Co-opportunity: Join Up for a Sustainable, Resilient, Prosperous World [Hardcover]

John Grant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2010

John Grant is back! Bestselling author of Green Marketing Manifesto fame returns to get you involved in creating a sustainable future!

In this book, green business guru John Grant shows how we, when we join forces through co-operative initiatives, can really make changes and work towards a better future.

John uses cases and examples from around the world, from social networks to social ventures, Carrot Mobbing to the Carbon Disclosure Project, to show how a move to greater co-operation via what he calls Co-operative Networks can be a way forwards for all of us to increase the common well-being. 

Arguing that a climate for change can be created by engaging rather than alienating people, John also demonstrates ways of ‘relocating dreams’ to allow us to reassess our desires and priorities.

Whether you are a business leader, politician, armchair economist, environmentalist or general interest reader, the inspiration and ideas John Grant provides in Co-Opportunity encourages us all to think again about our individual behaviour and our actions – our ideas of what it is to be human - and to get co-creating to build a better world for all. Sit back and watch, or become part of this grass roots new movement.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...it's important to view this book as a springboard for discussion...because this is still very much a frontline debate." (B2B Marketing, September 2010)

"...the inspiration John Grant provides...encourages us all to think again about our individual behaviour and our actions." (EnvironmentTimes.co.uk, July 2010)

"...highlights the challenges of sustainability and offers ideas on how to overcome..." (Global Innovation Report, 2010)

"Overflowing with creative ideas and expositions of what is happening in culture and society...Grant's excitement is infectious." (Sublime, March 2010)

"...the inspiration and ideas John Grant provides...encourages us all to think again about our individual behaviour and our actions..." (FreshBusinessThinking.com, March 2010)

"...offers insight for brands seeking a socially responsible positioning or, beyond that, businesses looking for totally new models of operation..." (Admap, May 2010)

"...a positive book, full of a wide range of inspiring ideas..." (Permaculture, Issue 64 - April 2010)

"...we recommend Co-Opportunity as the book to pick up..." (TreeHugger.com, March 2010)

From the Back Cover

"Co-opportunity is an idea whose time has come. It's not just up to business, it's not just up to government, it's not just up to people – it's up to all of us to find new ways of creating change together."
—Jeff Swartz, CEO of Timberland

"Climate change and peak oil mean that we’ll likely see more change in the next 20 years than the last 200. This book is a snapshot of the inspiring human creativity that is going into the start of the Great Transition."
—Rob Hopkins, founder of Transition Towns

"Whether it's on the internet or in your local community, creative co-operation is key to tackling many of the world’s social and environmental issues. That's why this book is so valuable, as a sourcebook for the growing movement of social entrepreneurs."
—Premal Shah, co-founder and president of Kiva.org

"Each chapter abounds with specific examples and case studies of people and organisations out there adding to today's extraordinarily innovative solutions agenda... John showcases that world with a lot of verve and empathy, drawing people in to his own excitement at what it means to work through "a village-scale democracy operating at the global level.""
—Jonathan Porritt, founder director of Forum for the Future (from the Foreword)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470684364
• ISBN-13: 978-0470684368
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,617,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Meaningful argument for sustainable business, October 25, 2010

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Co-opportunity: Join Up for a Sustainable, Resilient, Prosperous World (Hardcover)

Author John Grant wants to change the world, not so that he makes money and not because the planet's going to flame out, but because it's the right thing to do and he'll have fun. He asserts that the Earth can sustain everyone: There's sufficient water and energy, and people can grow enough food. But humans ruin everything rather than replenishing the ecosystems they need. Individual citizens must recognize their stake in the Earth and take altruistic responsibility for creating a better world. In the face of devastating climate change, Grant asks, how can the lessons of marketing transform consumers - who obsess over getting more stuff for less money - into citizens who are willing to do what's necessary to avert disaster? Though his writing style is fragmentary and convoluted, his heart and his information are clearly in the right place. If you're ready to be a part of the solution in a post-consumer society, getAbstract says this book is for you.

4.0 out of 5 stars Co-operation as an antidote to inertia and indifference, August 28, 2010

By 

Philippe Vandenbroeck (HEVERLEE, BELGIUM) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Co-opportunity: Join Up for a Sustainable, Resilient, Prosperous World (Hardcover)

With `Co-opportunity', John Grant wants to, gently and intelligently, kick some butt. We are confronted with a set of interconnected global challenges such as climate change, peak oil, depletion of natural resources and widespread poverty. And yet, most of us continue to do as if our noses bleed, hoping the problems will go away of themselves. Why this generalized inertia? Grant thinks we are being ensnared in a consumerist worldview, nourishing our sense of babyish omnipotence, reinforcing herd behaviour and eroding our skills to take care of ourselves and the communities around us. So how can we wean ourselves of this destructive mentality and bring ourselves to get our hands dirty? This sprawling book tries to formulate a multi-faceted response to that question. In doing so, Grant covers a lot of familiar terrain, connecting orthodox sustainability thinking to the latest happiness research, the psychology of flow, social innovation, alternative economics, ecosystem services, peer-to-peer, transition towns, cradle-to-cradle, the social media revolution, and more. The gist of his argument seems to be that putting co-operative responsibility into action hinges on creating more transparancy to enable us to diagnosticize what is really wrong with our world. The power of the web then needs to be mobilized to track and share these data, whip up customer education and engagement, scale participatory processes and support new value creation models. In his discussion, Grant modulates wildly between abstraction levels, letting the anecdotal rub shoulders with much more conceptual stuff (such as Open Source Hardware platforms, or steady-state economics). At times the book reads as a catalogue of funky, sustainability-oriented, open sourcey, web 2.0 supported business models, mixing usual suspects such as Grameen with some of the (emerging) ideas that Grant himself has been hatching. The book ends with a fierce critique of traditional economics, arguing instead for ideas such as co-operative craft guilds and alternative currencies. At the back there is a handy checklist to audit a world-improving co-operative idea in progress. All in all a fun and interesting read, giving a broad-brush overview of important trends in `beyond sustainability' thinking. And an invitation to contribute to the groundswell, of course.