ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – “weACT”, an online social group games startup created by two Zurich women, Majka Baur and Prisca Mueller, has won a joint Migros/WWF sustainable consumption award.
The idea behind weACT, says the group, is to promote sustainable lifestyles through group challenges, supported by an online platform. A sample is the ETHZ weACT challenge, where students and staff are encouraged to change their lifestyle through a series of small challenges. The site, as a bonus, offers a tip a day, for example:
“Air your room efficientlyDuring the heating period take care to air your room efficiently. Open the windows a maximum of 3 times a day (for ca. 5 min) completely. To open multiple windows at once increases the intake of fresh air and reduces heat losses compared to a continuously opened bottom hung window.”
The weACT project was declared the winner Monday 10 October of the Idées Vertes competition organized by supermarket chain Migros and environmental group WWF to reward commercial projects centred around consumers, which aim to preserve resources.
The group was given CHF30,000 and administrative help in the form of a one-year position at the Hub in Zurich.
“We imagined, what would happen if we would start to really do these things.
“By moving with public transport and by bike, eating meat 1-2 times a week and turning the heating down by 1°C in winter each person could reduce its CO2 emissions by 20% compared to the Swiss average. For our daily life this would mean to exercise regularly by biking, eat in a more healthy way and wear a warm cloths in winter.
“We would have a huge impact by improving our lifestyle!”
