Green Books Campaign: Co-opportunity by John Grant

This review is part of the Green Books campaign.Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

The book we review on the Green Books campaign is:

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

Author: John Grant

John Grant was one of the co-founders of St Luke's (the socially aware London ad agency) and is the author of 4 previous bestselling books on new frontiers in marketing, media and innovation. John's sustainable marketing and innovation clients include (the UK Government) ACTONCO2, Cisco, The Co-operative Bank, The Design Council, The Guardian, innocent drinks, IKEA, ING, i-Team (a local government initiative), O2, Philips, The Royal Mail, SSE, Unilever. John is a prolific international speaker, writer, blogger, commentator and is an associate of Forum for the Future, Demos and an Observer Ethical Awards judge.

John Grant's blog is greenormal.

Publisher: Wiley

Published on: March 2010

What this book is about? (from the publisher's website)

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.

What we think about it?

Let me start by saying this is a brilliant book. I read many green- and sustainability- themed books and I find Co-opportunity one of the most important and mind provoking ones I've ever read.

In days where some environmentalists and just ordinary people are in despair as they read about the death of the cap and trade in Washington (was it ever alive?) and see the inability of governments to agree on a global platform for action, this book provides a moment or two of optimism.

John Grant is looking in a systematic way at the things in our life that we might take for granted but are broken and need to be fixed. And he suggests compelling arguments about the way we should fix it: together. His call for changes, as well as suggestions on how we can change both our mindset and behavior is far from being naive. On the contrary, he is very realistic and understands the limits and the compromises of real life. Still, armed with tons of interesting examples he is very convincing in getting you to believe that things can be different if we would only adopt the right approach.

I think this book is a great fit with the Green Books Campaign as this campaign is exactly the type of the many co-operative initiatives described in the book, and our hope is that the joint work of readers, authors, publishers, retailers and organizations that are involved in the campaign will help moving the book forward towards a more sustainable future.

This book is printed using acid free paper, responsibly manufactured from sustainable forestry in which at least two trees are planted for each one used for paper production.

Co-Opportunity for Sustainable Change - John Grant from Sustainable Brands on Vimeo.

Disclosure: We received a copy of this book from the publisher.

If you're looking for other interesting green books, please check out the Green Books Campaign's page at www.ecolibris.net/greenbookscampaign2010.asp .

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green Books Campaign: Prizes for the bloggers!

The Green Books Campaign includes 200 bloggers that review today at 1:00PM EST 200 books printed on eco-friendly paper. We got some great prizes for them from three publishers: Simon & Schuster Audio, Ghigo Press and Sterling Publishing.

Simon & Schuster Audio are providing the campaign with prizes for the second year! This year they have some great audiobooks for the bloggers:

The Playbook by Barney Stinson and Matt Kuhn. Read by: Neil Patrick Harris

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld. Illustrated by: Keith Thompson / Read by: Alan Cumming.

YOU: Raising Your Child by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz. Read by: Michele Pawk, Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C Oz

Here We Go Again by Betty White. Read by: Betty White

127 Hours Movie Tie- In by Aron Ralston

Read by: Aron Ralston

Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi. Read by: Portia de Rossi

Ghigo Press is giving three 2011 calendars, printed on 100 percent recycled paper with soy ink. The calendars include a Vinifera wine calendar, Spice calendar and Coffee calendar, all part of the publisher's line of Wine, Coffee and Spice education products that will entertain and enlighten the curious gourmet.


Sterling Publishing is giving a set of Ecosystem, a line of 100% Post Consumer Recycled Notebooks. Ecosystem is a fresh line of notebooks with a pulse. With bold design for everyday life and inspired living, the system offers owners a collection of color, size and type combinations to engage any personality. The set includes 3 beautiful notebooks in different sizes and colors.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting green reading!

Green Books Campaign: Canopy is supporting the campaign and presenting their work with the book industry

We're happy to begin the Green Books Campaign's day with a guest post from our friends at Canopy. Based in Canada, Canopy is one of the most important forces pushing the book industry towards greater sustainability in the last decade and we're proud to have it as one of the supporters of the campaign (just like the Green Press Initiative, which we presented here couple of days ago).

Best known for our work to green the Harry Potter series internationally with the support of author J.K. Rowling, Canopy works to protect the world’s forests, species and climate by leveraging market forces to help publishers, printers and paper producers adopt environmental policies and practices that ensure conservation on the ground. Eco-Libris’ Green Books campaign bolsters this movement to include wider consumer engagement. Given that 60-80% of a publisher’s environmental footprint is attributable to the papers it prints its books on, we are excited to work with the Eco-Libris Green Books Campaign to help book lovers save the world’s forests by choosing books that are printed on environmental papers.

Canopy works with more than 700 publishers and printers, including Random House, Scholastic and Lonely Planet, and literary giants such as Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood, to reduce dramatically the impact book production has on our fragile planet. By harnessing the purchasing influence of major publishers and printers, Canopy has been able to broker large-scale conservation agreements such as the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement and the world’s largest conservation initiative, the new Boreal Forest Agreement. It is through such major agreements that real conservation progress is made.

Such progress is thanks in no small part to the remarkable changes we’ve seen in the past decade since starting our work with book publishers. The marketplace has progressed from no environmental book-grade papers being commercially available in North America in 2000, to millions of books now being printed on environmental papers. As a book lover, that’s good news!

Recognizing the critical role that book lovers and retailers play in the industry, Canopy also works with market leaders such Indigo Books & Music to help them not only green their own business practices, but also foster environmental leadership within the publishing industry. Our joint work with Indigo also enables readers to make informed purchasing decisions by transparently providing information about a book’s environmental qualities online and at store kiosks.

So how can you tell if a book is printed on environmental paper? Consumers should look for one of the following:

• An eco-audit at the back of a book, listing exactly what kind of paper each part of the book (pages, cover) contains
• The Ancient Forest Friendly label
• Statements that the book is printed on 100% Post Consumer Recycled paper, or on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper

This information may be included in a number of places in the book, including the back jacket, inside jacket, or the copyright page, directly after the title page.

As the final stop in the supply chain – the demand – readers are of course essential to the success of both individual titles and the overall industry. Know that you can be the tail that wags the dog in a greener direction. Vote with your wallet: purchase books that are printed on environmental papers. Your support of publishers and retailers who are taking environmental leadership and campaigns such as this helps increase demand for responsibly sourced books. And that helps position organizations like Canopy as stronger advocates for the world’s forests, species, and climate.

We want to thank again Canopy for their support of the campaign and assistance in getting the word out! You can find more information about Canopy's work, as well as resources on the impacts of the book industry and available eco-friendly paper options at http://www.ecolibris.net/greenbooksresources.asp

The Campaign's page is www.ecolibris.net/greenbookscampaign2010.asp .You can also follow the campaign on Facebook and twitter.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting green reading!