Channing Miller of North End Juice Co. and La Rama Project (Photo courtesy Channing Miller)
“Get off your phone and go walk through the woods and see how you feel,” Channing Miller says. “You’re going to breathe some air and feel much different.”
Sporting a T-shirt and most likely coming or going from a surfing trip, the owner of North End Juice Co. is marrying his deep-rooted adoration for Mother Earth with his smoothie operation to make an environmental impact.
In late April, Miller launched the La Rama Project, a large-scale reforestation initiative and nonprofit organization based in Burica, Panama, that focuses on the protection and development of biodiverse ecosystems. He is working to transform his multilocation juice bar business into a nonprofit to help fund the long-term sustainability project.
“It’s just really grassroots,” says Miller, 34, adding that he’s applied for grants from National Geographic and the Smithsonian.
Scrappy and grassroots is Miller’s style. The idea for North End Juice Co. originally unfolded during a visit to Richmond to help his mom open a satellite location for her three-decade-old bakery, Incredible Edibles. A Miami resident at the time, Miller noticed a lack of smoothie and juice bars in the area by comparison.
“I flew back down, got one juicer, my blender and within five days filled the fridge with produce and started,” he says. “We were living in the back of the juice bar and had a blow-up mattress and slept on a futon for the first six months.”
Five years later, there are three Richmond-area outposts of the juice bar and one in Miller’s hometown of Virginia Beach. Since the debut of the original Cleveland Street location in 2016, North End Juice Co. has been partnering with the reforestation initiative Eden Project, and for each item sold at the shop, a tree is planted.
La Rama Project is based at the tip of Punta Burica, a peninsula on the border of Costa Rica and Panama. (Photo by Sebastian Corrales via Unsplash)
Now, similarly to how North End evolved from an idea into a successful business, Miller’s goal is to home in on the initial model of sustainable reforestation in Panama, replicate it and reforest other areas around the world. He and a small crew are building a huge nursery that will be home to 500 species of native trees and plants. The facility, located on a deforested 60-acre cattle pasture, will feature lodging for staff and volunteers, as well as a regenerative vegetable garden that will serve to help create a food source for the community. The location will also double as a protected wildlife refuge and ecological data collection center.
So how did an ex-pro surfer and service industry veteran turned juice bar owner find himself spearheading a project to save the rainforest?
“I think surfing and being completely connected with nature the entire time has definitely opened my eyes to protecting nature, taking care of it and realizing how very fast you can lose it,” says Miller, a self-proclaimed autodidact.
Miller first picked up a surfboard at 6 years old, and he’s been chasing waves ever since. After visiting Nicaragua as a teen to surf competitively, he knew he would one day live in Central America, enamored with its lush jungles, toucan and sloth sightings, raw elements, and killer waves. Miller eventually bought a house in Panama, and for the past dozen years, he has traveled back and forth between the U.S. and Central America. On each visit, he noticed more and more forests stripped of trees and once-untouched jungles taken over by cow pastures. But it was during his most recent trip that Miller gained a different perspective.
“We used a drone for surf videos, and going over the land I said, ‘Holy s---, this thing is bare,’ ” he recalls. “We found out this point had been deforested by 90% already. You can’t see from the ground, you just see giant fields. I realized how big of an emergency it was."
With a get-it-done mentality he says was instilled by his mother, Miller sprang into action. In a short period of time, he has put together a small team, connected with local biologists and landed a group of filmmakers from Intracoastal Films to produce a multipart documentary series covering topics from native medicinal mushrooms to his work with La Rama Project.
Miller has also connected with Dr. Ariel Rodríguez Vargas, a 20-year conservationist and the founder of the Primates Project in Panama, which studies the loss of primate population, conducts environmental research and works to educate the general public by promoting sustainable development.
“The wild places are getting really destroyed, and it’s important to preserve [them],” Miller says. “This isn’t just Central America, it’s the entire world. [La Rama Project] is happening regardless of funding, but if we have the proper funding, we can really have an impact and do it right.”
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