich and poor and everyone in between.
5. Fair Remuneration for Earth Service
We strive to cultivate a space and parameters so that our trainers, specialists and principals receive fair and abundant remuneration for their service to the earth. As our enterprise expands we will ensure a wage bracket to maintain a defined ratio from the highest to the lowest paid person in the organization.
6. Financial and Impact Transparency
We strive to make all our financials, both in fiat currency and on our Brikcoin blockchain transparent and accessible. We commit to disclosing our net impacts in terms of CO2 and Plastic.
7. Not for Profit
We commit to not-for-profit enterprise without shareholders or owners. At the end of the year, any unspent funds will be reinvested back into the fulfillment of our mission and vision.
Learn more about ecobricking principles
Our Work.
We maintain the technical and conceptual infrastructure for the local and global ecobrick movements.
Ecobricks.org
We maintain Ecobricks.org (this site) as the go-to source for up-to-date ecobrick information, methods, data and best-practices.
GoBrik.com
The GEA maintains and develops the free GoBrik.com web app to support and connect ecobrickers and their communities.
Brikcoin Manual Blockchain
The GEA has developed and now maintains the Brikcoin manual blockchain as a means to value the plastic sequestration ecobricking and to develop a medium of exchange based on ecological value. Brikcoins are generated and exchanged on the GoBrik webapp.
Ecobrick Best Practices
We maintain best practices and standards for the making of ecobricks and the building applications of them.
Reports & Whitepapers
We actively developing and publishing reports, research and white papers on ecobrick and plastic transition topics.
Ecobrick Educational Resources
The GEA develops and deploys resources such as video tutorials on our youtube channel, photocopiable PDF guidebooks, Ecobrickable Design parameters and ecobrick trainings.
Plastic Accounting Coefficients
The GEA researches, publishes and maintains standards for plastic equivalencies for regenerative accounting.
Academic, Scientific and Indigenous People's Dialogue & Support
The GEA dialogues with scientists, academics and indigenous leaders to support their work researching plastic pollution and developing plastic transition solutions.
Contact Us
Connect with us directly.
Our Vision
We envision a Transition from Plastic in our Households, Communities and Enterprises to an ever Greener Harmony with Earth’s Cycles.
Our Mission
To raise Ecological Consciousness through the spread of Ecobricking and the transformation of global plastic into local solutions.
Dedication
Our work is dedicated to our Children, our Children’s Children… and the children of all species, for all time.
Together we can be the transition to ever increasing harmony with the cycles of life.
Entreprise terrestre
En divulguant nos impacts sur le carbone, le plastique et la biodiversité et en veillant à ce qu'ils soient nets verts, la GEA s'engage envers for-Earth Enterprise
Transition plastique
L'Ecobriquage est une technologie de transition. Plutôt que de considérer le plastique comme un "déchet", nous le considérons comme un élément constitutif de nos visions les plus vertes!
Rapports Comptabilité écologique annuelle
Chaque année, nous suivons, comptabilisons et divulguons notre impact écologique dans un rapport annuel sur la régénération.
Notre Rapports
Principes terrestres
Nos principes sont basés sur l'exemple de la Terre pour que nos produits et processus sont en spirale, séquestrants, réciproques, diversifiés et sensibilisants.
Nos principes
