The Oakland Foodmill, a family owned health food store, is the newest location to find Co-Soap!

We are happy to announce that the Oakland Food Mill is the newest location to carry Co-Soap products! Founded in 1933, the family-owned Food Mill is Oakland’s original health food store. The workers and owners of the food mill are “dedicated to helping families and individuals make better choices about their health.” The Food Mill features all organic produce as well as an incredibly large selection of bulk foods, vitamins, and supplements.

In addition to their produce, the Food Mill is known for their scrumptious selection of old-fashioned breads, cookies, and nut butters. All of their cookies, home-made breads, and nut butters are made with 100% natural ingredients. Their home-made cookies include such delectable favorites as Oatmeal Raisin, Omega Oatbran, Date Nut, Honey Fruit, Peanut Butter, Super Ginger, Chocolate Chip, and Sunflower Sesame. Doesn’t that sound good?

In line, with their commitment to enhance their communities health, all seniors receive a 10% discount on nutritional supplements. With over 700 hard to find bulk items, the Oakland Food carries the flours, grains, spices, honey, oils, and herbs that you crave!

So if you’re in the area, please run down to the Oakland Food Mill and check out their great offerings. Of course, we’d love it if you picked up some of our soap as well. Below you can find their contact information:

Oakland Food Mill
3033 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94602
510.482.3848
foodmillonline.com

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ATTENTION ALL CO-SOAP FANS!!!!!

Like us on Facebook and answer this question on our wall:

Besides the AMAZING cleansing effects Co-Soap has on the body – in what other ways can Co-Soap be useful?

The person with the most creative answer will win a FREE bar of Co-Soap….made with the finest ingredients of course!

The United Nations has deemed 2012 the International Year of the Cooperative.  With the theme of “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World” the UN hopes to promote the idea of cooperation and encourage the of cooperative organizations.

Visit the official website to learn more!

The Berkeley Student Food Collective, is a cooperative grocery market run by students of the UC Berkeley Campus.

We are pleased to announce our newest location. The Berkeley Student Food Collective! The Berkeley Student Food Collective (BSFC) is a cooperative grocery market dedicated to:

providing fresh, local, healthy, environmentally sustainable and ethically produced food at affordable prices to the Berkeley campus and greater community. We seek to educate students about nutrition and food systems, empower new leaders, and train youth to work in and manage a sustainable business.

The BFSC is an almost entirely volunteer run association. Members are required to volunteer at least 2 hours a week for the BFSC. The Collective has various committees to promote its fundamental goals of making healthy nutrition affordable and accessible to the greater Berkeley community.

They are an excellent organization that is making real change for the Berkeley community. They are a 501(C) non-profit organization able to take tax deductible donations. If you are in the area, please check out this great group of people who are working hard to promote better nutrition that is both sustainable and equitable. The address and map of the BSFC can be found below:

Berkeley Student Food Collective
2440 Bancroft Way, #102
Berkeley, CA 94704
510-845-1985

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Community Pharmacy is a worker cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin

We are proud to announce our newest location! Community Pharmacy of Madison Wisconsin.  Community Pharmacy is a fellow worker cooperative whose “mission is to promote health.” They are committed to expanding the definition of health to include a “right to eat, a right to a home, a right to a humane workplace, a right to a clean environment, and a right to move through that environment without fear of violence or silencing.”

We are absolutely thrilled to have them carry our products and we couldn’t be more pleased that they are also a worker cooperative. As worker cooperatives we share the mission of expanding democracy to the workplace and empowering workers to become active participants in the betterment of their communities.

If you are in the Madison area, we’d love it if you can give a hello and patronize the goods of the fine workers at Community Pharmacy. Below is their address and contact info as well as a map of where to find them:

Community Pharmacy
http://communitypharmacy.coop/
341 State St.
Madison, WI
53703
608-251-3242

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Oink Oink Oink

Big Shout Out to the Noble Pig Winery and Food Blog for highlighting us a week ago!

If you didn’t know the Noble Pig Winery is a family run vineyard in the beautiful Oregon Wine Country.  The wine is fantastic and they specialize in Pinots.  I highly suggest you check them out and order up a bottle or two.  Supplies are going fast!

Personally I find it tantalizing to take a hot shower with a Co-Soap Lavender infused bar, snuggle on the couch in my robe and pour a hearty glass of the delicious 2009 Pinot Noir.  Ahhh the simple luxuries of life.

We came across another great cosmetics cooperative in Oaxaca, Mexico and we just had to share it with you. It’s amazing how much people can accomplish by working together and cooperating.

Cosmeticos Naturals de Mazunte

“Cosmeticos Naturales de Mazunte” is an extraordinary example of living sustainably through cooperation. Mazunte is a small beach town and hidden treasure of Oaxaca on the Pacific coast of Mexico. After turtle hunting, the town’s primary source of income, was banned in Mexico in the early 1990s, the people from Mazunte had to find work alternatives to support themselves and their families. That same year, Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, one of England’s most prominent cosmetic stores, according to Forbes, visited Mazunte. The purpose of her visit was to get Mazunte to provide The Body Shop with natural organic materials for the production of their body supplies. However, after some time, the people of Mazunte realised that they too could own and operate their own cosmetics store and of course, families working together is better than one doing it alone, they joined hands and started a cosmetics cooperative.

In 1996 Cosmeticos Naturales de Mazunte was born with their first line of shampoo and body oils. Today, they are now producing all sorts of cosmetics, ranging from deodorants to mosquito repellents, using only plants and natural oils. Cosmeticos de Mazunte is comprised of 15 local families working together and owning their own cosmetic business. The members of this coop manufacture and sell their products mainly to tourists that come to the region, as well as to local stores and other businesses within the state of Oaxaca. This became known as the “Miracle of Mazunte;” it brought up the economy in the region and they are definitely continuing this cooperativist journey. They have now implemented more eco-friendly cooperative businesses that provide services to the growing number of tourists such as boat cabin rentals. Families that immigrated to the US after the crisis in the 1990s are now wanting to go back to this paradise, seeing how the situation keeps getting better and better.

It’s great to see other cosmetic pioneers in the cooperative world. Soon one of our members, Walfre will be travelling down to Oaxaca to learn about the products of Cosmeticos de Mazunte in order to bring you better products in the future. If you want to learn more about Cosmeticos De Mazunte, you can go to their website here. We will continue to see the progress of these cooperatives in Mazunte and keep you posted on this great new cooperative movement.

Our globalized planet today faces many global challenges ranging from global warming, safe water access, and an industrial system based on depleting sources of fossil fuels. We cannot keep draining our earth of its exhaustible resources. We must focus on developing and supporting products and technologies that  allow for consumption that is sustainable to ensure our children and our grandchildren can be afforded the quality of life we enjoy today. If you are someone living in the Bay Area and are looking for sustainable and economical living solutions, look no further.

The Green Zebra

The Green Zebra Environmental Action Center in San Francisco’s Financial District is the  place to learn about green products and reducing our impact on the planet. Not only do they feature great products from environmentally-minded companies, they work to make their green solutions affordable for the masses, which is something Co-Soap strongly supports.

The Green Zebra holds bi-monthly lunch hour workshops on a variety of environmental topics. If you are interested in attending the next workshop, you may look at their calendar to find out about their upcoming events. The Green Zebra is also a collection center for used and unwanted electronics. By being an e-waste collection center, the Green Zebra actively prevents these goods from leaching toxic chemicals into our landfills. If you have unwanted cell phones, laptops, broken monitors, etc. you should bring them to the Green Zebra and pick up our soap as well!

The Green Zebra is our second San Francisco location and we couldn’t be more thrilled! Please support them and their green-minded mission! Below is their address and map:

The Green Zebra
Environmental Action Center
50 Post St # 9
San Francisco,  CA 94104
(415) 391-4490

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Rock Paper Scissors is a volunteer-run collective in the Uptown of Oakland

Co-Soap Cooperative is proud to announce our sixth location! As taken from RPS Collective’s website:

Rock paper scissors collective is a volunteer-run organization that fosters creativity and collaboration in order to strengthen local communities and encourage sustainable practices and alternative models. We promote the sharing of ideas, skills, and resources through the celebration of art, craft, education, and performance.

RPS is a fantastic organization that carries many unique and hard-to-find items from the most cutting-edge designers of the bay area. Looking for a unique pair of earrings or a hand-made silk-screened t-shirt? Perhaps a clock made out of recycled bicycle parts? Then RPS collective is your place!

RPS not only carries excellent wares but is an integral part of the Oakland community. They regularly hold classes ranging from stove making to mushroom horticulture. They are are entirely volunteer run and do it for their passion for community and their love of Oakland. Additionally, if you have bike problems, they have a bicycle clinic where you can learn how to make repairs while a professional helps mend your issue.

Check out this great group of Oaklanders at the corner of 23rd and Telegraph in the Uptown. Below is their address as well as a map of their location:

2278 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, CA 94612
510 – 238 – 9171

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The Twin Pines Cooperative Symbol. Internationally Recognized As A Worker Cooperative Symbol

This Sunday at 4pm Co-Soap member Greg will be facilitating a workshop at Occupy Oakland to discuss cooperative production strategies. Learn about the history of the Unemployed Exchange Association founded here in Oakland during the great depression and brain storm ways we can start making collective production a reality in our own community! Share your skills and meet people who want to build something bigger. Workshop and discussion will be ran by Greg from Co-Soap Worker Cooperative but will require the active participation of all attendees.

Workshops will be held all day Sunday. Visit this link below for the schedule:

http://www.occupyoakland.org/ai1ec_event/all-day-workshops-at-oscar-grant-plaza/

The goal of this workshop is to share skills and potentially establish cooperative producing systems within the Occupy Oakland movement to empower participants and increase the collective economic power of the movement. Be prepared to share your skills (eg sewing, crocheting, knitting, shoe repair, electronic repair, programming, roofing, construction, anything you can do that is of value to someone else, etc).

The Principles of Cooperation and the Populist movements of the 1880s and 1890s will also be discussed!