Green Options » Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods Removes GMOs from Grocery List

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:17:45 +0000

Whole Foods Market made a big step in food retail this month. The corporate giant that dominates the healthfood market is leading their customers away from GMOs. The company joined the Non-GMO Project’s Product Verification Program this month. The Non-GMO Project is a consortium of people, businesses, and organizations who are committed to cutting GMO’s out of our food stream. This non-profit organization has now established the first scientifically-based, third-party system in North America for identifying if a product is GMO-free — the Product Verification Program.

The fairly new Product Verification Program is what Whole Foods has been searching since GMOs came to the US, the company says.

Calling All Youth Media Makers And Green Teens!

Amy Jussel — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 07:09:38 +0000

Kids can earn some green by doing what they love, creating thought-provoking media on climate change!

For the first time ever, kids are ‘burnin’ down the house’ with ideas and innovation to pitch renowned PBS hub WGHB for 3 to 5 minute youth videos on how climate change affects kids’ own community environs, vying for $2000 production grants and potential PBS airing.

WGBH has made it even hotter for green teens by hosting ongoing webinars starting Feb. 3rd to help kids conceptualize, remix, pitch ideas and amass public opinion…(accessible via archive too, so don’t sweat the date)

Popular pioneer vloggers Ryanne Hodson (who I can attest is very generous with her knowledge, as I’ve attended her Media Center how-tos and checked out her book) and Jay Dedman (her partner, former CNN journalist/co-founder of Yahoo’s videoblogging group) will contribute their skill sets to get kids started. Partner org Teachers Domain makes it a cinch for students to get up to speed with factoids and resources too. The inspiration for the contest? The Frontline documentary, “Heat” all about global warming and businesses’ reactions in the court of public opinion contributing to make or break success. Deadline for entries at WBGH is March 15, 2009. Next up on the eco-competitions…

New Way to Recycle Your Number 5 Plastic

Mary Casper — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:59:20 +0000

Too many old yogurt containers concealing ancient leftovers in your refrigerator? Seems that we all have a stack of them cluttering the cabinets in our kitchen–the price we pay for enjoying yogurt, sour cream or anything that comes sold in those shiny Number 5 plastic containers and also having a conscience.

Luckily Preserve, makers of 100% recycled personal care products, has started a new program to recycle the pesky plastics even when your municipality does not. They’ve partnered up with organic dairy producers, Stonyfield Farm and Organic Valley, to turn used plastic dairy containers into toothbrush handles. Consumers can return the plastic containers, along with used Brita water filters, into bins at any of the participating Whole Foods markets in the Midwest, Northeast and Northern California.

Whole Foods Market Sells $425 million Equity Stake to Leonard Green & Partners

Reenita Malhotra — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:22:12 +0000

Whole Foods Market announced last week that it will sell a 17 percent stake in the company to the private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners for $425 million.

Whole Foods Market is the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket and America’s first national certified grocer. Leonard Green & Partners is a private investment firm established in 1989 which manages about $9 billion in capital.

Like many other businesses, Whole Foods has suffered the brunt of the economic crisis as consumer spending has gone down. It has been forced to restructure in multiple ways including cutting back on its expansion plans. John Mackey, chairman, chief executive and co-founder of Whole Foods Market said in a statement that the company viewed Leonard Green’s investment “as a strong vote of confidence in our business model and our long-term growth prospects, despite the current economic environment.”

Read here for the complete press release: Whole Foods Market Announces $425 Million Equity Investment by Leonard Green & Partners, L.P.