During the last crew call, Hans Galliker said, that it is complicated to explain what the ARK really is. We had to agree. One needs to look at the vision first in order to understand the functionalities. All of them have organically evolved because of the mission laid out in the white paper. I asked ChatGTP to explain the white paper. Here is what I got: I found the full “White Paper” PDF for Green Steps ARK (titled White Paper – version 03, Oct 2021) on ResearchGate and can summarize its key ideas. (ResearchGate)
📄 Core Purpose & Vision
The ARK is a gamified social network and educational platform designed to support bottom-up climate change adaptation and sustainability by strengthening local communities, encouraging environmental stewardship, and fostering behavioral change. It aims to drive “triple health” — personal, environmental, and community well-being — using technology and a scalable social business model. (ResearchGate)
🧭 What ARK Actually Is
- Name meaning: Activate body & mind, Restore the environment, Know your bioregion.
- Core concept: A structured, step-by-step learning journey for individuals and communities with
- a gamified learning interface,
- a global collaborative best-practice library, and
- community projects tied to real-world ecosystem stewardship. (ResearchGate)
📊 Major Strategic Goals / Project Phases
The white paper breaks down the ARK mission into three strategic phases that align with specific United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): (ResearchGate)
1. Strengthening Local Communities
- Builds small impact communities as the foundational units of global social change.
- Utilizes gamified learning about education for sustainable development to connect people and raise ecological awareness.
- Supports SDGs 4 (Quality Education) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) by facilitating collective learning and collaboration. (ResearchGate)
2. Pioneer the “Internet of Nature”
- Creates planetary-scale connections through stewardship of commons (shared ecosystems like forests, watersheds, parks).
- Encourages development of bioregional identities — fostering deeper place-based ecological understanding and responsibility.
- Ties into SDG 13 (Climate Action) by driving planetary health through engaged learning and community stewardship. (ResearchGate)
3. Ecosystem Service Remuneration & Conditional UBI
- Proposes a meritocratic ecosystem service remuneration model where contributions to ecological stewardship generate economic value.
- Envisions conditional universal basic income (UBI) tied to measurable ecosystem service contributions.
- Aims to address wealth distribution under SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) by creating new economic incentives for ecological care. (ResearchGate)
🧠 Platform Features
While I haven’t extracted the entire PDF (due to content access limits), the abstract and description indicate these core features of the ARK platform: (ResearchGate)
- Gamification to make learning engaging and behavior-changing.
- Collaborative library where facilitators and educators share best practices.
- Community building tools for offline and online connection.
- Technology-supported learning paths tailored to local environments (bioregions).
🌍 Underlying Philosophy
The ARK white paper presents a holistic philosophy that blends: (ResearchGate)
- Environmental science (terrestrial bioregions and ecosystems),
- Social education and learning theory (behavioral change and community discourse),
- Technological scalability for widespread adoption, and
- Economic innovation through ecosystem-centric value models like meritocratic remuneration.
📌 In Summary
The Green Steps ARK White Paper proposes an ambitious educational and social platform that:
- harnesses technology + gamification to promote sustainability,
- builds local communities with global ecological impact,
- fosters bioregional awareness, and
- explores new economic models that reward ecological stewardship globally. (ResearchGate)