FIREWATCH: Building eco-conscious NFTs for the future of California
Where it all started
My name is August. I’m a California-native. My grandparents immigrated after WWII and my family has called the state home ever since.
I’ve lived everywhere from San Clemente, through to Mount Shasta, and eventually landed in Slo County.
Loving The Land, Loving My Community
Loads of folks regularly ask us: “Why do we live here?”.
To us, the answer is simple:
We’re here for the lifestyle, the landscape, the nature, and the weather.
My community is made up of hobbyists; swimming, surfing, and (something else) to their heart’s content — and our unique landscape provides a plethora of playgrounds to accommodate us all.
It’s truly a special place, and an equally special way of life.
Experiencing The Damage In Person
On a recent road trip to my hometown, Mount Shasta I was excited. Having kids has reminded me of the joy of discovering new places. In stark contrast to that thought, as we drove the 5 North of Redding, my quiet anticipation was met with dreadful surprise.
Shasta lake, empty. Huge burn scars all throughout Trinity National Forest.
Tragic stuff.
Catastrophic fires have totally ravaged the land. It’s dystopian.
We drove by an ‘adopt a highway’ sign. I leaned over to my wife and said:
“Only in America can you sponsor and protect a road but not a forest.”
Honestly, in that simple moment, the idea for FIREWATCH was born.
Conceptualizing FIREWATCH
Roadtrips are truly underrated. Theyre great for bonding (in my case with my family), and for having time to think. Rolling down a long stretch of road, a reference from The Million Dollar Homepage popped in my head.
For those that don’t remember, it was a project of the early internet where 1 pixel represented 1 space for 1 dollar each.
It was wildly successful, resulting in companies and individuals from all over to join in on the viral craze. My heart told me that there was something there, something that could be translated for the modern day — but I still had some noodling to do to make sense of it all.
Coming Home to Hard Truths
We arrived to my hometown at the base of Mount Shasta.
Always feels good to be back.
Pulling up to my childhood home, Papa and Meemom greet us.
Papa (Bryan Scheiber, Retired CalFire Alum and badass), and I stand in the driveway and talk about the fires that have burned very close to our neighborhood during the Lava Fire in 2020.
“The thing that is changing is how often fires get into the canopy. It’s one part climate, one part forest management. The trees up here are toast after it gets through the canopy” — Bryan Scheiber Retired CalFire Alum
I reply ignorantly:
“How long does it take them to grow back?”
He scrunches his face and replies:
“Lifetime — if they grow back at all.”
I specifically remember walking away from that conversation thinking that at this rate, my great grandkids very well may not know what a forest looks like at all.
The Problem with NFTs
We unpack… I get a slack from one of the most respected CDs at my agency (YML) — He seemed heavily concerned.
“If we mint on ETH or any other climate torching crypto, I’m leaving the company. NFTs are the worst.”
He said very frankly.
If you haven’t already heard, (in many cases) crypto is a climate change accelerator, and Bitcoin (BTC) as well as Ethereum (ETH), have a long history of carbon. When our team began deep diving into blockchain tech, we (like many people) were turned off by the numbers.
1 BTC transaction is like burning through a whopping 75 gallons of gas!
On the other hand, 1 ETH transaction is like burning through 7.5 gallons, which is still far too much to be sustainable (unless we want to experience Bladerunner IRL) —but they plan to offset their carbon in their future blockchain release, Ethereum 3.0.
We tended towards the brighter side of blockchains out there like Solana. Energy wise, One SOL transaction is equal to about 2 Google searches.
I was first drawn to Solana because of its roadmap and continued efforts to offset its carbon footprint — a necessary step that I reckon that all other blockchains will need to consider.
Solana’s solid.
Sold.
That’s one part solved.
Wildfire From Experience
During the trip duration, many of our conversations naturally revolved around wildfire. With such massive affects, and so close to home, it’s just impossible to overlook.
Talking with Papa in all of his experience, some main takeaways were that, folks generally believe we can plant our way out of it — but the truth is we need to be placing priority on maintaining our forests. This approach is in opposition to how our state has historically handled the problem.
California’s Plan Of Action
Historically California has of course had protection as its policy, but realized it is neglect of our forests that has ultimately led to the the out-of-control blazes that we are experiencing in recent years. Not all together, but across loads of California, lands especially in Federal and private sectors are dangerously overgrown.
After the week in the mountains we drove home as the idea that began from Million Dollar Homepage began to take shape: Invest in a square of Californian habitat using Solana which funds projects that restore and prevent wildfire.
As a community we need to maximize our tools to solve climate change. NFTs allow us to build a community of investors in reciprocity, stewarding California’s habitats for generations to come.
Upon my return, we briefed the team, and got to work on early iterations the next day.
