Mark Copeland and satellite enthusiast Adrian Reed are committed to a new initiative designed to save the planet. Not all heroes wear capes, writes Ondy Sweeting. Images: Lukas Vrtilek.
Mark Copeland.
Mark Copeland, the unstoppable force behind the SmartMinds programme that swept Bali in a wave of outlandish positivity, has unleashed his unique ability to shift values with the aim of correcting climate change.
Earth Ledger is the latest innovation engineered by Mark. The software platform uses Blockchain technology to make verified connections in order to change global values and shift the economy to a sustainable, common-good model.
His aim is to change the mindset of the planet by incentivising environmentally positive actions with Earth Ledger as the platform to help reverse climate change and create profits for members.
People will come together and use it to network and workshop challenges and develop solutions, create inventions, and bring educational awareness around resolving the UN’s 17 sustainable global goals. The entire platform’s efforts are fueled by the first ever sustainable goods marketplace that’s subsidised to encourage consumers to start thinking green in their everyday lives.
“Earth Ledger is a values driven model with the initiative to influence the individuals and members using the platform. There is a piece of self development planted within it that will create a shift in thinking. Every person within the platform is biologically verified as a real person and not a self interested company,” says Mark.
Along with satellite enthusiast Adrian Reed – the restaurateur behind Bali’s Da Maria, Tropicola and Motel Mexicola empire, who is a long time collaborator with Mark through SmartMinds – will go to Nairobi to address the UN’s largest environmentally-focused conference in 2019. This month (December) the duo will attend SLUSH.org – the world’s largest geek beat where about 20,000 tech talents and top tier investors commune.
“This is so huge and no one will see it coming. Earth Ledger can and will change the world to be a better and healthier place for everybody. There is no end to the good it will bring to everything from climate change to poverty and global education,” says Adrian.
The platform aims to address the United Nation’s 17 sustainable goals, which include eradicating poverty, ensuring good health and equitable education, climate change, clean water and affordable energy. There are 198 subcategories to each of the 17 goals and Earth Ledger aims to address them all.
All of the issues that need to change will be pulled into the platform. For example, in Bali, it would start at the level of the local banjar and elevate all the way to Indonesia’s President. At the moment, the country’s obstacles include endless rules and regulations, departments seeking funding and resources and the handling and implementation of technology. Earth Ledger provides an ecosystem for its users to solve all of these initiatives, globally, while having the capability to receive, access, and deploy funds in one platform.
“Imagine it as the world’s largest charity. We are open for everyone in the world, from a café to a corporation, to donate in one single transparent space. Funds become algorithmically dispersed with little need for administration; a model that will eradicate self-interest at its foundation,” Mark says.
Adrian Reed.
In fact, Mark has been busy talking his way around the world with the wildly ambitious project that aims to not only reverse climate change but empower every individual in the planet to switch to their common-good model.
After addressing world leaders, academics and visionaries at The United Nation’s Environmental Assembly’s Innovative Solutions for Environmental Challenges and Sustainable Consumption and Production conference recently in Estonia, Mark was shoulder tapped for a private round table discussion and invitation only dinner.
“The UN is a unique beast in terms of how controlled everything is. At a high level dinner I was put on the table with Estonia’s Minister for the Environment, Siim Kiisler and spent the entire evening talking to him,” Mark says. “I was surprised that he still really believed the solution to climate change was in policy.”
“I told him straight that in the last 30 years we have had more policies than ever before and more problems than ever before. I drew a parallel that had yet to be considered. I think I opened his mind. People are the challenge and the way we interact and way we behave is the challenge,” he says.
Earth Ledger ensures that everyone who uses it is accountable through Blockchain technology, which makes every interaction on the system clear and transparent. All information published is verified and cannot be manipulated or altered.
So inspiring is Earth Ledger that it has caught the attention of one of the world’s finest entrepreneurs and original thinkers, Sir Richard Branson.
In October, Earth Ledger was named among the world’s Top 25 start ups at Sir Richard Branson’s annual Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands.
Mark has again been shoulder tapped to provide more details about his operation to the XTC for consideration in the 2019 competition and will soon hear if Earth Ledger has advanced to the Top 10 slot. From there, 10 companies are reviewed and whittled down to the final three startups that visit the island to pitch their projects.
Earth Ledger is a profit making enterprise but Mark has turned down $100 million in funding from companies that demanded too many conditions and control.
“I’ve been told that the climate change is not a vertical – as an asset! Climate is not something like gas. People are so asleep. We have literally just slept through the destruction of the planet – and I’ve met the Chief Scientist of the environment for the UN who believes our climate has 10 years at a maximum remaining fit for humans.”
At a time when leading social networks are bigger than the GDP’s of many countries, Earth Ledger aims to build a sustainable economy within a social-network style base.
“Social networks are an intangible or ‘invisible’ economy. My goal is to bring down the price of sustainable, green and natural products so they will be affordable for people. Right now we have this ‘pay to win’ and ‘price on demand’ attitude that is only good for the big corporations. Through Earth Ledger, as demand goes up, prices go down. The public is no longer exploited, as they are now.”
With the positive responses he’s received from the various other powerhouses in his industry, it seems a ledger of Earth’s challenges and solutions may be the best way forward.
