Cookies help us run our site more efficiently.

By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information or to customize your cookie preferences.

Accept Deny

GoGreenNation news

Opinion: Collaboration, not litigation, can support both salmon and hydropower

News Feed
Sunday, September 21, 2025

Scott SimmsFor The Oregonian/OregonLiveSimms is chief executive officer and executive director of the Public Power Council, which represents more than 80 nonprofit, community owned electric utilities across six Pacific Northwest states, including Oregon.A recent op-ed by Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association’s Liz Hamilton left some key facts out of the conversation about our region’s salmon and our hydropower system (“Back to court, but our regional work to protect salmon will continue,” Sept. 14). It’s true that a coalition of fishing and special interest groups, the states of Oregon and Washington and four Lower Columbia River Treaty tribes requested a federal judge lift a stay in decades-old litigation over how to manage the Columbia Basin. We have long been in conflict with those who believe that dismantling dams on the Lower Snake River – which produce reliable hydropower for the region – is essential to protecting salmon. However, we do not believe that conflict is necessary. Rather, we believe now is the time for the region to focus on shared goals of restoring fish while maintaining an adequate and affordable power system. Instead of endless litigation, we can strengthen programs that protect sensitive environmental areas, improve habitat and deploy new technologies that help fish pass safely through dams. Although there are significant disagreements that will require negotiation, we can make progress more quickly through collaboration than litigation. And there have already been gains. Since Bonneville Dam first began operating in 1938, the number of returning adult salmon and steelhead has tripled, according to fish counts from dams across the Columbia River basin compiled by the University of Washington’s Data Access in Real Time system. While there’s still a lot of work ahead to continue strengthening certain runs, we are witnessing fish populations bouncing back, even with dams in place.At the same time as these fish returns are improving, the states of Oregon and Washington have expanded non-tribal salmon fishing seasons for sport and commercial operations. Fishing groups don’t mention this when they advocate for severely hobbling or demolishing the region’s hydro projects. But the impact of sport and commercial fishing on salmon should not be ignored in a comprehensive discussion about how to protect fish populations. As recently as this month, Oregon and Washington fisheries managers approved an extension of commercial gillnetting operations in the Columbia River. The practice of commercial gillnetting – in which massive nets extend up to 1,500 feet into the river – is so effective at ensnaring all types of fish, endangered or not, that critics have repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to ban its use. These efforts are in addition to the offshore commercial harvests that happen when trawlers cruise the international waters off our region’s shores, hauling out salmon and other species by the ton every year. These salmon never make it back to their spawning grounds, nor, importantly, to the historic fishing areas where the region’s tribes have rights under U.S. treaties.Meanwhile, the same groups advocating for a return to the courtroom also do not acknowledge the critically important role our region’s clean, renewable hydro system plays in powering homes and businesses and funding salmon recovery efforts. In the heat dome that gripped the Northwest in 2021 and the massive cold snap that hit us in 2024, the hydropower generated by dams was the single largest source of electricity fueling the Northwest, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Hourly Grid Monitor. These are two extreme events that, because of a changing climate and an increase in electricity dependency, will stress our system even more in the future. Hydropower has long been the backbone of our region’s energy system, and it will be even more critical in the next decade, as electricity consumption is forecast to grow by more than 30%. While many understand that hydro powers our communities and our modern lives, few are aware that the system also funds one of the world’s largest fish and wildlife mitigation programs in the world. The region’s nonprofit electric utilities, which buy their power from the federal Bonneville Power Administration, have collectively paid more than $715 million annually from 2013 to 2023 to fund hatcheries, habitat improvements, predation management and other actions.The op-ed dismisses a 2020 plan for Columbia River operations as putting the needs of salmon last. But that plan, developed over a course of years under both Republican and Democratic administrations, helped deliver a banner year for salmon returns to the region in 2024, while also ensuring a strong hydropower supply that carried us through extreme weather events. This plan set out to balance of the needs in the basin – without breaching dams that coalition members use as a cornerstone for their advocacy.We live in a region where both salmon and hydropower production can and do co-exist. Failing to find a path forward that supports both is such a missed opportunity for everyone who calls the Northwest their home. We in Northwest public power stand ready to avoid a return to the courtroom and to sit down with litigants to do the hard work of collaborating on a solution. We remain hopeful that the coalition groups will join us. Share your opinion Submit your essay of 600-700 words on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonian.com. No attachments, please. Please include your email and phone number for verification. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

We live in a region where both salmon and hydropower production can and do co-exist, writes Scott Simms of the Public Power Council. Failing to find a path forward that supports both is a missed opportunity for everyone who calls the Northwest their home.

Scott Simms

For The Oregonian/OregonLive

Simms is chief executive officer and executive director of the Public Power Council, which represents more than 80 nonprofit, community owned electric utilities across six Pacific Northwest states, including Oregon.

A recent op-ed by Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association’s Liz Hamilton left some key facts out of the conversation about our region’s salmon and our hydropower system (“Back to court, but our regional work to protect salmon will continue,” Sept. 14).

It’s true that a coalition of fishing and special interest groups, the states of Oregon and Washington and four Lower Columbia River Treaty tribes requested a federal judge lift a stay in decades-old litigation over how to manage the Columbia Basin. We have long been in conflict with those who believe that dismantling dams on the Lower Snake River – which produce reliable hydropower for the region – is essential to protecting salmon.

However, we do not believe that conflict is necessary. Rather, we believe now is the time for the region to focus on shared goals of restoring fish while maintaining an adequate and affordable power system. Instead of endless litigation, we can strengthen programs that protect sensitive environmental areas, improve habitat and deploy new technologies that help fish pass safely through dams. Although there are significant disagreements that will require negotiation, we can make progress more quickly through collaboration than litigation.

And there have already been gains. Since Bonneville Dam first began operating in 1938, the number of returning adult salmon and steelhead has tripled, according to fish counts from dams across the Columbia River basin compiled by the University of Washington’s Data Access in Real Time system. While there’s still a lot of work ahead to continue strengthening certain runs, we are witnessing fish populations bouncing back, even with dams in place.

At the same time as these fish returns are improving, the states of Oregon and Washington have expanded non-tribal salmon fishing seasons for sport and commercial operations. Fishing groups don’t mention this when they advocate for severely hobbling or demolishing the region’s hydro projects.

But the impact of sport and commercial fishing on salmon should not be ignored in a comprehensive discussion about how to protect fish populations. As recently as this month, Oregon and Washington fisheries managers approved an extension of commercial gillnetting operations in the Columbia River. The practice of commercial gillnetting – in which massive nets extend up to 1,500 feet into the river – is so effective at ensnaring all types of fish, endangered or not, that critics have repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to ban its use. These efforts are in addition to the offshore commercial harvests that happen when trawlers cruise the international waters off our region’s shores, hauling out salmon and other species by the ton every year. These salmon never make it back to their spawning grounds, nor, importantly, to the historic fishing areas where the region’s tribes have rights under U.S. treaties.

Meanwhile, the same groups advocating for a return to the courtroom also do not acknowledge the critically important role our region’s clean, renewable hydro system plays in powering homes and businesses and funding salmon recovery efforts.

In the heat dome that gripped the Northwest in 2021 and the massive cold snap that hit us in 2024, the hydropower generated by dams was the single largest source of electricity fueling the Northwest, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration Hourly Grid Monitor. These are two extreme events that, because of a changing climate and an increase in electricity dependency, will stress our system even more in the future. Hydropower has long been the backbone of our region’s energy system, and it will be even more critical in the next decade, as electricity consumption is forecast to grow by more than 30%.

While many understand that hydro powers our communities and our modern lives, few are aware that the system also funds one of the world’s largest fish and wildlife mitigation programs in the world. The region’s nonprofit electric utilities, which buy their power from the federal Bonneville Power Administration, have collectively paid more than $715 million annually from 2013 to 2023 to fund hatcheries, habitat improvements, predation management and other actions.

The op-ed dismisses a 2020 plan for Columbia River operations as putting the needs of salmon last. But that plan, developed over a course of years under both Republican and Democratic administrations, helped deliver a banner year for salmon returns to the region in 2024, while also ensuring a strong hydropower supply that carried us through extreme weather events. This plan set out to balance of the needs in the basin – without breaching dams that coalition members use as a cornerstone for their advocacy.

We live in a region where both salmon and hydropower production can and do co-exist. Failing to find a path forward that supports both is such a missed opportunity for everyone who calls the Northwest their home.

We in Northwest public power stand ready to avoid a return to the courtroom and to sit down with litigants to do the hard work of collaborating on a solution. We remain hopeful that the coalition groups will join us.

Share your opinion

Submit your essay of 600-700 words on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonian.com. No attachments, please. Please include your email and phone number for verification.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

Related News

Environmental activists battle nurdles on Galveston shores, calling for regulation

Environment Texas and the Turtle Island Restoration Network held a beach cleanup in Galveston on Nov. 7 to help rid the shore of nurdles. The groups also recently asked state leaders for more nurdle regulation since they said the pellets can be a threat to wildlife and people.

Julianna Washburn/HPMVolunteer Laura Leavitt works alongside another volunteer to collect nurdles at a beach cleanup in Galveston on Nov. 7, 2025.On Nov. 7, Laura Leavitt knelt on the Galveston shore beside her best friend, picking tiny bits of plastic out of the sand. The two friends were among around 20 other volunteers working piece by piece to help rid the beach of nurdles — small plastic pellets used to create plastic products such as soda bottles or cottage cheese containers. "What we don’t take care of circles back to us, and I think just from picking up a piece of trash in your neighborhood, you’re contributing," Leavitt said. The group of volunteers was part of Environment Texas and the Turtle Island Restoration Network's Galveston cleanup. Along with continued nurdle beach cleanups, the groups also recently asked state leaders for more nurdle regulation since they said the pellets can be a threat to wildlife and people. "We’re not asking for plastic production to be stopped. We’re asking for regulations to be in place to keep it safe for our environment," Joanie Steinhaus, who is the ocean program director for the Turtle Island Restoration Network, said. There are 36 facilities in Texas that produce nurdles, with three facilities along Galveston Bay, according to Turtle Island. Steinhaus said companies transport the microplastics to other facilities by truck or train in order to make the plastic products. Steinhaus said since nurdles are lightweight, when they spill during manufacturing or transport, they escape into the environment and eventually work their way onto Texas beaches. On Nov. 7, volunteers collected 1,216 nurdles. Since 2020, Steinhaus said Turtle Island has collected over 16,000 nurdles on Galveston beaches, which she said is a concern for wildlife and humans since nurdles attach to toxins in the water. "If you happen to eat fish that’s ingested nurdles, you’re not eating the plastic nurdles, but you could be eating the toxins that work their way into the flesh of the fish," Steinhaus said. "If there’s fertilizers or pesticides or chemicals, gas, oil that’s released out into the gulf and it attaches to these nurdles, then that’s not good for us to have in our bodies." Julianna Washburn/HPMA volunteer holds the nurdles they collected at a beach cleanup in Galveston on Nov. 7, 2025.Steinhaus said environmental groups across Texas, along with charter boat captains and businesses, have called on Gov. Greg Abbott to direct the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to include nurdles in its updated surface water quality standards, a process that is expected to be finalized in 2026. "That would give [the facilities] some regulations, some push if there’s a discharge, if there’s a train spill or a truck spill," Steinhaus said. At its Oct. 23 meeting, the Galveston City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the state to enact policies to protect the city from plastic pellets and other forms of pre-production plastic pollution. Only one day before the beach cleanup, however, Abbott announced that Formosa Plastics will open a new facility in Jackson County, near the Matagorda Bay, located southwest of Galveston. "Texas leads the nation in chemical production and exports," Abbott said in the news release. "This $150 million investment by Formosa Plastics will grow good-paying jobs for Texans, expand economic opportunity in Jackson County, and further our state's manufacturing leadership." In 2017, a lawsuit was filed against Formosa Plastics, with claims that the company violated the Clean Water Act by discharging nurdles into the bay at its Point Comfort facility. The lawsuit was settled, and Formosa Plastics agreed to prevent the further discharge of plastics. Steinhaus said she thought the announcement of a new facility was unfortunate, since it will add to the number of existing plastic-producing facilities. "We don’t need more, we need less,” Steinhaus said. “We can’t recycle our way. We need to stop our consumption of plastic because there’s so much plastic in the world." Abbott and Formosa Plastics did not respond to a request for comment on nurdle production regulations.

Business
Chemicals
Pollution

Lights out: can we stop glow-worms and fireflies fading away?

From night walks with children to switching off streetlights and rewilding areas, naturalists are working to save Europe’s dwindling populations An hour or so after sunset, green twinkles of possibility gleam beneath the hedgerows of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset. Under an orange August moon, the last female glow-worms of the season are making one final push at finding a mate.For almost 20 years, Peter Bright and other volunteers have combed the village’s shrubberies and grasslands, searching for the bioluminescent beetles as part of the UK glow-worm survey. Most years, they have counted between 100 and 150, rising to 248 in 2017.Ben Cooke, a National Trust ranger, places a glow-worm trap near Winspit Quarry in Dorset. Photograph: P Flude/Guardian Continue reading...

An hour or so after sunset, green twinkles of possibility gleam beneath the hedgerows of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset. Under an orange August moon, the last female glow-worms of the season are making one final push at finding a mate.For almost 20 years, Peter Bright and other volunteers have combed the village’s shrubberies and grasslands, searching for the bioluminescent beetles as part of the UK glow-worm survey. Most years, they have counted between 100 and 150, rising to 248 in 2017.During last year’s wet summer and this year’s dry one, they found barely 50, says Bright, a retired science teacher taking a group on a late-night glow-worm walk. By August, the remaining lights are something of a lonely hearts club – many of the adult males have already died.Glow-worms and fireflies comprise about 2,200 species of bioluminescent beetles around the world, with 65 found in Europe. The UK has two, including the common glow-worm (Lampyris noctiluca) – which is not a worm and only the females truly glow – while Italy has 17 species.Across Europe, five species of glow-worm are threatened with extinction, another two are endangered, and the common glow-worm is classified as near threatened, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.“Once, these things were much more common than they are now,” says Tim Gardiner, an entomologist. “Nobody could have realised what would happen to them.” His 18-year survey found that the numbers of L noctiluca in Essex were falling by about 3.5% a year.Similar trends have been observed in France, Germany and Spain, though the insects, which live quiet, secretive lives in the foliage, are not easy to survey accurately. “There is so much that we don’t know about fireflies,” says Ana Catalán, who researches firefly genomics at Germany’s Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.Their vulnerability is part of a much larger story: more than 40% of insect species are in decline, according to a global review from 2019, and scientists have warned that the picture may be more dire than is already known. Ana Catalán, an evolutionary biologist, checks a global firefly collection for a DNA study at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich’s biomedical centre, and a researcher checks his trap for fireflies “We need more data,” says Alan Stewart, an ecologist at the University of Sussex, adding: “We haven’t really got the luxury of waiting another 50 years to find out.”For glow-worms, some of the threats are clear. Hotter summers threaten the slugs and snails they feed on as larvae, while habitat loss and fragmentation have extinguished whole populations. As female glow-worms cannot fly, they are bound to spend their lives close to where they hatched, so a change as seemingly minor as a new ditch can devastate a population.Light pollution disrupts their mating displays, with artificial lights sometimes luring males away from the female’s green glow. “Street lights are a real hazard to them,” says John Tyler, a naturalist who has studied the insects for decades.These trends recur around the world. In Italy, more agricultural activity on the plains of northern Italy and in the northern Apennine mountains has been linked with declining numbers of a range of different species, according to a 2020 study published in the journal BioScience.In Spain, the abandonment of small orchards – and the lack of irrigation that follows – makes it harder for snails, glow-worms’ preferred food, to thrive. In both countries, more streetlights seem to correlate with fewer glow-worms.We realised that to protect and preserve this place, we had to make people love itSome people have attempted to take matters into their own hands. Fabio Falchi, an Italian physics professor and light-pollution expert in Mantua, Lombardy, took steps to reduce light pollution in his garden, including using motion sensors for outdoor lights and allowing it to grow wild.Now, Falchi says: “Every May, our lawn comes alive with their tiny flickers. It’s beautiful to watch them move.” Their cat, he adds, is mesmerised.Others have proposed more drastic steps. Since 2020, Pete Cooper, an ecologist and species-reintroduction specialist in Bristol, has bred glow-worms in captivity, with a view to re-establishing healthy populations in places where they have not been seen for decades.As part of a partnership between Restore, an ecological restoration business, and the Wildwood Trust, a conservation organisation with parks in Kent and Devon, many of these insects will be reintroduced to Nosterfield nature reserve, near Ripon in North Yorkshire.But it will take years to determine the success of their efforts – glow-worms have a two-year life cycle – and some optimism is involved, Cooper says. “That’s the thing with glow-worm reintroduction – it’s not as simple as you’d think.”Tyler says: “We don’t know what habitat is good for them, in any detail. You can find sites that look ideal, but if you try to introduce or reintroduce glow-worms, you can never guarantee that they’ll take.”Glow-worm enthusiasts are divided on reintroduction efforts, which they worry may distract from preserving existing populations or embolden developers to build in ancient countryside.“Before you reintroduce something, you really need to know why it disappeared in the first place,” says Stewart. “Otherwise, they’re not going to survive.”Rewilding can help bolster the insects in riverside areas where they already thrive, says Gardiner. “You need to manage the habitats quite well,” he says. “The corridors between them have disappeared in the last 70 years – hedgerows removed, meadows ploughed up.”Areas that have been rewilded sometimes see glow-worm populations boom. In the early 1990s, a group of volunteers in the Italian village of Binasco, near Milan, began reclaiming and revitalising a plot of land between the highway and a local sports pitch.After a few years, they noticed more and more fireflies, says Ruggero Rognoni, a member of the local environmental association.“We realised that to protect and preserve this place, we had to make people love it,” Rognoni says.A first step was inviting local children to come for night walks to see the fireflies with their parents, a tradition that has continued. “That’s how we’ve managed to protect it,” he says.Such walks exist around the world and are growing in popularity. On the glow-worm walk in Westbury, locals linger along country paths, as a barn owl screeches overhead. Over a couple of hours, careful eyes spot almost a dozen female glow-worms waiting at ankle-height.The average glow-worm female lays 100 to 150 eggs – it’s a numbers’ game. You might have a brilliant year, then it might suddenly crashAmanda Bennett, 48, gently pulls a female from the grass and places it on her hand, transfixed by the green glow that spreads across her fingers. “I can’t believe I’ve never seen one before,” she says.Glow-worms were once a far more common sight, especially for people strolling on summer nights.Tyler was first introduced to them about 50 years ago, in a family friend’s garden. “I didn’t even know they were real,” he says.That night, Tyler saw more than he has on any single occasion since. “It was like looking down on a village,” he adds. “All these dots of light.”They have an unusual capacity to captivate people. John Horne, an amateur naturalist, first discovered them in his Hampshire garden about 25 years ago.After observing them for years, including discovering Phosphaenus hemipterus, a rarer species, Horne is more optimistic about their prospects than some. “The average glow-worm female lays 100 to 150 eggs – it’s a numbers’ game,” he says. “You might have a brilliant year, and then it might suddenly crash.”Where many species find it harder to capture the imagination, glow-worms can be a “gateway drug”, as Cooper puts it, for connecting with nature.Tyler says: “If it has to start with something that glows out of its bottom, then so be it.”Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield in the Guardian app for more nature coverage

Business
Conservation
Extinction

Opinion: Make Oregon a magnet for opportunity

The warning signs of an economy under pressure are all around, from mass layoffs to companies moving out of state, writes Karla S. Chambers, co-founder and co-owner of Stahlbush Island Farms. The state must focus on how to reduce barriers, grow the economy and help businesses stay competitive.

Karla S. ChambersFor The Oregonian/OregonLiveChambers is co-founder and co-owner of Stahlbush Island Farms, Inc. in Corvallis. She also served on the Federal Reserve Boards of San Francisco and Portland and serves on the Oregon State University Board of Trustees. Oregon’s job market is flashing red warning lights – and the numbers tell a troubling story. Mass layoff filings now rival or exceed levels seen during the 2008–2009 housing crash, as The Oregonian/OregonLive recently reported, (“Oregon mass layoffs approach Great Recession levels,” Sept. 14.) State data show nearly 25,000 net job losses over the past year, with layoffs cutting deep into manufacturing and technology. Intel, Nike, ESS Tech, Fred Meyer, Roseburg Forest Products and JELD-WEN are among major employers announcing reductions. In ESS Tech’s case, the company closed altogether. Job losses aren’t the only concern. The Tax Foundation ranked Oregon 35th in the nation for tax competitiveness, falling from 33rd last year. Oregon ranks near last in manufacturing growth according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and seventh nationally for regulatory burden, according to George Mason University. Oregon’s business friendliness ranks 47th, according to CNBC, and we’re 43rd for cost of doing business.Meanwhile, the main sectors adding jobs are health care and government — and even hospitals report operating losses under rising costs and staffing mandates. When employment depends on government and health care instead of private-sector innovation, the warning lights are flashing. Oregon depends on personal income taxes for 81% of the general fund. To fund government and support schools, health care, environmental stewardship and the services we all value, the state needs a stable, growing private sector. But Oregon is making it harder for private businesses to flourish. Business has survived COVID-19, a spike in inflation, higher interest rates and tariffs. State and local governments are trying to solve their rising costs by passing on higher taxes, fees, fines, annual permit costs – to business – all while making compliance more complicated. We are watching many businesses leave the state; expand their operations elsewhere; reduce staff or close. Locally, our water bill has eight additional taxes and fees that have nothing to do with water, including charges for street maintenance, transit, urban forestry and sidewalk maintenance. Meeting payroll means ensuring compliance with new minimum wage rates, new overtime rules, new taxes based on payroll and family-leave program taxes. The state’s transportation bill has new gas taxes, vehicle registration fees, mileage charges and more. It is not any one cost but the total burden that is making Oregon uncompetitive. Neighboring states continue to grow jobs and attract employers – including those that used to call Oregon home. Dutch Bros’ headquarters has relocated to Arizona, a state which recently crowed about the billions in new investment anticipated from overseas companies and expansions of existing employers.Oregon, by contrast, is watching the Oregon forest products industry expand billions into North and South Carolina; our agricultural firms expand into Idaho; food processing plants like Pacific Foods closing its Tualatin facility and moving manufacturing out-of-state; and a record number of job losses in high tech and manufacturing. When we lose a manufacturing business, we lose family-wage jobs, innovation and the broad economic impact. These companies have many employees, vendors and customers and add value to basic commodities, creating new products through innovation.Oregon can change course, but it will take courage and accountability. We must:Reduce regulatory burdens that discourage investment. That means taking a sharper look at the collective fees and taxes the state puts on businesses and reducing them. Streamline state government to improve efficiency: For example, our food processing company must go through the industry’s most rigorous food safety audits, which take three or four days compared to cursory one-day audits conducted by state agencies. The state can reduce the time and expense for businesses by accepting the certification provided by these higher-intensity audits rather than insisting on an Oregon-specific one. Other industries have similar examples of redundant requirements. Reignite innovation by linking business, universities, and community colleges in public-private partnerships. Between Silicon Valley and Seattle lies a natural home for advanced manufacturing and sustainable technology. The University of Oregon and Oregon State University help create many new business start-ups. Our culture of innovation is strong, however we do not retain these new businesses due to our costly business policies. Fix our business climate, put Business Oregon into a public/private partnership and reinvigorate recruitment.We have everything we need to thrive — forests, farmland, clean water, renewable energy, world-class universities and a skilled workforce. What we lack is leadership that rewards productivity and entrepreneurship rather than layering on cost and complexity. Oregonians know how to innovate – Corvallis once had the highest patent rates per capita, powered by research and private collaboration. That same spirit can rebuild our economy, if we summon the will to lead again. Where will our children and grandchildren build their futures? If we want them to stay in Oregon, we must make this state a magnet for opportunity — not regulation.Share your opinion Submit your essay of 600-700 words on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonian.com. No attachments, please. Please include your email and phone number for verification. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Business
Climate
Energy

How Promote Giving, a New Investment Model, Will Raise Millions for Charities

Joel Holsinger, a partner at Ares Management Corp., on Wednesday launched Promote Giving, an initiative encouraging investment managers to donate a portion of their fees to charity

The first foreign trip Joel Holsinger took in 2019 after joining the board of directors at the global health nonprofit PATH convinced him that he needed to do more to raise money for charities.The investment manager, who is now also a partner and co-head of alternative credit at Ares Management Corp., saw firsthand how a tuberculosis prevention program was helping residents of Dharavi, India's largest slum. He also saw that the main hurdle to expanding the program’s success was simply a lack of funding.“I wanted to do something that has purpose,” Holsinger told The Associated Press. “I wanted a charitable tie-in to whatever I do.”Shortly after returning from India, Holsinger created a new line of investment funds where Ares Management would donate at least 5% of its performance fee, also known as the “promote,” to charities. The first two funds of the resulting Pathfinder family of funds alone have raised more than $10 billion in investments and, as of June, pledged more than $40 million to charity.Holsinger wanted to expand the model further. On Wednesday, he announced Promote Giving, a new initiative to encourage other investment managers to use the model, which launches with funds from nine firms, including Ares Management, Pantheon and Pretium. The funds that are now part of Promote Giving represent about $35 billion in assets and could result in charitable donations of up to $250 million over the next 10 years.Unlike broader models like ESG investing, where environmental, social and governance factors are taken into account when making business decisions, or impact investing, where investors seek a social return along with a financial one, Promote Giving seeks to maximize the return on investment, Holsinger said. The donation only comes after investors receive their promised return and only from the manager's fees. “We’re not doing anything that looks at lower returns,” Holsinger said. “It’s basically just a dual mandate: If we do good on returns for our institutional investors, we will also drive returns that go directly to charity.”Charities, especially those who do international work, are in the midst of a difficult funding landscape. The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and massive cuts to foreign aid this year have affected nearly all nonprofits in some way. Those nonprofits who don't normally receive funding from the U.S. government still face increased competition for grants from organizations who saw their funding cut.Kammerle Schneider, PATH’s chief global health programs officer, said this year has shown how fragile public health systems are and has reinforced the need for “agile catalytic capital” that Promote Giving could provide.“There is nothing that is going to replace U.S. government funding,” said Schneider, adding that the launch of Promote Giving offers hope that new private donors may step in to help offer solutions to specific public health problems. “I think it comes at a time where we really need to look at the overall architecture of how we’re doing this and how we could be doing it better with less.”Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, which offers free learning resources for teachers and students, says the structure of Promote Giving could provide nonprofits stable income over several years that would allow them to spend less time fundraising and more time on their charitable work. “It's actually been hard for us to raise the philanthropy needed for us to have the maximum impact globally,” said Khan. While Khan Academy has the knowledge base to expand rapidly around the world and numerous countries have shown interest, Khan said the nonprofit lacks enough resources to do the expensive work of software development, localization and building infrastructure in every country.Khan hopes Promote Giving can grow into a major funder that could help with those costs. "We would be able to build that infrastructure so that we can literally educate anyone in the world,” he said.Holsinger hopes for that kind of growth as well. He envisions investment managers signing on to Promote Giving the way billionaires pledge to give away half their wealth through the Giving Pledge and he hopes other industries will develop their own mechanisms to make charitable donations part of their business models. Kate Stobbe, director of corporate insights at Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, a coalition that advises companies on sustainability and corporate responsibility issues, said their research shows that companies that establish mission statements that include reasons for existing beyond simply profit generation have higher revenue growth and provide a higher return on investment.Having a common purpose increases workers' engagement and productivity, while also helping companies with recruitment and retention, said Stobbe, who said CECP will release a report that documents those findings based on 20 years of data later this week. “Having initiatives around corporate purpose help employees feel a connection to something bigger,” she said. "It really does contribute to that bottom line.”That kind of win-win is what Holsinger hopes to create with Promote Giving. He said many of the world's problems don't lack solutions. They lack enough capital to pay for the solutions.“We just need to drive more capital to these nonprofits and to these charities that are doing amazing work every day,” he said. “We're trying to build that model that drives impact through charitable dollars.”Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

Business
Government
Health

EU's Von Der Leyen Says Private Sector Deals Could Unlock 4 Billion Euros for Western Balkans

TIRANA (Reuters) -European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday private sector deals signed or in the pipeline could unlock...

TIRANA (Reuters) -European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday private sector deals signed or in the pipeline could unlock about 4 billion euros ($4.63 billion) in new investment as part of an EU growth plan for the Western Balkans region.During a summit in the Albanian capital Tirana between the EU and the Western Balkans countries, Von der Leyen invited investors to take part in the growth plan that aims to double the size of the region's economies in the next decade.She said that 10 important business deals will be signed in Tirana on Monday, and 24 other potential investments will be discussed on Tuesday."Together they could bring more than 4 billion euros in new investments in the region," Von der Leyen said at the summit. "The time to invest in the Western Balkans is now."The EU has pledged 6 billion euros to help the six Western Balkans nations form a regional common market and join the European common market in areas such as free movement of goods and services, transport and energy.But in order for payments to be made, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia must implement reforms and resolve outstanding issues with their neighbours.Von der Leyen identified artificial intelligence, clean energy and industrial value chains as three strategic sectors that would integrate local industries into EU supply chains.She cautioned that regulatory integration and industrial alliances are key to this effort.The six countries were promised EU membership years ago but the accession process has slowed to a crawl.The delay is partly due to reluctance among the EU's 27 members and a lack of reforms required to meet EU standards - including those concerning the economy, judiciary, legal systems, environmental protection and media freedoms.Serbia and Montenegro were the first in the region to launch EU membership talks, and Albania and North Macedonia began talks with Brussels in 2022. Bosnia and Kosovo lag far behind.(Reporting by Daria Sito-SucicEditing by Ros Russell)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

Business
Energy

Suggested Viewing

Sashiko as Cultural Sustainability

When we talk about Sustainability, we tend to focus on the sustainable solutions based on physical resources. However, very frequently we overlook a key part for creating a successful sustainable society: Cultural Sustainability.

Culture
Sustainable
Solutions

Modern Nature

By 2050, 10 billion people may inhabit Earth. Do we need GMOs to Feed the World? Is organic production the answer? Modern Nature takes the viewer on a worldwide odyssey to find answers. Includes perspectives from philosopher Noam Chomsky, physicist Vandana Shiva and street farmer Ron Finley.

Food
Agriculture
Business

The Story of a Forest

In 2004, a generation of activists arose in South Florida, carrying the passion of direct action groups like Earth First. and the deep analysis of the global justice movement that had swept the country in the preceding years. These activists sought local issues that exemplified the threats of corporate globalization. They stumbled upon a plan from biotech industry giants acting in collusion with the administration of then-Governor Jeb Bush to clear a vast swath of land in the Northeast Everglades of Florida to accommodate The Scripps Biotech Research Institute - And it was on. Over the next ten years, endless county zoning meetings were counter-balanced by dozens of civil disobedience arrests and a near-constant flow of news headlines about the battle: lawsuits, scandal, corruption, tree sits, endangered species, pranks, blockades, and a roller coaster of incremental victories followed by devastating losses for years on end. THE STORY OF A FOREST captures it all in a 1/2 hour documentary about the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition (PBCEC) and Everglades Earth First!'s (EEF!) ten-plus year campaign to stop the Scripps Biotech development, with a focus on protecting biodiversity in the Briger forest and the Florida wetlands.

Activism
Forests
Business

Green Waste

What if every person could actually make an impact on the world? “Green Waste” takes an in-depth look at the process of recycling and waste management in the community of Flagstaff. From recycling plastic bags, to re-using glass bottles, from recycling hazardous waste to the efforts of local businesses, the film shows how every contribution, no matter how small, can collectively make the difference for a better tomorrow. Filmed and Produced under the Emerging Filmmakers Program for youth filmmakers.

Waste
Business
Solutions

1948 and Counting

Reports on Costa Rica's ability to manage without a military since 1948, despite invasions based in Nicaragua. Addresses the role of private armies serving multinational corporations, and whether the country's civil guard is a military by another name. Places Costa Rica in the context of Central and Latin American populist struggles against US backed regimes in El Salvador, Chile, Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras. Touches on the colonial history and explores whether Costa Rica depends on US military backing, and whether it is able to maintain independence from the US.

Government
Business

Join us to forge
a sustainable future

Our team is always growing.
Become a partner, volunteer, sponsor, or intern today.
Let us know how you would like to get involved!

CONTACT US

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Subscribers receive a free day pass for streaming Cinema Verde.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.