Many of us associate Co-operative with their favourite local convenience store, however, there’s more to the word. Unlike the majority of large-scale enterprises, The Co-operative is owned by more than 6 million consumers. Apart from the well-known food stores, the company is a major player in the fields of financial services, pharmacy, travel and farming. Still the core idea of Co-operative is to support the communities and promote ethical values – it has remained so for almost 170 years.
The co-operative movement started in 1844 in the English town of Rochdale by The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers. The idea was to set up a mutual society and open their own food store selling goods that they could not otherwise afford. The initiative took off almost immediately and just a decade later there were more than a thousand mutual societies in the UK. Today the Co-operative not only has remained true to the main principles set out by the Rochdale Pioneers but is also convincingly stepping into a new era and showing a good example of how a large business can be a part of community and make a big difference where it is needed the most.
A new awareness campaign dubbed “We’re Taking Ethics to The Next Level” has been launched recently. Everyone is invited to Join the revolution. The campaign shows off their democratic business model and speaks about projects that have been funded by Co-operative to support sustainable ideas both here in Britain and in some of the world’s poorest countries.
One of my favourite projects should be the Baywind Energy Co-operative wind farm. It is the UK’s first community owned wind farm; and it now generates 10,000MWh of green electricity per year – enough to provide power for 30,000 homes. I think that similar projects could be successfully implemented all around Britain.
Another project worth mentioning is the Urban Bees – a partnership of bee-lovers that was established by Brian McCallum and Alison Benjamin. Cities and large towns with their parks and gardens are as good a place to keep bees as any rural location. Urban bee-keeping has been a buzzing success in New York and other large US cities for decades. Now it is London’s turn – 20 new hives have been set up on City’s rooftops and allotments and there is more to come. Encouraged by funding from The Co-operative, it is estimated that 300 people will be involved in Urban Bees by the end of 2011.
Projects like these help us establish stronger communities and make the world a better place. Every year The Co-operative supports thousands of initiatives both in the UK and the developing world. Now you too can Get involved!
