Last week I went to an interesting, exciting and in some ways depressing conference: the 9th Annual Seafood Summit: Responsibility without Borders? in Vancouver, BC. The event brought together 700 participants from around the world to talk about major trends in the seafood industry with the goal of making the seafood marketplace environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

Renewal2 advisor, David Boyd, was featured in the Vancouver Sun on December 4th. The article, Ecojustice Day celebrates Mother Nature's legal team, highlights Mayor Gregor Robertson’s proclamation as December 5th to be “Ecojustice Day” in Vancouver and about the progressive environmental litigation work undertaken by Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund) since its founding in 1990.

Malcolm Parry, long-time local Vancouver columnist, visited Nicole at the Tides Renewal Centre to talk about her personal journey to Renewal2 and where the team is on making the fund an important source of capital for mission entrepreneurs across North America.

Renewal2 advisor, Gary Hirshberg, closed Retail BC’s 2009 Passion for Retail Conference with an empowering keynote presentation in Vancouver last week. Gary is the Chairman, President, and CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm and one of the first investees with Renewal Partners.

A special feature on Green Investing in the 2008 Capgemini World Wealth Report discusses the growing presence of green investing opportunities in light of hightened global awareness around environmental concerns.

Since early March, London’s Financial Times has been engaging in an interesting debate about how confidence in the free market ideology has been undermined by the global credit crunch. They ponder what can and should replace this dominant Western economic thinking, or should it even be replaced? We’ve pulled out some excerpts of different opinions that caught our attention.

We are extremely pleased to report that one of the most critical milestones towards protecting the Great Bear Rainforest has been achieved.

Renewal2 is a proud member and supporter of Investors’ Circle. Attend Investors' Circle Spring Conference:  "Social Enterprise: Seizing Emergent Opportunities,"April 19 - 21, 2009 in San Francisco, CA.

Consumer demand for accountability, the collapse of business-as-usual, and the new administration's focus on transparency and personal impact are reshaping markets—radically!—and ushering in a new era for sustainable companies.

Update: To Listen to a recording of the call Download it Here (28 minutes -- 12 MB)

In challenging times, it is nice to hear some positive stories of companies that are doing well by doing good.  Our colleague fund, Investeco, recently reported that EnerWorks, a holding in their Second Private Equity Fund, is building substantial momentum. EnerWorks develops and manufactures proprietary renewable energy appliances for residential, commercial and industrial markets.