When the ground shook beneath him in China in 2008, (then) sound engineer Eddy Wijnker didn’t expect the moment to change his life. As he watched green stones tumble down a hillside during the earthquake, his curiosity took over. “I picked up a few, and my colleague told me they were olivine: a mineral that captures CO₂ when it comes into contact with rainwater,” Wijnker recalls.
That chance encounter set Wijnker on a new path. Back in the Netherlands, he sought out Professor Olaf Schuiling, an emeritus geochemist at Utrecht and Delft Universities. Schuiling had long argued that olivine could play a major role in combating climate change. Through natural weathering, the mineral slowly binds carbon dioxide and locks it away for centuries.
Intrigued and convinced by the science, Wijnker decided to act. In 2009 he founded greenSand, a company dedicated to putting olivine to use in everyday settings. From gardens and landscaping to infrastructure projects. It gives people a simple, practical and transparent way to participate in carbon removal.
The approach has since gained international recognition. In 2025, greenSand’s project NS train depot and the Uithoornlijn project were fully certified under ONCRA (Open Natural Carbon Removal Accounting), ensuring that its carbon removal is measured, validated, and openly reported.
For Wijnker, the mission goes beyond technology. It’s about showing that climate action doesn’t always require futuristic inventions. Sometimes it means working with what the earth already provides. “Nature has given us the tools,” he says. “Our job is to give them space.”
As the clock ticks on climate change, olivine offers a reminder that solutions can be both natural and accessible. A handful of stones, scattered on the ground, may seem small. But taken together, they represent a growing movement to turn geology into climate action, one stone at a time.
Photo Uithoornlijn: Vossloh ETS: Laura ten Have Krieger