Will Raap

Will Raap is founder and chairman of Gardener's Supply, an employee-owned family of companies that has won several national and regional awards for its innovative business and socially responsible business practices. He also founded the Intervale Center, a community farming innovation center and incubator of dozens of new organic farms. Currently Will is working on several environmental restoration initiatives, including four "new urbanist" conservation developments in Vermont and Costa Rica. These conservation developments are The Earth Partners, Restoring Our Watershed, El Centro Verde, and Carbon Harvest Energy. The Earth Partners are working on developing "conservation biomass" globally; Restoring Our Watershed in Costa Rica is committed to reclaiming the health and resiliency of critically damaged or threatened natural areas in a 28,000 acre watershed; EL Centro Verde is an agroforestry and training center in Costa Rica; Carbon Harvest Energy is a business developing integrated energy and food projects fueled by landfill methane.    

Read Will Raap's E. F. Schumacher Lecture. E. F. Schumacher: He Taught Us to Build Bridges and Plant Trees; his recent article for Vermont Natural Resources Council, "The 'New Economy' Can Strengthen Vermont's Working Landscape"; his TED (Technology,Entertainment,Design) talk on mitigating climate change; and his June 5th, 2010, talk on using Vermont as a model for rebuilding our economies (given at the founding meeting of the New Economics Institute). Visit Will Raap's website at http://www.willraap.org.