About us: Birk & Jessy
We met each other while both working for a small e-bike manufacturer in Heidelberg. Jessy as a Supply Chain Manager, Birk as a Software Engineer. Brought together by shared values and dreams, we quickly knew that we wanted to live a sustainable life close to nature and share it with others. “Do you want to start an Alpaca farm in Nothern Italy with me?” – while the message wasn’t meant completely seriously back then, it has become the starting point of our shared dream in a way. It doesn’t necessarily need to be an Alpaca Farm, but there should be animals. Neither does it have to be Nothern Italy, but the European mountains for sure.
What drives us.
We are driven by the desire to live a truly sustainable life in close contact with nature. When we started our journey we put all our effort in making the best decisions in our own personal day-to-day lives. Since then we’ve realised that we need to think bigger in order to face the challenges of true sustainability. Many of the changes that must be addressed are of structural nature and therefore can’t be handled by single individuals alone. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that we don’t have the power to act, we just have to join forces. And that’s exactly what we would like to achieve with the Circular Outdoor Collective.
Our Decision to found the COC
In January 2024, we headed South – together with our campervan Newton and our (borrowed) adventure dog Ellie. While looking for the place to call home, we learned what matters most to us:
1. A holistic approach – consistently choosing sustainable alternatives in every area of our day-to-day lives.
2. Collaboration with people, who have already gained experience, in order to successfully implement projects.
3. Transparent Documentation & Sharing of the corresponding steps in order to multiply successes and minimze mistakes.
These are the three pillars that sparked the idea of the Circular Outdoor Collective and upon which it is built. If you’re curious to learn more about our journey so far and where we’re headed have a look at our Roadmap.
