“Reaping Goodness”- Capturing and Cleaning Water, Building Edible Forests and more–Carol Manetta is CEO of this project.  She said we have only about 5 years to get this in place because many food animals are dying off in great numbers (so are humans due to illnesses, fires, extreme weather events, wars and racism), pandemics are happening, populations keep growing.  At a recent talk she gave, someone high in the Inspector General’s Office attended and brought with him an official of the USDA, implying he understands and agrees with the importance, gravity, and imperative nature of Carol’s work.

Her project is working on 3 worker-owned co-ops with different, but related purposes:

1. Store as much water as possible underground via catchment ditches (swales) and rooftop rain capture
2. Clean polluted waters with bioremediation techniques
3. Create food forests which will be permanent supplies of 100’s of diverse edible plants

Carol has had land (about 60 acres) given to use near Tombstone and Sierra Vista for Trial 1 of this program.  She’s working with American Universities, with ASU as a lynchpin, for the development of Food Forests with recaptured water.  It’s been identified as the most creative university in the US for 5 years. The university students will take on the role of the trio of worker-owned cooperatives. This new business model has never been tried in the history of humankind.

They are acquiring a 360-degree camera and a drone to make a documentary to show the before, during and after stages of the development of this project.  Carol has worked with training and curriculum development for years, and her professional society is the International Society for Performance Improvement .  She has published 2 e-books about soft skills and technical skills for cooperative businesses.  She filmed a webinar in MP4 about her work, at the request of the Southwest Agroforestry Action Network (SWAAN).

For more information, contact   cmanetta@reapaz.org.  See www.reapgoodness.org