Meet Will Raap, Founder and Chairman

Evaluating tropical soils in Costa Rica to see the impact of reforestation with tropical ecologist Dan Janzen, left.

Will Raap

Learn more at willraap.org

When I started Gardener's Supply in 1983, I hoped that our company could be a force for making the world better through gardening. During our history, we've encouraged millions of people to get their hands in the soil and grow their own food, create beautiful earth-friendly gardens and — in the process – become backyard environmentalists and land stewards.

Back in 1987, when I helped to establish the Intervale Center, a nonprofit community farming incubator, my goal was to energize Burlington's food system. The Intervale Center was created on forgotten land adjacent to Gardener's Supply's Burlington, VT headquarters; we helped to restore 350 acres of farmland in our neighborhood. Now, with Gardener's Supply owned by its employees and the Intervale Center recognized nationally as a catalyst for the local, organic food movement, I'm involved with new projects that address even larger food and environmental issues.

In August 2011, with support from ROWs Micro Loan Fund, Jaime Zuñiga Leal and Maritza Mora Valverde bought 15 beehives. The partners live in La Florida, a small watershed village of about 360 residents. Here, they're collecting their first harvest of honey.

 

Taking soil samples in Patagonia, Chile, to help develop and test new soil carbon methodology.

 

At a time when our world is changing and will never be the same due to resource constraints, climate change and degraded ecosystems, we have no choice but to reinvent how economic and social systems work. I believe the change we need starts with individual and community actions.

A major source of greenhouse gases globally comes from degrading land practices, often due to industrial farming and extractive natural resource operations. So my focus is on projects that restore local food and energy systems while promoting sustainable land use. When you can figure it out locally, examples such as the Intervale Center, ripple out. So, in recent years, I've been focusing my efforts in Vermont and in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica

I hope by reading about some of the initiatives below, you'll be inspired to learn more about actions that will fuel the change we need:

Restoring Our Watershed (ROW) is a nonprofit organization active in the Nandamojo River Valley of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Founded in 2001, ROW has a two-pronged approach: reclaiming degraded land and reinvigorating local, sustainable food production to create green jobs. The Micro Loan Fund is one of the ways ROW is reinvigorating the local economy. By financing sustainable farming projects, these loans help residents make a living by producing honey, eggs, poultry, vegetables and other foodstuffs.

Learn more at ourwatershed.org.

The Earth Partners (TEP) restores and develops degraded lands on an ecosystem scale using bioenergy, forestry, carbon and water values to support restoration costs. We are demonstrating that there are millions of acres of land that can go from degraded and abandoned to highly productive, increasing fertility and food security, clean air, fresh water, and biodiversity while mitigating the impact of climate change and reviving rural economies and communities.

Learn more at theearthpartners.org.

Soil is one of the largest stores of carbon on earth. I believe that building soil carbon through photosynthesis should play a central role in managing excess greenhouse gases. Because of this, TEP has developed a way to measure soil carbon. This method, called "soil carbon quantification," has been tested and refined at more than 20 sites in several countries, including Chile and Costa Rica. It's also being validated for the Climate Action Reserve and Verified Carbon Standard. Our effort is supported by a Conservation Innovation Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with initial application of the soil carbon quantification method in the Paulouse grasslands of Idaho, Washington and Oregon.