Meet the team behind Tree peace

I recently came across this project that that is selling NFTs to offset carbon balance and they are quite new to WAX and I think its a great fit as WAX blockchain is the only carbon friendly blockchain out there . The project is created by two brothers and I had the pleasure to chat to Matt about there project .

Hey man

hey, how's it going

Good and you ?

pretty good. So where is it you are located?

Ireland

Heard its a beautiful country. I'm located in Texas

Nice heard its a mad state lol .

depends on the day

Well believe it .

I'm located in the city of Houston, which can be interesting at times.

Of course . What's the plans for the day ?

Not much, doing some work on our project. how about yourself?

Stalk a few artists maybe have a sleep .

Nice! So do you have another job?

Yea sadly .

I know the feeling. Would much rather do things for our non-profit fulltime. I used to be a firefighter/paramedic.

Oh wow some difference ?

Yes it is. Now my fulltime job is in the hospital. But I've always enjoyed the outdoors and environment.

So how did tree peace come about ?

My brother and I have always enjoyed giving back to the community and other organizations, but we wanted to do more than that. Living in Houston, which is known as the concrete city, I saw how there is a lack of trees and greenery in many neighbourhoods. Thus, I wanted to help change that. Partnering with my brother and a couple of friends who wanted to give back to the environment, we wanted to help make it easy for others to do the same thing. So we decided to create Tree Peace, which is a non-profit organization.

How long has it been going ?

We have been doing projects for about 15 months now, but April of last year is when we decided to file to become a legal non-profit organization.

And what made you join NFT world ?

After starting the non-profit we began discussing with other companies about becoming carbon neutral and selling carbon offsets, in return they would donate trees for our projects. We saw how the carbon market was highly inaccessible, opaque and inefficient. How we could use NFTs linked to carbon credits to help improve the transparency within the voluntary carbon markets.

And were you already aware of NFTs ?

Nothing. Had a some crypto that I had been holding but that was it.

Do you think your project and WAX go together well ?

Everything has been a learning curve for me. But there are a ton of resources and have met some awesome mentors along the way. They have provided guidance for developing our project and also tips on marketing it. Cant thank them enough. Would have never thought others would be so open to help a stranger who lives 2000 miles away.

How you going to merge your IRL project with NFTs ?

Individuals who purchase the carbon offsets can hold the offsets or trade them. Some may decide to receive a paper certificate, so they can submit a form via our website. However, when we plant trees, an independent certifying agency will then certify the trees planted for a certain number of carbon offsets. Those carbon offsets are then attached to new NFT's that we would mint.

And are you creating the NFTs in house ?

We actually hired an artist off of Fiverr to render the NFT's for us but everything else we have done in house.

Is this going to be a whole collection of NFTs or just one type ?

Last month we launched on Opensea, which is where we have 5 different carbon offset NFTs. Last week we launched our first NFT on Wax, which is a very limited edition NFT that offsets 10 tons of carbon. We will be launching several more next week on Wax.

You do release Opensea is not green . How many NFTs will be coming next week?

That is one the main issues with their platform. Hoping we can get a big enough following to encourage them to change their ways. We have 2 that are in the works

Any sneak peaks ?

This is the zebra carbon offset NFT.

Will all your NFTs be coin looking NFTs?

No we actually have been in talks with our artist to create others associated with trees. The token NFTs were based off our logo, which was an easier starting point for us.

Of course . What's the vision for the project in the long term ?

Long term, we truly believe we could help transform the carbon credit market. Once carbon credits are certified, they are batch minted NFTs, and transferred to the digital wallets of those who had them certified. Those organizations can list them on the NFT marketplace, allowing for the market to decide the price of the carbon offset. Then when the organization or person decides to purchase the credit, they can choose to "retire" the credit. Deeming it no longer usable. By digitizing the industry, we can easily track the ownership and prevent duplication of the credits.

What has been the best part of doing your project ?

Meeting so many people around the world who are passionate about preserving our forestland and planting trees. It really is amazing how many NFT artists I’ve met that have done volunteer projects in their country and want to be involved in ours. Going into this project I would have never thought we would have met so many strangers who would be more than willing to give us pointers or just introduce us to others who could help us with a problem.

What has been the hardest part ?

So there are two things. When we first started promoting our work, we realized how hard it is to get your name out there. So we hired a “promoter” who guaranteed us 30k twitter followers and solid advertising on the platform. Needless to say, he/she took us for $2,000. @poseidonjax. This was a big blow because it was all the money we had sat aside for marketing. All while at the same time we kept seeing BAYC’s selling for 100+ ETH. Most would think I could sell this NFT for 0.01 ETH. When you get scammed for such a large amount of money and you don’t see something take off that you’re passionate about, it’s tough to deal with. Even though I wish our non-profit could have the money back, I’m glad it’s not an easy road. This encourages others to spend more time in the trenches and really interact with the other artists so you can find your true fans. This has really helped our organization grow organically within the NFT community. I’m so grateful for the opportunity as we are now starting to plan tree giveaway and planting events with other NFT artists.

Have you introduced anyone to WAX ?

A couple of friends at work are now on WAX.

Do you land on uplift ? If so where is it ?

I dont know what uplift is. So I would say I’m not on there.

What does your family think of your project ?

My family is very supportive of the project. It has actually encouraged many of them to donate to our non-profit or buy carbon offsets for their personal carbon footprint. Many of them didn’t understand blockchain technology or what NFTs were prior to this, however now they see the importance of this technology and Web3.

What you like to do to unwind ?

My primary job is in the healthcare field, which can be demanding at times. Thus, after 12-16 hour days at the hospital I enjoy spending my downtime outdoors. This can range from going to Colorado to hike or gardening. I like to see progress, whether it’s taking care of someone sick in the hospital and seeing them get better or growing and nurturing plants from seeds and seeing them get bigger and producing their fruits or vegetables.

Tell us something random about you ?

I’ve been in the healthcare field for the past 18 years and I’ve always been passionate about learning. However, most people don’t know that I have 6 college degrees, which I acquired while working full time.

Where is the best place to keep up with the project ?

Best place is to follow our twitter account,

https://twitter.com/treepeace2021?t=TFefjLXmEdQmxs_ctK0pjg&s=09

our website is also kept up to date, https://tree-peace.org/

Where can we buy your NFTs ?

Right now we’re available on Opensea and Wax. We will be on Solana very soon.

https://wax.atomichub.io/market?collection_name=carboncredit

When is the next drop ?

We will be releasing a couple of items this week. Also have another collection in the works that will be released February 16.

Any chance of a competition for the readers?

Sure, I would love to give away some NFTs to the first 10 who follow us on twitter. DM me on twitter your wax address and I’ll send over one.

Is there anything you would like to add or say before we finish ?

I would like to thank everyone that has helped us get this far. If you any questions or would like to connect with us, feel free to reach out via twitter or email matt@tree-peace.org. We need all the help we can get and would love to coordinate with anyone for a tree giveaway event or to help them plant trees in their country. I want to extend a special thanks to @davborja0918 @nikolaospatelis @mikeice1 @crackers832 and @anyobservation

Its been a pleasure .

Thanks alot .

Anytime .

So go check out there website and there Twitter page or if you want to offset some carbon buy up there NFTs. Also remember to be quick with your DMs to win there NFTs