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!

Monday's green book: The Green Marketing Manifesto

Today on our Monday's green book series we're talking about green marketing. Our book for today is:

The Green Marketing Manifesto

Author: John Grant

John Grant co-founded St Luke’s the innovative and socially aware London ad agency. Working with clients such as the Body Shop as well as mainstream brands, St Luke’s pioneered the view of a company’s “Total Role in Society” and operated as an employee shareholder democracy. Since leaving in 1999 he has worked as an independent consultant.

John’s previous books which all deal with ‘what’s new?’ have earned widespread praise, popularity and critical acclaim, and include 'The New Marketing Manifesto' (1999), 'After Image' (2002) and 'Brand Innovation Manifesto' (2006). John is also a prolific blogger and writer of articles and reports. His current thoughts on green marketing can be found at http://greenormal.blogspot.com/ and he is also the official blogger for the Green Awards.

Publisher: Wiley

Published in: November 2007 (Hardcover)

What it is about: According to the book description, the Green Marketing Manifesto provides a roadmap on how to organize green marketing effectively and sustainably. It offers a fresh start for green marketing, one that provides a practical and ingenious approach.

The book offers many examples from companies and brands who are making headway in this difficult arena, such as Marks & Spencer, Sky, Virgin, Toyota, Tesco, O2 to give an indication of the potential of this route.

John Grant creates a ‘Green Matrix’ as a tool for examining current practice and the practice that the future needs to embrace.

In an interview to psfk.com, he explained where it all started: "I wrote the book (originally it started as a paper for a potential client project) to try to make sense of the torrent of recent green marketing initiatives. I wanted to sift out what was greenwash and what had substance – and also try to get to what was actually working, and why; and to map out the terrain a bit."

This book is intended to assist marketers, by means of clear and practical guidance, through a complex transition towards meaningful green marketing.

Why you should get it:
1. Marketing is not everything, but it is critical for the success of every green product or service.

2. The book is eco-friendly - printed on FSC certified paper and using vegetable-based ink. It's also written on its cover: Please don't put this book in a plastic shopping bag. It may sounds obvious, but it's the first book where I see such a text on the cover.

3. I like the way Grant defined it in another interview as a book "about a sustainable economy and making green normal as opposed to ‘green-washing’, which is making normal look green. "

What others say on the book: "brilliant book...that will forever change the way you look at green marketing." (psfk.com, Nov 27, 2007)

"outlines how environmentalism increasingly informs business strategy" (Reuters, Nov 29, 2007)

"...the book casts new insight into green marketing" (naturalchoice.co.uk, Tuesday 18th December 2007)

If you want to get to know better the author, John Grant, and what he has to say on green marketing, you can check his interesting blog, greenormal. Here are also few bits of him talking on the book launch in London (Nov 2007):



Enjoy the book, and if you're looking for the full list of green books reviewed and presented on our blog, check out our green books page.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!