Boston was buzzing last week with 30,000 attendees and 1,500 exhibitors at the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo.  On one of the days, I spent 3 hours just walking through the convention centre looking at booths and was still unable to visit all the booths.

Motorola's Raise Your Voice is raising its giving spirit this season in support of Leave Violence Out (LOVE).

BeadforLife eradicates extreme poverty by creating bridges of understanding between impoverished Africans and concerned world citizens. Ugandan women turn colorful recycled paper into beautiful beads, and people open their hearts, homes and communities to buy and sell the beads. The beads thus become income, food, medicine, school fees -- and hope. Here is a letter from Co-Executive Director Torkin Wakefield,  a Co-Founder of Hollyhock...

Sign up with SVIer Tzeporah Berman's initiative, PowerUP Canada, to urge federal government to enact stronger global warming laws and policies. Check out www.powerupcanada.ca/news for the latest news about the fight against global warming.

Watch Renewal friend and New York Times bestselling author Mark Albion's 3-minute animated movie "The Good Life" based on his new book, More Than Money.

The new Tides Renewal Centre, located in the restored Flack Block at Cambie and Hastings has office space available for lease. Our occupancy date is mid-January 2009.

Our SVI partner, Social Venture Network (SVN), was recently featured on Oprah.com's list of 28 resources that make up her "Toolbox" for becoming a leader in socially responsible business. Along with SVN member-led and ally organizations like Investors' Circle, StartingBloc, Center for Social Innovation, Echoing Green, and Social Enterprise Alliance, SVN is included as an organization that can help nurture profitable and innovative businesses that will transform the world.  Renewal CEO Joel Solomon was a founding member of SVN and Renewal COO Pam Chaloult is the former Co-Executive Director.

I had a new birthday on November 14. That was the anniversary of my first full year with a new kidney. There's no way I can describe the gratitude and joy that I feel. People ask how long it took to recover. That recovery continues, because it has taken me far beyond the health of even two years before the transplant. In fact, best I can judge, I'm ten years younger than when the surgeon marked the spot with his felt pen.

Renewal friend and founder of eco-based web networker Happyfrog.ca, Ron Williams recently announced an exciting merger with 3rd Whale. This innovative grouping will broaden the strength for green consumers who are seeking values-aligned businesses by combining 3rd Whale's mobile phone application with happyfrog.ca's rich web 2.0 platform.

We encourage you to check out the newly enhanced Happyfrog.ca and read the full announcement here.

Ever wonder what might happen if the dragons left their den and entered the realm of social enterprise? Here is an invitation to a special business case contest where two social enterprises will pitch their key challenges to a judge and jury of their peers.