terrabase
The Earth’s shared memory of environmental action.
Every park, beach, and trail gets one record. Every cleanup, every tree planted, every act of care is added to it. Over time, each place tells its own story.
- 2025Cleaned four times, twice by the same local Rotary club.
- Spring 2026Sixty native plants put in along the dunes by a neighborhood group.
- Fall 2026A high school class checks the water every month.
- TodayAnyone can see who has cared for this beach, and how often.
An illustration of what one place’s record could look like.
Start with the place
Today, records of environmental work are kept by organization or by event. When the day ends, the story of the place gets scattered across many lists. terrabase keeps it together, organized around the place itself.
One place, one record
Each beach, park, river, or block has a single record that everyone adds to.
Every kind of care
Cleanups first, then tree plantings, habitat work, water checks, and more, all in the same place record.
Everyone keeps their own
Groups keep their own data and their own credit. terrabase simply connects it, place by place.
Questions we can finally answer
When every action is tied to a place, simple questions get simple answers.
- Which beaches haven’t had a cleanup in two years?So help goes where it is missing.
- Which places get cared for year after year?So lasting care is seen and supported.
- What happened on Earth Day, everywhere at once?One view of a whole day of action, around the world.
- Who else is caring for the places we care for?So groups can find each other and work together.
One cleanup is a good day. Six cleanups over two years is stewardship.
terrabase is built to show the difference, so the people and places doing the steady work get the recognition and support they deserve.
Where the name came from
Bill Willoughby called the idea a big database, a “gigabase.” Steve Jewett said it needed to be bigger: a terrabase. Both heard it at once. Terra means earth.
The “base” works two ways, too: a record of what has been done, and a home base for everyone who does it.
The movement acts. terrabase remembers.
The organizations that bring people out on Earth Day, World Cleanup Day, National CleanUp Day, and every other day keep doing what they do best. terrabase quietly keeps the record, so all that work adds up to one shared picture of a cared-for planet.
Where it stands
These are early days. A first version is being tested with partners, starting with cleanups, and a working demonstration is planned for 2027.
We are sharing the idea now to hear what you think.