In a world where people, planet and profits must run paramount for any business to thrive today, this triple bottom line approach has been at the core of the Whole Foods culture for nearly 30 years. And now, CEO John Mackey is sharing his insights and his commitment to the business principles he calls "conscious capitalism" at a benefit for the organization FLOW....

First Niece, model and Houston native Lauren Bush is teaming up with Whole Foods for her "FEED 100" reusable bag. Each bag will provide 100 school meals to children in Rwanda through the United Nations World Food Program's School Feeding Program....

Photo by Aaron Gustafson on flickr Oregon farmworkers are in town to talk with Whole Foods about unions. Higher gas prices mean local merchants use more local food, hopefully. 60-year-old man killed Sunday afternoon after his car was hit pulling out of a driveway onto South Congress. Honda stolen in January found covered in algae in Lake Travis. No hiring freeze at City of Austin, but city purse strings may be pulled a little tighter......

Austin eco-friendly designerRené Geneva will show her hemp and organic wool designs at Fashion Week in Los Angeles with support from Austin's own EcoClean and Kendra Scott jewelery....

Kick off this weekend early on Thursday at Antone’s with music from Black Joe Lewis, Bankrupt and the Borrowers, and The Best Love In Town on the special occasion of The Versatile Syndicate’s “Launch Party.” The entity is now open for business, and their agenda is to aid any artist in pursuing their dreams and professional development via booking/tour management, consulting, live production, and so on. This event is a part of the Austin Music Foundation’s Love Austin Music Month and cover for AMF members is $5. The rest of us mere mortals can get in for $10. The shindig also marks AMF's 6th Birthday; free cake and food (courtesy of Whole Foods Market) and free 2008 She Rocks Calendars while the goodies last....

Adrian Jaimes found safe last night in North Austin; police are still searching for his kidnappers. Whole Foods: "more interested in cheap tomatoes than the well-being of those working to get produce to the store." Parents from NYOS charter school met with school officials this morning to discuss death of student last week; memorial service for Tevin Park-Flowers tomorrow. Convicted rapist escapes South Texas prison by leaving through an unlocked door. Women targeting businessmen at fancy Dallas hotels, slipping them the Mickey Finn to steal their watches....

The coalition is a community of Florida farmworkers from various immigrant backgrounds who strive for fair wages and fair treatment and work to end modern-day slavery. One of the activists from this Coalition, Lucas Benitez, will be delivering the opening address at UT's 28th Annual Student Conference on Latin America tonight. ...

Two Austin-based companies -- Whole Foods Market and National Instruments -- once again found themselves on Fortune magazine's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For this year. ...

Dame Edna had to cancel her entire North American tour due to complications from appendix surgery. Said the Dame in a letter to her loyal Austin fans, "Texas is no country for sick Megastars, so I will see you in November 7-9, 2008 [at the Paramount], possums."...

Austin's Whole Foods Market has been named Wine Retailer of The Year by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Winners were chosen for their contributions to the world of wine and spirits (with special consideration given to winey accomplishments and innovations made in 2007.) Does Whole Foods truly deserve this award? (Because, seriously, Spec's is 100% unapologetically falling-down boozey. Just sayin.)...

Austin City Council proposed a resolution to reduce the use of plastic bags back in May, but Whole Foods is taking matters into their own hands and no longer offering plastic bags at check out. They are upping the ante from 5 cents to 10 cents for those who bring reusable bags, or customers can conveniently purchase the new 99 cent "better bag" made of 80% post-consumer waste....

The run-up to the 2058 mayoral election will see Austin’s first competition between two ‘green’ candidates. No, I mean literally. Competition for the mantle of ‘most green’ will compel contenders to start taking a chlorophyll-based diet supplement that gives their skin a greenish pigmentation. On the downside, both candidates will be notoriously unproductive after sunset....

Pre-teen girl wearing lots of makeup talking to her friend on the phone:I can't believe you broke up. I totally thought you guys had a connection. Older man who looks dressed for yoga staring intensely at a younger woman at Whole Foods: My first lover was Irish. She was a dancer... and I used to get so jealous of her dancing with all of these men. But most of them were gay. A man......

Image from www.ajataharimarsh.com In addition to being a photographer and designer, Chef Aja Tahari Marsh (pronounced "Asia") is a trained chef with a focus on sustainable and organic foods. She studied at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City and has brought her skills home to Texas where she now works as a personal chef and cooking instructor. Tonight, she'll be teaching a knife skills class, and upcoming classes......

But what if attitudes and religious memeplexes aren’t changing because adapting to social pressure is necessary? What if the new millenarianism, instead of crashing computers, will be a fight to the death with a Frankenstein version of Mother Nature? What if environmentalism is becoming the new faith? What if responsible consumerism is the new moral ethic? What if recycling, dear Green God, is the new ritual of absolution?...

Image by the "Subway Cyrano," from GothamistNew York City was at its strangest and swellest this week. On Sunday, tens of thousands people ran in the NYC Marathon, including Mrs. Tom Cruise, aka Katie Holmes, who ran it in just under 5 hours, 30 minutes. Gothamist also found out that limes in Corona are sometimes illegal, the weird maple syrup might be back and a famous punk music pioneer-turned-real estate broker was possibly killed by......

Skeletor playing drums, found on Joystiq.comLast night's town hall meeting on the proposed noise ordinance changes drew a record turnout at Momo's, bringing out a crowd that consisted mostly of local venue owners, musicians, and longtime residents. As we mentioned yesterday, the meeting was held to discuss a proposal put forth by the Austin City Planning Commission that would basically lower the decibel (dB) rating for music venues from the current limit, 85 dB, to......

This weekend, while many of our friends are shaking their fists across town at the Fun Fun Fun Fest, the bookworms among us will climb the Capitol steps to get our “shhh!” on at the Texas Book Festival. We’ve waited all year for this, the biggest literary event in Austin. All the great local writers will be on hand, along with a smattering of nationally recognized authors. For anyone looking for a thorough introduction to......

For the second year in a row, Whole Foods has been recognizes as one of the EPA's Green Power Partners of the Year. The award, which celebrates "leadership in accelerating the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide," is shared by seven entities, including PepsiCo, Wells Fargo, and the City of Bellingham, WA. With the recent acquisition of leading competitor Wild Oats Markets, Whole Foods is set to significantly expand its green power purchasing. This......

While the West Coast leads the pack, it's no surprise that Austin has ranked 7th in a national survey ranking organic food consumption. In fact, the study looked at local organic juggernaut Whole Foods Market, finding "Organics consumers are 272% more likely than the average consumer to have shopped Whole Foods during the past week." According to the survey, the top local markets for organics consumers are: 1. San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, CA 2. Seattle/Tacoma, WA......

The ritzy new Qua Bottle Lounge in the Warehouse District opened this month to much fanfare, thanks in large part to the club's fancy choice of flooring: a 19,000-gallon aquarium filled with reef sharks and stingrays. The 25-and-up nightclub boasts that its giant acrylic tank—the "largest ever installed in a nightclub"—is perfectly suitable for marine animals, citing a 3" barrier between the tank and the dance floor directly above as well as some impressive-sounding technology......

The Health Alliance For Austin Musicians (or HAAM) provides local artists with low-cost health care and other related services. This year’s HAAM Benefit Day is here (today), and the organization is presenting numerous shows all over town this evening, along with a Telethon on ME Television. One can offer their assistance in funds by donating online as well. The HAAM Benefit Day is presented with support from a number of entities, including Whole Foods......

Just in time for Saturday's big game, the UT alumni behind Independence Brewing Co. have decided to bring back their special pro-Longhorn beer. Last year's "Oklahoma Suks" was such a hit that the local brewery opted to increase production for the second annual run — over four times the amount of last year's batch hit stores last week. Despite this, they still anticipate that the limited-run brew will sell out. "When we first released Oklahoma......

Fall is here, the weather is cooling, and the prospect of an outdoor food and wine tasting has mentally moved from "it's too hot!" to "that sounds perfect." One of the marquee wine events of the fall, Tour De Vin pairs eleven chefs and over 100 wines in a "sip and stroll" format tasting on Thursday, October 4th. This is the fifth anniversary of the event, and the wine lineup looks to be the......

Houston brewer St. Arnold released St. Arnold Divine Reserve 5 this week in Houston, DFW, San Antonio, and Austin. The Divine Reserve label goes on St. Arnold's single batch beers, and they sell out quickly. Reserve No. 5 is a Russian Imperial Stout which is a very big, bold stout with coffee flavors. Early ratings on RateBeer.com give it a 98 out of 100. Find it at Grapevine, Spec's, Whip In, Whole Foods or Central......

ACL Previews Interview: Ghostland Observatory Previews: The Broken West, Big Sam’s Funky Nation & Rose Hill Drive Previews: Billy Joe Shaver and Fionn Regan Previews: Brandon Rhyder and Ocote Soul Sounds Interview: The Broken West Previews: Sylvia St. James, Jeffrey Steele, and Amy Cook Interview: Bloc Party ACL Fest Updates: Google Mashup, Contests, Eco-Chic Previews: Augustana, Amos Lee Interview: Peter, Bjorn, and John ACL Band Clash, Round 3: Wilco Vs My Morning Jacket Travis......

It's official: Whole Foods now owns its biggest rival, Wild Oats Markets. Despite a juicy scandal over Chairman and CEO John "rahodeb" Mackey's anonymous web postings and the Federal Trade Commission's earnest efforts to prevent what they believed was a serious antitrust violation, the deal was given the green light by a federal appeals court last Thursday. Whole Foods' buyout offer called for purchasing all outstanding shares of Wild Oats for $18.50 a pop;......

After reading an article in Good Magazine about a 250-pound guy who, worried about his cholesterol and blood pressure, decided to try out veganism for a month, we thought it was worth a shot as well. After consulting with our doctors ("Protein!"), we started our little experiment on August 1st. Now that the month is almost over, it's time to reflect on what Austin resources have helped make this a relatively easy venture.It should......

Drink up! Austinite-by-way-of-Houston Mark Sayre has been named Texas’ Best Sommelier for 2007 by The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas along with The Texas Sommelier Association. A recent hire of the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Sayre received his award last night at the Grand Tasting sponsored by Whole Foods Market at the third annual Texas Sommelier Conference. The winner of the statewide competition (which was limited to 25 candidates) was determined through......

Tomorrow is a Whole Foods Community Day benefiting Mexic-Arte Museum. 5% of the stores net sales will go to benefiting the museum, which has served as a center of Mexican, Mexican American and Latin American arts since 1984. Tasty!......