GEN Ukraine Ecovillage #Octant #GG23@gen_ukraine
In Earth We Trust: Regeneration as the Glue Between Communities
Yesterday we have a deep and thoughtful call with the team at @maearthmedia , who are now exploring how to design a more supportive platform for land stewards and grassroots regenerative networks like ours.
They invited our leader @RodovidMe not just as a grant participant — but as a kind of "visionary client" to reflect honestly on our real experience: what worked, what didn’t, and what could make this work more effective, humane, and scalable.
Here’s what he shared.
Over the past few years, our network GEN Global ecovillage network Ukraine went through four years of war, burnout, and fragmentation. Traditional fundraising didn’t work — too politicized, too heavy, too centralized. What did work, though, was the emotional and practical glue of regenerating the land.
It wasn’t about big grants or perfect reporting. It was about soil, gardens, forests, and the hope that comes from planting again after destruction.
When we joined the Ma Earth rounds (and @gitcoin and @OctantApp GainForest.Earth @grassEcon too), it helped us reweave the threads between ecovillages across Ukraine. Even with small funding — sometimes $2K or $5K — people showed up. They repaired bikes, hosted workshops, built ponds, planted food forests. And more importantly, they felt seen.
This is what we told the Ma Earth team: regeneration gave us back a shared purpose when our social fabric was torn. It’s not just about voting rounds or crypto wallets — it’s about healing. And yes, that healing can be coordinated through Web3.
We also talked challenges:
– our communities often lack strong digital teams
– quadratic funding is hard when your supporters are new to crypto
– fast deadlines can be overwhelming during wartime
– onboarding into Web3 requires deep emotional labor, not just tutorials
And we talked vision:
– vouchers and commitment pools for small distributed actions
– DAO-based microgrants for water, bicycles, biodiversity
– carbon and biocredit pilots rooted in real places, not just smart contracts
– and above all: long-term partnerships, not short-term hype
Ma Earth is now building a platform — I hope one grounded in this shared reality. They promised to invite me (and others) again soon to test early versions and give feedback. I’ll be there.
Because what we’re doing is not just “crypto for good.” It’s building a culture of hope under impossible conditions.
“Sometimes I lose hope, but I find it again in a message from a Brazilian, or an Italian. Sometimes I give it back to them through our forests and gardens in Ukraine. That’s what keeps us going.”
Let’s grow together. 🌱
Thanks Sophia Rokhlin Erika Logie for your support
