341. Imagine Ecosphera: A Coop Story
Coop Name: Ecosphera | N° of Employees: 46 |
City: Forl | N° of Members: 23 |
Country: Italy | Year of formation: 1993 |
Website: http://www.coopecosphera.org | |
Facebook: Link |
Ecosphera is a Type B social coop (30% of members must be from one or more disadvantaged groups) that provides environmental services for the city of Forlì, in Emilia Romagna, Italy. As a social cooperative, a core mission of Ecosphera is to provide meaningful ways to engage its disabled/disadvantaged staff as productive members of the community. These services and projects include: Collection of household recyclables and waste; Maintenance of green space and parks; Street cleaning; Pest control; Grounds keeping for the cemetery; An automotive garage; Operation of a small farm that sells herbs and fruit for a variety of purposes; A New 'Ecoliving' Center for local goods and services (organic supermarket, restaurant, responsible tourism travel agency, health center, etc).
A story about Ecosphera, a Type B social cooperative that provides environmental services for the city of Forlì, in Emilia Romagna, Italy. The video touches on what it’s like to work in a worker coop generally, demonstrates the specific types of services Ecosphera offers to the local community, but also the nature and importance of social cooperatives and the broader positive aspects and goals they serve. The overall point is to demonstrate the manner in which cooperatives build a better world by visually showing and explaining how one coop in particular empowers its worker-members, improves livelihoods and the economy, and enables sustainable development in its community. The film also invites us at the end to imagine a world where everyone followed such an example and built a better, more cooperative planet.