I'm about to do my 13th annual Social Venture Institute (SVI) at Hollyhock. Renewal added one in Toronto in April this year and that makes it a little harder to know if this is the 13th or 14th, but who's counting? They have all been extraordinary.

Renewal has been investing in early stage businesses at the forefront of social and environmental innovation for almost 15 years.  Over that time, the good in the world being done by companies that we have been involved with has been apparent to many, but the financial returns built by these social entrepreneurs has been less obvious.

David Boyd and David Suzuki have authored a new booked called "David Suzuki's Green Guide," with great ideas about "how to find fresher, tastier, healthier food, create an eco-friendly home, make sustainable transportation choices, reduce consumption, and be a green citizen." The guide is available for purchase online at

I am extremely excited about the September issue of BC Business Magazine which features an article entitled “Prophet Motives.”  The article begins with an excellent profile of Renewal investee, David Van Seters, founder of SPUD and continues on to give an overview of the Renewal Story, including many of our partners over the years.  I invite you to grab a cup of coffee, Salt Spring preferably, and check out the full article here.

Renewal's CEO Joel Solomon was recently profiled in his hometown paper The Chattanoogan. 

Joel reflects on his start with Northgate Mall in Chattanooga, Tennessee here.

Check out this groovy song written by Thomas John Miller on the beach at Hollyhock.

The following is an excerpt from a letter to Joel Solomon. Daniel Harris is a student who spent this past summer in Vancouver, visiting from Nashville, volunteering his time on a number of different initiatives including Gregor Robertson's mayoral nomination campaign.

Check Your Head and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives are accepting applications to Next Up, their leadership program.

Nicole Rycroft  and another activist representing Students for a Free Tibet are pictured above earlier today in Beijing on top of a billboard reading: Beijing 2008. Rycroft and the other activist unfurled a banner that said: "Free Tibet." It remained in place for a half an hour, before authorities removed it and arrested the activists, Mel Raoul, a member of Students for a Free Tibet said tonight. Rycroft is currently being detained.

Rick Ingrasci and Torkin Wakefield knew each other because they served along with their respective spouses, Peggy Taylor and Charles Steinberg, as chairs of the Humanistic Psychology Association. Rex Weyler and Shivon Robinsong met in the founding times of Greenpeace.