It's Your Oregon: Ed King

“ 'It’s Your Oregon' means 'It’s Your Responsibility,'" says Ed King, CEO and founder of King Estate Winery. Ed believes that every Oregonian has a responsibility to be a steward of Oregon’s environment.

"There have been people who have come before us who have protected our quality of life here, and there are people who will come after us," says Ed. "Oregon belongs to each and every one of us, and we have a responsibility to protect the ecology and the environment to the best of our abilities."

Ed practices this ethic with generosity and commitment, both as a former board member to OEC and as a donor. In Winter 2010, Ed issued a challenge to OEC's donors: he would match every dollar that Oregonians gave until we'd raised $20,000 to support OEC's work protecting children from toxics in our environment.

"OEC does work that needs to be done and does work that no one else is doing," Ed explains. And because toxics in our environment is an issue of importance to Ed, he supports OEC's work both to educate people about the dangers of exposure to BPA  and to work for legislation ensuring that baby bottles and sippy cups are BPA-free.

"Understanding the prevalence of toxics in our environment, our food chain and our everyday consumer products is necessary to create effective means to remove those toxics and reduce our exposure to them."
 
"I like that OEC is a grassroots organization," says Ed. "OEC represents the voice of people all over the state who care about our quality of life here and want to work to protect it. OEC also gives Oregon an opportunity to bring leadership to environmental issues that other states and the federal government may not be addressing."