A Q&A with LBX founder Mark Jensen.

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, UNITED STATES, August 18, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The world is at a turning point: submit to the ecological disasters and run away to Mars, or roll up your sleeves and create real solutions for a sustainable environment. From the Salton Sea to the coal mines riddling communities, there is a lot of work to be done.

Mark Jensen, the founder of the Land Betterment Exchange (LBX), is pursuing something better. Hailing from Indiana, Jensen is creating nascent methods to solve the environmental troubles we are approaching. LBX is an environmentally driven token that offers financial incentives to drive land remediation—and help transition companies away from fossil fuels. The LBX provides job opportunities for communities in impacted areas so they can have an increasingly better market supply and demand. Built on the BEP20 framework, the LBX’s tokens ($LBX) are issued by the Land Betterment Corporation (LBC).

Jensen thinks beyond the token—always one step ahead of how the world can be environmentally positive. We sat down with Jensen to pick his brain about blockchains and saving the world.


Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin has spoken out about being worried about the future of his crypto. Buterintold Time magazine that his network is being populated by profit-driven players who don't honor the original intention of an egalitarian platform. "If we don't exercise our voice, the only things that get built are the things that are immediately profitable," Buterin said. He explained that, if implemented incorrectly, digital assets will have "dystopian potential." Do you agree with him? If not, what points would you counter if you were talking to him?

Jensen: I would agree and disagree. I believe in positive incentives. We wrote LBX off the thesis that people in society are rewarded with positive incentives, not negative incentives. For-profit is good for people to drive value. It can be taken way outside of context—people can go off the deep end for greed, but that’s different from non-profit. Ultimately, blockchain has created an ability to streamline processes and provide positive incentives and generate long-term value.


As more people populate the Ethereum blockchain, gas fees and transaction fees rise because the network becomes super congested. How do you think either Ethereum or the LBX token would counteract those gas fees from getting out of control so it won’t drive down the economic value produced from the token?

As it gets more expensive, gas fees go up as you get more populated, no different than Bitcoin prices going up. It’s a trade off—what Ethereum offers is the ability to utilize the network. It’s like in real life: If you use more gas for cars, gas prices go up. That’s the nature of any supply-demand perspective. That’s a good thing; if there is more demand, then there is more focus on the streamlining of the blockchain. From LBX’s perspective; the value of our token will appreciate as more people enter the market and more people look at the environmental impact that we can offset. There will be immense value created out of the process as it gets populated.


Did you have an “A-ha” moment that drove you to create LBX?

The “A-ha” moment that drove us to create LBX was a process. We saw a change in the world and a lot of inactivity in sustainability. The majority of the fossil fuel industry went bankrupt, especially the coal industry. The rural distressed areas were left abandoned, and you’re seeing it for 10-20 years! That hurts the community; people are losing jobs and are exposed to negatively impacted land.

The government would penalize the bankrupt companies with more fees, and that wasn’t creating a solution. So we had to find a way to drive these communities forward and provide a proposition value. We’re proving a financial benefit to people who want to improve the environment. We’re providing a solution where no one loses. Very seldom in business can you do that.


In the Western United States, such as North Dakota, we’ve seen big oil and natural gas booms in and around communities. But when the oil stops, the community becomes desolate—those empty camps are abandoned and aren’t cleaned or removed. And they will be there for ten years, or until the next boom.

That’s no different than Eastern Kentucky or Alabama or Texas. In those areas, you need to create a process for cleaning up. And more importantly, you need a process to help the local community clean up and give them a positive incentive. Groups don’t just voluntarily clean up—unless you’re a charity, but there are not enough charities out there to provide capital for these rural distressed areas.

Taking the government out of the equation, streamlining positive incentives through LBX creates a market around what it means to clean up these local communities and give them employment. They can offer a path for high wages with blockchain. That allows the local communities to win, by investing in local businesses and spending more capital. It’s transitioning these communities out of the fossil fuel industry and into newer markets.


Do you think crypto can be a force for good in the world?

Of course! Our LBX process provides good to rural distressed communities. The amount of acceptance we’ve had around that, and interest, to create a workforce around land remediation, has been incredible.

We took a railroad facility that was sitting there for 15 years and created sustainable housing on it. There’s no housing in rural distressed areas, so we’re fixing that. We are planting trees while building eco-homes.

Crypto created a lot of value for people who can now pay their bills. For many, it also created a sophistication around trading. There are painful conversations from that, but overarching it’s been good for society.


What’s the biggest issue in carbon offsets, and how do you see LBX affecting change?

Carbon offset has become an established market, yet inefficient one. Ultimately carbon offsets are typically carbon neutral—they’re not improving the environment. Most carbon offsets are paying people not to cut down trees. People are burning fuel and they want to offset their entire impact, but it’s a fallacy that they’re not offsetting the environmental impact. The trees are already there, and you’re paying to keep something environmentally neutral.

We will plant more trees in the next five years than the entire environment offset market in the United States combined. Our process is taking these blighted properties, improving and cleaning the area, and creating a sustainable environment. You’re paying someone to do something they’re already doing, so the carbon offset market is broken for a reason.


I recently purchased something online and the receipt disclosed that it's carbon neutral. So hearing you describe carbon neutral to me, makes the brand’s status interesting.

The carbon offset market in 2030 will be worth $50 billion a year. The market is immense because brands announce that they’re carbon neutral, but they don’t have an actual method of becoming carbon neutral. The market is going to get sloppy and brands are going to stretch the carbon-neutral term to claim that status. That’s why I like our process as an offering. We’re planting trees. We’re planting eastern white pines all over Eastern Kentucky and it’s going to grow all over the world on fossil fuel properties. Not only are we providing carbon offset, but we’re also beautifying the area and you’re paying people to do it.

I am a landowner and I sold my timber to a carbon offset company. They paid me to not cut down my trees. That’s not environmentally positive, I wasn't going to cut down my trees anyways! That’s the current carbon offset market.

LBX is going to shift the dynamic and focus on environmental positive initiatives, reclaiming the areas, and improving the community.

Learn more about the Land Betterment Exchange at ThisIsLBX.com.

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