The questions visitors arrive with.
Substantive answers, not deflections.
This is the reference page for TerraNovaID. If you came here from somewhere else on the site, the answer to your question lives here. Use the quick links to jump to a category.
What this is,
and what it is for.
The questions visitors most often arrive with. What TerraNovaID is, who it is for, where it comes from, and what it is not.
What is TerraNovaID?
TerraNovaID is an ecological identity development platform. Its central thesis is short: identity before behaviour. Most platforms try to change what you do (your habits, your footprint, your purchases). TerraNovaID starts further upstream, with how you understand yourself in relation to the living world. The Portrait is the instrument that helps you see your ecological identity clearly. The platform around it supports continuing reflection, not behaviour management.
Who is TerraNovaID for?
For people who feel that the standard environmental scripts (calculate your footprint, set goals, tick boxes) do not match the depth of what they actually feel. For people who suspect that pressure and guilt are not what produces lasting change. For people willing to start from who they are rather than from what they should do. There is no specific demographic. The Portrait works for someone twenty or seventy, a researcher or a parent, a sceptic or a long-time activist.
Who is TerraNovaID not for?
It is not for people looking for a footprint calculator, a sustainability score, or a community leaderboard. It is not for people looking for a coach to tell them what to do. It is not for people looking for an app that sends notifications when they have not "completed today's eco-action". If you want gamification or behaviour tracking, you will be disappointed here. That is not a failing. It is a deliberate design choice.
Where does TerraNovaID come from?
The platform was founded by Kris Rayen and operated by Factter BV (Belgium). The thesis was developed over years of frustration with the gap between what environmental psychology actually shows about durable change and what most platforms ship. The full origin story is on /our-story/. The intellectual underpinnings are explained on /ecological-identity/ and /why-this-matters/.
Is TerraNovaID a non-profit?
No. TerraNovaID is operated by Factter BV, a Belgian commercial entity. But it is structured so the values are constitutional. No single revenue source can account for more than 25% of total income. There is no investor pressure to maximise engagement. The business model is sustained by Contributing members. The full governance picture is on /about/trust/.
What language is the platform in?
English is the canonical language for all public copy and the Portrait. Future translations will be considered once the platform is mature. The team works in Dutch and English internally; public materials are English to keep one canonical source.
What happens
when you begin.
The Portrait is the instrument at the centre of TerraNovaID. Here is what it actually does, how long it takes, and what comes out at the other end.
What is the Ecological Portrait?
A structured reflection that produces a landscape of who you are, ecologically, across five core constructs. It begins with concrete personal questions about how you relate to the world around you. It deepens gradually. At the end, you do not receive a number or a category. You receive a picture. Specific enough to recognise yourself in. Open enough to keep exploring. The Portrait then becomes a living document that grows with you.
How long does the Portrait take?
About thirty minutes. There is no time pressure. You can pause and return. The space is designed for honest reflection, not speed. Some people finish in twenty minutes; others sit with a single question for fifteen. Both are fine.
Do I need to prepare for the Portrait?
No. The Portrait begins with concrete personal questions. There are no right answers. You just need a quiet moment and the willingness to look honestly at how you relate to the world around you. You do not need to read anything beforehand. You do not need to know any theory.
What do I receive after the Portrait?
A landscape, not a score. A picture of who you are ecologically. Portrait Domains, when they arrive, will then let you explore seven life-areas separately: Food, Mobility, Work, Home, Relationships, Nature, Money. Your Portrait becomes a living document. You can return to it, refine it, evolve it. It is yours.
Can I redo the Portrait?
Yes. The Portrait is not one-and-done. As you change, the Portrait changes with you. You can redo a section, redo the whole Portrait, or simply add reflections over time. When you re-take it after some months, it is called an Echo Portrait. A second Portrait moment with an automated comparison narrative showing what has shifted. €49 one-time, included for Founding Members.
What does the Portrait actually look like?
Not a dashboard. Not a chart with bars. The Portrait is a layered document with text-based, situated descriptions for each dimension, places where you can add your own reflections, and connecting threads between the dimensions where they belong together. It reads more like a deeply personal reading than a quantified self interface. A description of the layers is on /portraits/.
Is the Portrait a test or assessment?
No. There is no scoring, no grading, no "result band". The Portrait is reflective. The questions are designed so that the act of answering itself produces clarity, not just a final output. You are not being measured. You are being helped to see.
What is an Echo Portrait?
A re-take of your Portrait after some time has passed (typically 3-6 months). Same instrument, second moment. It generates an automated comparison narrative showing what has shifted in your ecological identity since your first Portrait. €49 one-time. Echo Portrait is a Re-Engagement Instrument, not a member of the Portrait-family.
What is the Portrait family?
Four instruments share the name, and the set is complete at four. The Portrait, free, is where everyone begins: the structured reflection at the centre of everything here. Portrait Domains, €29 each or €149 for all seven, take one life-area at a time: Food, Mobility, Work, Home, Relationships, Nature, Money. Portrait Understory, €79, does not add an area; it goes underneath, working with the patterns your earlier Portraits have surfaced. The Rooted Portrait, €89, is the lived dimension: for when the Portrait has stopped being something you did and become part of how your days go. Two names sit close together and are not the same thing: the Rooted Portrait is an instrument you take; Rooted Practices is a set of tools inside the Homeground membership. And the Echo Portrait, the re-take after some months, stands next to the family rather than inside it.
What is the difference between Portrait Domains and Portrait Understory?
Portrait Domains widen; Portrait Understory deepens. A Domain takes one life-area at a time (Food, Mobility, Work, Home, Relationships, Nature, Money): you might begin with Food because mealtimes are where the questions live for you, and leave the rest for another season. Understory does not add an area. It works downward, into the patterns that run under your earlier Portraits, the way an understory lives beneath separate trees. Both open after your first Portrait; that is where the material they work with comes from.
What stays yours,
and how that is enforced.
The protections described here are structural, not promised. The full architecture is on /about/trust/. The legal version is on /privacy/. The short version is below.
Where is my Portrait stored?
Your Portrait content is stored encrypted on servers in the European Union (Frankfurt). Encryption at rest is the default state, not optional. Even in the event of a security breach, your identity data remains protected.
Does TerraNovaID share or sell my data?
No. Your Portrait content is never sold to third parties, used for advertising, or shared with partners. The business model is built so this cannot become commercially attractive. This is a structural commitment, enforced by the no-commercialisation red line on /about/trust/.
Does TerraNovaID use my data to train AI?
No. Your Portrait content is never used to train AI models. Not ours. Not anyone else's. This is enforced at the infrastructure level, not as a policy that can change. When AI is involved in your experience (for example, in reflective conversation), it operates within a session boundary with your explicit permission. When the session ends, the access ends.
Can I delete my data?
Yes. Deletion is real, complete and simple. Not archived. Not anonymised and retained. Actually deleted. One confirmation. Done. You can also export your complete Portrait at any time, as a readable document or as structured data.
What about GDPR?
TerraNovaID is operated from Belgium and is subject to GDPR. You have the right to access, export, correct and delete your data. Requests can be made directly through your account or by emailing hello@terranovaid.com. The data protection details are in /privacy/.
Who can see my Portrait?
Only you, unless you explicitly choose to share something. Nothing is visible by default to other users, to TerraNovaID staff, or to partners. Every form of sharing is a deliberate choice you make and can revoke at any time. There is no community feed where Portraits are visible. There is no ranking or comparison.
How access works,
and how the platform sustains itself.
TerraNovaID has three tiers: Observe, Explore, and Inhabit. They are positions, not packages. Here is how they relate, and how Contributing works.
What are the three tiers?
Observe, Explore, and Inhabit. They describe positions in the development arc, not feature packages. Observe: the threshold; you have arrived, you are starting to look. Explore: deeper engagement; you are working with the Portrait actively. Inhabit: the Portrait is part of how you live; you may be supporting others or working with practitioners.
Is the Portrait free?
Yes, and it stays that way. The Portrait is how TerraNovaID meets you; putting a price on the doorway would defeat it. What costs money sits around it, for whoever wants more: the memberships, the loose Portrait instruments, the doing decks and notebooks, the archive. Each of those is named with its price where it appears. The instrument at the centre, the one that helps you see your ecological identity, asks for a free account and about half an hour of honesty. That is all.
How does Contributing work?
Contributing is how TerraNovaID stays standing: readers who decide the work is worth sustaining. There are three ways. A one-time gift after your Portrait, €20, €35 or €50 (Begin, Stay, Hold), for when the Portrait gave you something and giving something back feels right. A membership, Companion to All Seasons, a year at a time, which opens the layers you want to live with. And the Founding Membership Pass, one time, for the people who wanted this to exist before it had proven itself. None of the three is expected of anyone. The Portrait stays free either way, and no page here will count down at you. The full picture is on /contributing/.
What does a membership cost?
Four memberships, each running a year. Companion is €49: the companion Letter and the full Observe archive, with no AI anywhere in it. Deepening is €179: everything in Companion, plus the Explore layer, Living Experiments, AI-supported Reflection, and one Portrait Domain each year. Homeground is €279: all three layers, plus the Inhabit tools (Rooted Practices, Conversation Guides, Prompts for Two). All Seasons is €359: everything across all layers, with the doing decks and notebooks included. These are four doors, not four steps; nobody is expected to walk from one to the next. Apart from the memberships stands the Founding Membership Pass: €449, one time, only during the first six months and only for 144 people. It includes All Seasons for life. Prices are named in full here because a question about money deserves a plain answer.
Can I buy one thing, without a membership?
Yes. The loose pieces stand on their own. A Portrait Domain is €29, or €149 for all seven. Portrait Understory is €79. An Echo Portrait is €49. A Reflection Journey is €49. The Rooted Portrait is €89. And older Articles, Listenings and Learnings can be bought from the archive individually; those prices are listed under the archive question on this page. Nothing renews by itself, nothing expires, and no membership is quietly attached. You choose a piece, the piece is yours.
Can I switch tiers?
Yes. You can move from Observe to Explore or Inhabit when it feels right; you can step back to Observe at any time. The Portrait itself does not change with the tier. The supporting tools do.
How do payments work?
Payments are handled through Stripe, with a Customer Portal for managing your contribution. You can change amount, pause, or cancel at any time directly from the portal. There is no auto-renewal trickery. Stripe processes the payment; TerraNovaID never sees your card details.
What if I cannot afford to contribute?
Observe is free, includes the full Portrait, and is not a teaser tier. The most important part of TerraNovaID, the instrument that helps you see your ecological identity, is available without payment. If you find value later and want to contribute, you can. If you do not, the Portrait remains yours.
What is the Founding Membership Pass?
A patronage category from the first six months of TerraNovaID, limited to 144 holders; when the six months end, the window closes, filled or not. €449, one time. It includes All Seasons for life, an Echo Portrait, your first Reflection Journey, and the doing decks and notebooks as they appear. It is patronage, not status: Founding Members see the same site as everyone else. What they hold is the quiet fact that the early years were possible because a small number of people decided, early, that this should exist.
Small ways to notice,
in your own days.
Not more to read. A handful of instruments that point you at moments you already live in, and ask who you are in them. Picked up one at a time, or included in All Seasons.
What are the doing decks and notebooks?
Instruments for the days themselves. Sunflecks, a deck of situation cards. Field Notes, a season of weekly pages. Domain Weeks, a week in one life-area. The Two-Person Set, for two people who want to look together. Listening Walks, an audio walk to take outside (not to be confused with the Listenings, which are reflective audio pieces to sit with). The Living Question. Each one points you at a moment you already live in (rinsing an apple, the first minutes on the bike) and asks who you are in it. There is no AI in any of them, no scoring, no order, no streak to maintain. They can be picked up one at a time, in the Explore band from €7 to €19 each, and All Seasons includes them all. They are the doing layer of TerraNovaID: not more to read, but quiet ways to notice, in your own ordinary days, who you already are in the living world.
What is Sunflecks?
On a forest floor, much of what grows depends on the short patches of sunlight that break through the canopy. Those patches have a name: sunflecks. The deck is named after them. Twenty-eight cards, four for each of the seven life-areas, and each card holds one small moment from an ordinary day, a second look at what that moment already says, and a question to hold. You draw one whenever you like. No order, no finish line, no right answer to find. It is €15, or included in All Seasons. Most days have more light in them than they get credit for; the cards exist to catch some of it.
How an account works,
and how long content stays open.
Two questions that often surface around the practical side: do you need an account, and how long is content free to read on the site. Substantive answers, with the canon behind them.
Do I need an account?
Not for reading. The pages that introduce TerraNovaID, the Letters, the Growth Stories, the open Reflection prompts, the first paragraph of every Article, the first minute of every Listening: all of that is open to anyone, no account, no email wall. A free account matters at one moment: when you meet The Portrait. It exists for one reason, to keep Your Portrait yours. You close the laptop halfway through, come back on a quieter evening, and it is where you left it. In three years, it is still there. The account is small: a short form, an email, no payment, no profile-building. The same account also opens the rest of any new Article or Listening inside its six-month window. A membership is a different choice, for later, if the deeper layers start to matter to you. The full picture is on /about/account/.
What can I do without an account?
Read everything we publish to introduce the work. Read the first paragraph of every Article, hear the first minute of every Listening, see the scene of every Mirror prompt. Subscribe to the Letters with just your email. Browse the Growth Stories and the open Reflection prompts. None of that asks for an account.
Does subscribing to the Letters require an account?
No. The Letters take only an email and a confirm-click. The Letters were how we began: the lowest threshold, the way a letter should be. If you later make a free account for The Portrait, the same email becomes part of it, but you do not have to.
What does TerraNovaID do with my account data?
We keep Your Portrait and what you write into your Personal Insight Environment in a database we host. We do not share them. They are not training material for any model. The site uses the gentlest analytics we can, to understand which paragraphs reach people and where the site loses someone before what they came for. No advertising profile is built. No tracking cookie follows you elsewhere. The full read is on /about/account/ and /about/trust/.
How do I delete my account?
One click in your account, one confirm, and everything goes: Your Portrait, your bookmarks, your reading-state, your email from the Letters list. You can do it tomorrow or in ten years. The Letters that already arrived in your inbox stay yours, of course. Those left our hands the moment we sent them.
How long is content free to read on the site?
The first paragraph of everything we publish stays open to anyone, no account needed. The rest of each piece is free to read for six months after publication, with a free account. After that, it moves into the archive: still yours to read if you carry a membership of the right layer, still yours to pick up one piece at a time if you do not. A few things sit outside that rhythm. The Letters stay free always, no account needed, the way a letter should be. The Portrait stays free always too, because it is how we meet you, only there a free account opens, so we can keep Your Portrait yours over time. A working selection of Reflection prompts and the Growth Stories stay open to anyone, always. And one quiet line: nothing you read while signed in stays out of reach for you later. The window is about how new readers find their way in, not about closing a door behind you.
What does it cost to read an older Article or listen to an older Listening?
Articles and Mirror prompts are €1 each from the archive. Narrated Articles are €2. Listenings are €5. Learnings are €9. Or one membership opens the whole archive of its layer at once: Companion for the Observe archive, Deepening for Observe and Explore, Homeground for all three.
Why a six-month window and not "free forever"?
Because "free forever" sounds generous but slowly closes the door for the readers who arrive later. The six months keep a wide threshold open for whoever lands here through a search or a friend: long enough that anything worth finding can be found. After that, the archive carries the work, and the membership carries the archive.
What stays free always?
The Portrait. The Letters. A working selection of Reflection prompts. The Growth Stories. And anything you already read while it was inside its window: once it is in your reading, it stays in your reading.
Why this is built
the way it is.
The questions that surface when someone notices TerraNovaID does not work like other environmental platforms. The architectural choices behind that.
Why no scores?
Recognition disappears the moment a number arrives. You stop being honest and start managing toward a result. Scoring would destroy the one thing the Portrait is designed to produce: honest recognition. So scoring is not absent because we forgot. It is absent because we chose. /different/ has the full reasoning.
Why no comparison or leaderboards?
Your ecological identity is yours. It is not better or worse than anyone else's. There is no leaderboard, no community ranking, no "people like you". The moment you start comparing, your attention shifts from what matters to you to where you stand. That shift undermines the whole point.
Why no gamification, badges, or streaks?
Gamification turns ecological engagement into a game to be won. You check in every day, you maintain the streak, you miss a day, the streak breaks, and the feeling that this was about something real breaks with it. TerraNovaID is not a game. There is no badge. There is your own honest reflection.
Why no goals or challenges?
Goals and challenges are behaviour-management tools. They work for short bursts and rarely produce durable change in identity-deep matters. TerraNovaID works upstream: helping you see who you are, so the actions that follow are not imposed but expressed. Living Experiments (in the Grow layer) are the closest equivalent, but they are framed as inquiries, not targets.
Does that mean TerraNovaID does not care about action?
It means TerraNovaID does not direct action. Action that comes from genuine identity development is more durable than action driven by guilt, comparison, or pressure. The Portrait clarifies who you are; what you do with that clarity is yours. Many people find that clarity itself produces action they did not need to be pushed into.
Is this evidence-based?
The thesis (identity before behaviour) draws on a body of work in environmental psychology, identity-based change theory, and ecological self literature. The Portrait architecture is grounded in academic work on ecological identity. The /our-story/ and /for-researchers/ pages have references for those who want them. The platform itself does not lead with citations because the recognition does the work, not the bibliography.
How is this different from therapy or coaching?
TerraNovaID is not therapy. AI-supported reflection is not a therapist; this is enforced as one of the eight red lines on /about/trust/. It is also not coaching, in the sense that no one tells you what to do. The Portrait is a structured space for self-recognition. If what surfaces calls for therapeutic support, that is a separate (and important) path you may want to take.
Question not here?
Three honest paths forward.
- Read the sourceMost depth questions are answered on Ecological Identity or Why This Matters. Privacy and governance live on Trust & Transparency.
- Try the PortraitSome questions resolve faster by experience than by reading. The Portrait is reflective, takes about thirty minutes, and is private to you.
- Get in touchFor specific questions a researcher, journalist or partner would ask, write to hello@terranovaid.com. The Contact page has the full picture of how to reach us.