#ReFi advocate — Climate action, ecosystem restoration & social justice.

Head of Growth at Toucan. @ReFiDAOist core. @Kernel0x #KB5 fellow.

https://mirror.xyz/S-dpms92hw6aiacUHoL3f_iAnLVDvbEUOXw7wpy7JaU

What is ReFi? Part I — A tour through the climate crypto rabbit hole

Hey there 👋,

My name is John Ellison. I’m a social entrepreneur who has recently found my home leading growth at [Toucan](https://toucan.earth/).

Over the last four months I've fallen down a rabbit hole at the intersection of climate action and crypto. Here, at the fringes of a movement called ‘Decentralized Finance’ or ‘DeFi’, there are hundreds of projects working to redesign money in order to heal the earth.

I am writing this to help shape and define the regenerative finance movement to increase it’s potential for impact while minimizing risks and unintended consequences.

**Disclaimer:** The opinions in this piece are solely my own and do not reflect any organization I am affiliated with; however, they have been heavily influenced by my initial work as a contributor at [Klima DAO](https://klimadao.finance/) and later as a core member at [Toucan](https://toucan.earth/) and [ReFi DAO](https://refidao.com/).

## Overview

Below is a quick overview of the article for those who prefer to skim:

**I. Introduction**

1. The Regenerative Finance thesis

2. Our current economic paradigm

3. Interlinked planetary crises

4. Redesigning money to heal the earth

5. Web3 + Climate

**II. Three Pillars of ReFi**

1. Pillar I. Stabilize our climate

2. Pillar II. Restore our ecosystems

3. Pillar III. Institute justice

**III. Conclusion & call to action**


---

# Introduction

## 1\. The Regenerative Finance thesis

Mission-driven communities empowered by blockchain technology have the potential to address climate change, biodiversity loss and the underlying social structures that got us here in the first place.

In the article below I will unpack this thesis and explain why the ReFi movement is the most promising application of distributed ledger technology—also known as blockchain.

## We call it ‘ReFi’

“ReFi” is the regenerative finance movement at the edges of the third evolution of the internet (Web3). The abbreviation is a signal to it’s origins in DeFi (decentralized finance).

There are many people discussing these ideas in the [Toucan community](https://discord.gg/7DNP3RRN), [Regen Network](https://discord.gg/kbHe8fyG) as well as in [ReFi DAO](https://discord.gg/fDKWEEAa) which has become a home for the regenerative finance movement with over 40 ReFi founders meeting regularly to support each other to scale climate action using Web3...

# 2\. Our current economic paradigm

ReFi is rooted in the theory of [regenerative economics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_economic_theory), which explores how to create systems that restore and maintain the physical resources essential for human well-being.

These key resources are rapidly being destroyed by our current economic paradigm. Our monetary system fails to value the role these assets play in developing and maintaining human societies, resulting in a host of negative externalities including greenhouse gas emissions, habitat destruction and social inequality.

![Cartoon credit Tom Toro (http://tomtoro.com/cartoons/)](https://images.mirror-media.xyz/publication-images/fJiREXdQDTZo55edcc_4d.png?height=378&width=588)

### Justice & Equity

What's worse, the negative consequences of these by-products are unevenly distributed across society, with developing countries and lower socioeconomic classes experiencing their impacts disproportionally. This creates a negative feedback loop that exacerbates systemic injustice and wealth inequality.

In the digital age of climate change and zoonotic pandemics, we are now faced with the need to reimagine the core mental models of our society in order to survive. In the words of Albert Einstein:

> *“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."*

ReFi represents a promising evolution of technology, organizational models and human consciousness. It has the potential to bridge political divides and catalyze a new era of human prosperity by defining a new financial system that meets the needs