The

What Works Series

The Business of a Healthy Bioregion, A partnership between The Tyee, Salmon Nation Trust, and the Magic Canoe

In December 2023, the Salmon Nation Trust and Magic Canoe partnered with The Tyee, the award-winning online, independent news magazine based in Vancouver, BC, to produce a solutions-focused series called “What Works.” It profiles dedicated, creative individuals working across our bioregion to create enterprises that are low carbon, locally-rooted and regenerative.

Our Community Bikes collects and resells used bike parts, usually sourced from community donations. Photo for The Tyee by Katie Hyslop.

The Enduring Power of Community Bike Shops

The scalable model keeps thousands of bicycles out of landfills every year, and helps cyclists fix their rides on the cheap.
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We’ll Help You Get Off Gas, Says Washington’s Top Gas Supplier

By helping customers pivot to electrification, Puget Sound Energy presents a jobs-boosting model to the bioregion.
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A Coastal Revolution in Hospital Food

How health-care visionaries are creating tasty, culturally friendly menus while cutting waste and carbon emissions.
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Commecial salmon fishing boat near shore in fog in Southeast Alaska in summer.

Dream of Crewing an Alaskan Fishing Boat? Start Here

How a seagoing mentorship program trains ‘greenhorns’ and changes lives.
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Salmon fillets for sale at a fish market displayed with a patchwork effect

Hook, Line and Cannery: Decolonizing Seafood

How five First Nations on Vancouver Island are joining to redefine fishing industry success. A Tyee Q&A.
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Herdwick sheep on Old Winchester Hill Hampshire England

Shear Genius: Turning Waste Wool into Clean Fertilizer

Tons of sheep clippings are dumped or burned. Meet folks reusing them instead to create jobs and a circular farming economy.
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We Can Outsmart Food Package Waste. Cody Irwin Tells How

The cups and dishes you get at takeouts don’t have to end up in landfills. ShareWares invented a way to make them reusable.
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PeterReid

Cleaning Dirt for the Climate

Construction digs up vast amounts of contaminated soil. GRT Resource Regeneration found a low-carbon way to transform it for new uses.
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Crowd at concert : Silhouette people crowd happy and cheering with led foam stick light in front of bright colorful stage lights

Bright Idea: This Natural Glow Stick Doesn’t Pollute

Lux Bio invented a bioluminescent alternative to the toxic plastic wands that litter landfills and oceans.
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SangLeProduce

Boxing Up a Solution to Food Waste

Peko was launched by students to save groceries from the landfill. They’re helping to cut food bills and climate emissions.
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How to Foster Local Food Businesses? Create a Stir

This Kamloops non-profit is feeding the dreams of local chefs passionate about community food systems.
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Would You Choose Wood Tiles over Ceramic Ones? This Startup Bets Yes

Timber Tiles on Vancouver Island offers a climate-friendly alternative to an ancient craft that today relies on fossil fuels.
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‘4VI really helped us open our eyes,’ said Kevin Bradshaw, shown leading kayakers for his Hello Nature Adventure Tours off of Vancouver Island. ‘They looked at every aspect of the business and how it can give back on some level.’ Photo by Andi Wardrop.

Vancouver Island Made a Big Change in How It Defines Tourism Success

For social enterprise 4VI, it’s about visitors and their dollars leaving the place in better shape than they found it.
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freshly harvested hops on hands

How a BC Biologist Is Changing the Craft Beer Scene

Ji Yang is working to create a climate-resilient beer brewed with locally grown hops.
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Blue crab background on market

Crab Shells Have a Wonder Ingredient. So This Company Got Cracking

From husks that would go to waste, Tidal Vision extracts a polymer with many green uses.
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The Thriving Business of Rewilding

How wizards of wetlands restoration are bringing biodiversity back to West Coast landscapes.
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Visitors mingle with Titan’s fleet of electric Class 8 freight haulers at the company’s Portland headquarters. Electrification is advancing fastest in passenger cars, but far heavier trucks contribute a lot more greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution, vehicle for vehicle. The dirtiest are semis, buses and garbage trucks. Photo supplied.

Unveiling the West Coast’s Electric Big Truck Future

The heaviest diesel semis are the dirtiest. Titan Freight Systems chose the electric lane and says it’s paying off.
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A pile of discarded used infectious medical masks on a white background.Infectious waste is prevented by the covid-19 virus, a pandemic.The concept of improper disposal is dangerous.Top view.Copyspace

Medical Masks Save Lives but Harm Nature. This Maker Stepped Up

BC’s Vitacore figured out how to recycle difficult plastics like the respirators it manufactures by the millions.
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Tasha Nathanson with one of her fish leather boots. ‘Artisanal is wonderful because each time you make your product it’s a bit different. Commercial is the opposite — it needs to be of consistent quality, the same every time.’ Photo by Kathleen Hinkel.

Fish Leather Is Incredibly Strong and Beautiful. Can Makers ‘Scale Up’?

Meet artisans in Alaska and BC who are sustaining, and advancing, an ancient art.
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Refugees Needed Jobs and Belonging. Tayybeh Cooked Up a Solution

The Vancouver caterer keeps growing, all the while changing lives of Syrians fleeing war.
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A Treasure Trove for Upcycled Clothing

Visit ‘an amazing place’ that swaps consumerism for creative joy while keeping textiles out of landfills.
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A forest of Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, grows in the cold eastern Pacific waters that flow along the California coast. Kelp forests support a surprising and diverse array of marine biodiversity.

Adventures in West Coast Kelp Farming

Meet hardy harvesters in Alaska and BC working to make a regenerative seaweed industry flourish.
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Dawson Creek’s Loop Resource diverts food waste from a network of 500 grocery stores to about 4,000 small farms across Canada to support the diets of local livestock.

A Better Way to Nourish Livestock

Loop Resource gathers what grocers are ready to toss out, providing a more ecological source of animal feed.
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How to Build a Local Farming Food Hub

The Comox Valley Organic Co-operative connects growers to customers small and large.
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