Doing the right thing, together, in a world in crisis

Our status as a non-profit European cooperative opens up a wide range of means of action:

• training and the dissemination of knowledge or skills;
• the transformation of existing businesses and organisations, both from within and from without;;
• the creation of innovative and sustainable products or services;
• the transformation, through democratic means, of the existing social, legal and economic system.

Our working method is very open and decentralised: each and every one of us can propose an initiative, rally a team behind it, and carry it out.

We are starting on a small scale, with actions that anyone can carry out right now in a small group, whether local or remote, without any financial investment. Our first area of action focuses on our consumption and that which we can influence.

This first step is essential. However, we are convinced that it is not up to consumers alone to act responsibly. The entire social, legal and economic system must do the same.

That is why our ambition extends beyond these short-term, small-scale actions. We aim, step by step, to turn our long-term vision, which we have called the Society of Agreement, into a reality by 2050, within the European Union and beyond.

The Society of Agreement is a society entirely in harmony with the best of human nature, a deeply just, sustainable, democratic and happy society. It constitutes an alternative social contract, in which a reduction in the quantity (but not the quality!) of consumption is offset – and even surpassed – by unprecedented social justice and democratic participation. It rests on three mutually supportive pillars: social justice, environmental sustainability and democracy at the level of the European Union.

We are aware of just how unusual an ambition of this scale is, and that it may seem excessive given the limited nature of our resources. Nevertheless, we have adopted it for the following reasons (detailed here):

• to have a tangible impact, initiatives promoting social justice and environmental sustainability must move beyond the niche of committed individuals and scale up to the considerable scale of the problems to be solved;
• In this scaling-up process, these initiatives come up against obstacles created by the current legal,economic and social system, which is built around the social contract of consumer society—a system that no longer works. We must change it;
• it is not enough to say ‘let’s change the system, not the climate’. We must describe the system with which we wish to replace the current one, and explain how, as in any social contract, everyone stands to benefit from it;
• given the scale of adaptation required to bring about profound change in our society, relying on voluntary action alone is not enough. For the transition to take place, it must, at the appropriate moment, be underpinned by the force of law, enacted democratically;
• We have made the effort to define this social contract, and we are taking it upon ourselves to implement it, because, much to our regret, none of the organisations whose remit this should be are doing so on our behalf.

This long-term vision is also what ensures the consistency of our actions. We ensure that they all converge towards this Society of Agreement.

Already now, our annual contributions, which are proportional to income with a share of income rising as income rises, embody, in the way we operate, our objective of social justice.

We have set out the means to achieve this in our articles of association, our code of conduct, our language guidelines, our day-to-day organisation and our IT platform, so that every member can participate in defining, amending and choosing our actions, within a framework that is fully democratic and multilingual framework required for action at European Union level. With our status as aEuropean Cooperative Society, we constitute asingle pan-European organisationand thus act in a unified, democratic and effective manner across the European Union, without being hampered by fragmentation into national units.

In the short term, our primary area of action concerns sustainable consumption. Indeed, our consumption is the central cause of the unsustainable nature of our societies. We consume too much, and in the wrong way: too many products and services, each of which has negative social and environmental impacts that are far too great compared to the benefits they bring.

Reducing and transforming our consumption – our demand for goods and services – is the key action available to each and every one of us, in the short term and on a small scale, within the existing legal, social and economic system, to contribute to the social and environmental sustainability of our societies. It is also, quite simply, a way to live better.

We invite you to start this journey by taking part, free of charge and with no obligation, in the series of five workshops entitled ‘Taking back control of my consumption’ which we organise, both in person and online. Sign up!

We are also now offering, on a voluntary basis, activities designed to gradually replace your current consumption with actions – whether in the form of more sustainable consumption or activities that go beyond consumption altogether – bringing you greater and more authentic satisfaction. We’ve started with food and leisure.

Alongside these local, short-term initiatives, we are also undertaking longer-term actions, in which we are making full use of the European Union-wide cooperation capabilities provided by our IT infrastructure.

We therefore aim to:

• give you access to the European Union’s most sustainable existing services, firstly via a collaborative online catalogue, and then through group purchasing of these existing services,
• to improve these offerings, by encouraging existing companies to improve their internal processes or their products and services, or by creating an innovative, more sustainable offering ourselves when no existing company provides it.

In this way, within the scope of our own consumption and that which we can influence, and within the existing system, we will contribute to the ‘environmental sustainability’ pillar of our long-term vision, the Society of Agreement.

To realise the other two pillars of the Society of Agreement, namely social justice and pan-European democracy, and to extend the progress towards environmental sustainability that we are initiating on a small scale to society as a whole, we are working to democratically transform the existing legal, social and economic system. To this end:

1. We definedemocraticallyspecificpublic policies that are concrete, targeted and effectiveto achieve the Society of Agreement and we champion them in public debate, starting by responding constructively to the open consultations proposed by public authorities at all levels, from local councils to European Union;
2. When the time comes, we will take part indemocratic political electionsat all levels of public institutions, from local councils to the European Union, we will champion our public policies during these elections, and we will win positions of responsibility in assemblies and governments;
3. Wewill assume political responsibilitieswithin public institutions at all levels, to implement these policies and thereby transform the European Union and society towards theSociety of Agreement, by mobilising the resources and the powerful, concentrated instruments of public authority: regulation, taxation, public spending and investment.

YOU can, with your experience, your values and your aspirations, get involved in our work and join us in striving to do the right thing, together, in our world in crisis. Join us!

We offer you four levels of increasing involvement in the life of our Co-operative:

1. Are you keen to find out more about how we’re growing? Subscribe to our free newsletter to become a Listener and stay informed about our activities and events;

   

2. Would you like to contribute, but have other priorities at the moment? Become a donor to the Co-operative, and give us the practical means to carry out our work. Make a donation here !;

   

3. Would you like to take part in our discussions and activities, with no strings attached – but without the right to vote? Sign up for free to our Community and take part, in a trusting, friendly and confidential environment, in all our informal discussions and activities;

   

4. Would you like to have a say in all our decisions and actions? Sign up as a Co-operative member, to become a full member of our Co-operative and take part in all our decision-making processes, following democratic procedures of the highest global standard.

When you take part in our activities, our strict pseudonymity rules will protect you from any potential negative reactions from your employer or clients.

In any case, you remain completely free for the duration of your involvement: whether it’s a one-off, for a fixed period or in the longer term.

We look forward to welcoming you soon! You are very welcome>.