What Works profiles people creating enterprises — for profit and not — that are low-carbon, locally resilient, humane and succeeding from southern Alaska to northern California.

Another way to put this: Story by story, The Tyee is building the business pages for a healthy bioregion. Here are our reports.

What Works reporting is fact-based and fact-checked, and adheres to The Tyee’s general high standards. We seek to accurately and engagingly document practitioners others might learn from and emulate throughout the bioregion.

We invite other publications to republish these What Works stories free of charge. If you are interested in doing so don’t hesitate to seek permission by contacting project leader David Beers at: dbeers[at]thetyee[dot]ca.

What Works is funded by Magic Canoe, the non-profit arm of the Salmon Nation Trust.

The Tyee retains editorial independence.

What is The Tyee?

The Tyee is an award-winning, 20-year-old digital news, analysis and commentary site based in Vancouver, British Columbia. If you are not familiar with our principles, our work, our team and how we pay our bills, you might want to visit our about page.

Why are we launching What Works?

The dominant challenge of our era is not just climate change but the wider breakdown of natural systems that an expert consensus says underpin human civilization.

Much media coverage of climate and environmental crises conveys scientific warnings, tales of destruction or political arguments.

Rather than replicate those stories, we ask a different question: What kind of economy do we need to meet the evident challenges? What can The Tyee contribute that we don’t see out there now?

We conclude the answer lies in top-notch journalism about people in our bioregion who already are taking us in the direction needed.

What is the scope of What Works?

British Columbia lies within a bioregion that could be called Salmon Nation given the watersheds and coastal zones that sustain the fish species. It stretches from Alaska to northern California. We welcome stories that fit the criteria — listed below — from anywhere in Salmon Nation. So, taking place in Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon or northern California.

Who does and can report for What Works?

We are building a network of freelance and regular contributors up and down the bioregion. We pay fair rates. If you are a journalist who is interested in pitching a story or taking an assignment, please contact David Beers at: dbeers[at]thetyee[dot]ca.

Who are Salmon Nation Trust and the Magic Canoe and why are they partnering with The Tyee to publish What Works?

Here’s how our funding partners answer that question:

“From its inception, Salmon Nation Trust has championed the idea of a nature state. We believe that arbitrary lines on maps need not divide people with shared cultures and divorce us from our relationship to the lands and waters that sustain us.

“In a time of grave disparities and precarities, we need to discover (or recover) ways of living and working that leave our home a little better than we found it.

“If you live in Salmon Nation, a bioregion stretching from Alaska to northern California, you work and play in a big, wild, beautiful and generous place — and chances are you love where you live. Chances are, you have a story about what’s working where you live. Maybe you know or have heard of someone who is doing something remarkable. An entrepreneur, maybe a whole community of people, who have rolled up their sleeves and are trying something new in essential human services. Energy. Forestry. Health. Education. Fisheries. Tourism. Governance. Food. Housing. Finance. Art. Conservation. Philanthropy. You name it.

“But don’t stop there. Share it! We want to uncover what’s working throughout Salmon Nation, to build a vivid picture of purpose, possibility and passion and we think the best way to do that is through stories.

“Stories matter. Narrative matters. To that end, the Magic Canoe exists to find, help tell, and share the stories of What Works in Salmon Nation — the place, the nature state.

“To that end, we are thrilled to work with The Tyee — whose commitment to fact-based storytelling and solutions journalism is unrivalled in North America — to find and tell those stories here at home.

“If we are going to build a future we want to live in and raise our kids in, we need new narratives that emerge from stories about real work in real communities confronting real issues that affect us all.

“So much of our world feels broken. Our hope, perhaps our only hope, is to find out what works, who’s doing it and how, to share their stories, and inspire others. The Tyee What Works project is a great search engine for uncovering people working on solutions that matter. There will be other ways to share stories, too. Let’s explore Salmon Nation together. Join us. Share what you know. We’ll share what we learn.”

Partners include: