Who and What is Take MAR?
Our environment is the foundation and support of human existence and nurturing our relationship with nature is the first step to healing ourselves and the Earth.
Since the Industrial Revolution and advent of technology, our experiences of, in and with nature have slowly and significantly declined. Caught in the societal norms of this nature disconnectedness, now termed the “Extinction of Experience,” many people are no longer aware of the benefits and gifts of nature or how their actions may be harming it.
Take MAR was founded to help regenerate the human-nature relationship to both increase pro environmental behaviors and the health, happiness and vitality of individuals and communities through evidence-based nature connectedness initiatives. Research shows that the public health benefits of nature connectedness are vast and include improved physical, mental, and social well-being, a greater sense of meaning of life’s purpose, and increased commitments to pro environmental behaviors.
Seeing oneself as part of nature as opposed to separate from it is a paradigm shift dependent upon access to healthy ecological systems. Based in St. Petersburg, Florida in one of the state’s smallest, but most densely populated counties, Take MAR is also working to regenerate the area’s natural heritage through projects focused on urban forests and trails, marine ecosystems, and barrier islands. Despite being almost entirely developed with 3,425 residents per square mile, Pinellas County is home to 37 miles of sandy beaches, 11 barrier islands, and a multitude of unique ecosystems including freshwater wetlands, coastal mangrove swamps, hardwood hammocks, pine flatwoods, upland sandhills, sand pine scrub, and marine estuaries and seagrass beds. In such a highly urbanized area, we have a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between the human and natural world to create thriving social-ecological communities that are interconnected, balanced and healthy.
Why Take MAR? MAR stands for More Action to Regeneration. Another reason why we loved the acronym MAR is because it means ocean, sea, and bodies of water in Spanish. Oceans are our inspiration to dive deep and embrace the depths of life, flow like water, and surf the waves this beautiful life has to offer.
Regenerated, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary “to be regenerated is to be ‘re-born; brought again into existence; formed anew’, More appropriate is another meaning the OED suggests: ‘restored to a better state’.
According to Regeneration.org “Regeneration puts life at the center of every action and decision. It applies to all of life—grasslands, farms, insects, forests, fish, wetlands, coastlands, and oceans—and it applies equally to family, communities, cities, schools, religion, commerce, and governments. And most spectacularly to climate.”
At Take MAR, we want to help regenerate our environment, communities, and ourselves. Through our initiatives we aim to create healthy environments and healthy people. Remember our mantra:
Healthy people create healthy environments and healthy environments create healthy people.
