Spring 2013
Table of Contents
How Cooperatives Are Driving the New Economy
In Depth
Explore SectionFrom the Editors
The Cooperative Way to a Stronger Economy
Co-ops—just like people—can get more done together than anyone can do alone. They come in many forms, and are more common than you might imagine.
Read moreThe Economy: Under New Ownership
How cooperatives are leading the way to empowered workers and healthy communities.
Marjorie Kelly
Just the Facts
Just the Facts: What’s So Good About Co-ops?
Why support the co-ops in your community? The benefits might be further-reaching than you think.
Why Unions Are Going Into the Co-op Business
The steelworkers deal that could turn the rust belt green.
Amy B. Dean
Credit Unions Put Your Money to Work—Right Where You Live
What if your bank’s first priority was to do good? Vancouver’s Vancity leads the way in putting dollars back into the community.
Colleen Kimmet
From Housing to Health Care, 7 Co-ops That Are Changing Our Economy
How manufacturers, retailers, restaurants, and others are doing business the cooperative way.
Claudia Rowe
6 Ways to Fuel the Cooperative Takeover
From now on, the global mantra for filling market gaps is going to be, “There’s a co-op for that.†But co-ops need customers, money, and training. How do we shift from business as usual to the work of cooperation?
Sven Eberlein
Survival of the … Nicest? Check Out the Other Theory of Evolution
A new theory of human origins says cooperation—not competition—is instinctive.
Eric Michael Johnson
How Workers Laid Off from a Chicago Factory Took It Over Themselves
When their boss tried to fire them, the workers of Republic Windows and Doors occupied the factory. Now they own it as a cooperative.
Laura Flanders
Don’t Like Your Health Insurance? Make Your Own
The Affordable Care Act hopes to drive expansion of health care co-ops.
Nina Rogozen
To Build a Community Economy, Start With Solidarity
How residents who can’t afford to buy in still get the benefits of co-op work and housing.
Abby Scher
Empowered by the Past: Red State Co-ops Go Green
A century ago, cooperatives electrified the poorest counties in the nation. Today, can they lead the way to a smarter, cleaner grid?
Brooke Jarvis
Solutions We Love
Explore SectionWhy Canada’s Indigenous Uprising Is About All of Us
When a new law paved the way for tar sands pipelines and other fossil fuel development on native lands, four women swore to be “idle no more.†The idea took off.
Sarah van Gelder
Why You Don’t Frack With John Lennon’s Farm
When fracking hits close to home, Mark Ruffalo, Debra Winger, Yoko Ono, and other big names find common ground with small towns.
Lisa Mullenneaux
California Teachers Divest Pension Fund from Assault Weapons
Just hours after Sandy Hook, the managers of the teachers’ pension fund sold off their stock in a manufacturer of semi-automatic rifles.
Chris Francis
People We Love
People We Love: Sarah Bergmann
Creating a pollination pathway for urban bees.
Fabien Tepper
From the Culture of Aloha, a Path Out of Gun Violence
Beneath mainstream culture runs a current of domination, individualism, and exclusion that is harming our children. We assume this is normal—but is it really?
Poka Laenui
The Page That Counts
The Page That Counts: Spring 2013
Miles flown by a bar-tailed godwit in the longest nonstop bird migration ever recorded: 7,200. Miles flown in the world’s longest nonstop, non-refueled helicopter flight: 2,213.
Culture Shift
Explore Section
Yes! But How?