At our GreenShare pop-up in Basel on May 9, 1,000 potted herbs—rosemary, thyme, sage, and more—were rescued from compost and given new homes!

Over 300 visitors were amazed by the quality, sparking meaningful talks about event waste and reconnecting with nature.

By saving these plants, we cut about 250 kg of CO₂—equivalent to a 1,000 km car trip.

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Want to learn more what GreenUp does on circularity? 
– This is our GreenShare project 
– We are starting a regional circle from Circular Economy Switzerland in Graubünden

91.5 % of respondents believe that it was worthwhile taking part in the 2023 and even more of them would recommend it to others!

A great outcome of the 2023 programme that featured a wide variety of households from the Canton of Basel-City, as well as from the countryside. Households that are already well underway, and others that were just starting off. The mixture inspired each other and helped to share experiences and concrete tips, as well as challenges. 

GoSimple is a 4-month programme for households, to live more resourcelight in their city. They meet up at practical and inspiring workshops around the themes of food, circularity and conscious living, as well as local consumption, mobility and change-making in my city. After each workshop they take on a challenge around the theme at stake, and practice different behavior, such as causing less foodwaste, or rather doing a digital detox. Learn more on www.gosimple.ch

And then the million dollar question… what did they take-away and learn, what are they planning to do in their daily lives? Here a quick view of that: 

In January 2024 we created the first ever ClimateHubDavos during the week of the Annual Meeting in Davos. By some called ” one of the cooler new features at Davos this year” by others “a regenerative space with real impact and meaning”. 

Being active in Davos for many years, a couple of years ago we started to get active too. On the one hand, with the WEF itself as main partner, working on sustainability of the event through our GreenShare project, and on the other hand, by making climate and nature more visible. 

Check out the ClimateHub impact posts on GreenUp’s Linkedin, such as this one, around biodiversity. 

This years spring season started well in Davos – we were able to start scaling up our bio-waste project, slowly trying to provide bio-waste solutions to many. And we started spreading biological gardening knowledge through a course for teachers, including those who started a schoolgarden with different primary classes.

Urban Gardening and Zero Waste Circularity have been on GreenUp’s Davos agenda for many years. In a town that is surrounded by beautiful nature, its surprising that attention for soil and reducing waste are not higher on people’s agendas. But step-by-step we are helping to change that.

Many years ago we started with a monthly repair-café; which is still running, we helped to create the association Stadtgarten and ran zero waste days. The last years we started to more and more on the topic of regeneration and will continue to do so.

A cool example are also the edible plant experiences we run.

We much thank the canton of Graubünden, the AO Foundation as well as the Gemeinde Davos for supporting us in this important endeavour.

Turn your life around within six months to live more sufficiently and happy. This is the challenge that numerous participants take on during the “GoSimple” project initiated by GreenUp.

The three-year project started in August 2021 and will last until the end of June 2024. The project leader, Leslie Vogel, tells us how it will all come about.

1. Tell us briefly about the project.

 “GoSimple” was launched a few months ago. It is a project that deals specifically with the residents of Basel, and later also in Switzerland: Habits should be changed and the motto of GreenUp “less is more” should be lived. During a six-month challenge, the participants will deal with the topics of zero waste & circular economy, housing & living, mobility & leisure, local economy, frugality in my city and nutrition. The Challenge is a mini-education on how to change one’s everyday life and habits in order to become more environmentally friendly and reduce one’s ecological footprint.

2 What are the goals of “GoSimple”?

We pursue different goals with “GoSimple”. On the one hand, we want to change the habits of the participants and their families – they should lead a simpler lifestyle and realise that it is not that difficult to live sustainably. On the other hand, we also want to use this project to propose concrete measures to the city of Basel on how the infrastructure and services can be adapted to make the transition easier for the residents.

3. How will the project be measured?

The pilot phase of the Challenge will take place from January 2022 to June 2022. 25 Basel households will participate and document their successes and failures accurately via video and in writing. In addition to the participants’ own documentation, the University of Basel will provide us with an impact analysis and support us with a control group. Thus, from July 2022 to December 2022, we will adapt and also expand the project so that the actual Challenge can start with 100 households in January 2023.

4. Who is funding the project?

We have been able to attract various funding partners for “GoSimple”. The main funding partners include the 3FO Foundation in Olten and the Office for Environment and Energy in Basel. We are very grateful for their support.

5. Who can take part in the Challenge?

From October onwards, residents of the city of Basel can apply to take part. However, a few requirements have to be met:

– Resident in the canton of Basel-Stadt

– Between 23 and 38 years old

– The desire to live a more sustainable life

– All other people in the same household are also taking part in the Challenge

– Willing to participate in all workshops during the six months

– Condition for pilot phase: Willing to document the six months

6. How do I keep myself informed?

Soon, the project’s own website will be online at www.gosimple.ch. Follow the project on Instagram and Facebook!