Announcing First Close of Renewal2 Investment Fund

Paul Richardson, President of Renewal2 Investment Fund, is pleased to announce the first close of the Fund at over $16 million. Renewal2 is one of a handful of funds in North America that focus on companies which have positive environmental, social and financial returns.

Gary Hirshberg “stirred it up” at Passion for Retail Conference

Renewal Partners investee, Gary Hirshberg, closed Retail BC’s 2009 Passion for Retail Conference with an empowering keynote presentation in Vancouver last week.

Business Week's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs

Renewal friends' Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm and Peter Strugatz and Miranda Maganini of IceStone (in picture) are featured in Business Week's online edition, America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs.

Passion for Retail Annual Conference

May 5, 2009
Italian Cultural Centre, Vancouver, BC
While the buzz word of the moment is “sustainability”, there is also a perception that sustainability comes at a cost. The Passion for Retail: The World is Changing Conference will shed some light on shifting expectations, expanding understanding and the role of retail in relation to the planet. The evening keynote speaker is Social Venture Institute creatorand Renewal investee, Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm.

Selling Without Selling Out

Check out these videos of SVIers, including Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm and Greg Steltenpohl of Odwalla.

Strategies for the Green Economy

SVNer Joel Makower, GreenBiz.com, recently published a new book, "Strategies for the Green Economy." It includes a major contribution on green marketing by fellow SVN member Cara Pike.

The book examines the opportunities and challenges facing both large companies and entrepreneurs as they seek to reduce their environmental footprints while harnessing environmental thinking as a platform for innovation.

 

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Stonyfield Farm

The world’s largest organic yogurt maker.

Gary’s Story

Gary Hirshberg was all about climate change and ecology. He launched his career in the 1970s as the Executive Director of an ecological research and education centre in Massachusetts. But during a rare visit to Disney’s Epcot Center, Gary witnessed a life-changing spectacle: Kraft Foods presenting the farms of our future, with test-tube plants and a dancing, animatronic Miss Cheese—among others. The fanfare of Kraft’s nutrition-less promise was drawing far more attention than the ecological centre Gary was directing.

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