Life and Environmental Sciences

Mission Statement: Our mission is to inventory our community’s life and environmental science assets, to identify business opportunities using those assets, and to leverage those assets for economic development. 

Sarasota County is gaining a national reputation as a community focused on sustainability. We are seeking to meet our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Noted Life and Environmental Sciences institutions such as Mote Marine Laboratory and the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens contribute to that image. Meanwhile, a growing cluster of businesses in the county is focused on commercial applications in the fields of medicine, environmental management, horticulture, and even aquaculture.

Cluster Initiatives

   Track record

 • Organized a symposium on “Natural Capitalism” with the noted Rocky 

 Mountain Institute. Natural Capitalism is a progressive approach to building

 wealth, creating a healthy environment and enhancing quality of life.

 • Investigated the potential for a local Clinical Research Organization to 

 facilitate development of drug therapies and medical devices.

 • Hosted a satellite imaging symposium to discuss new technologies and

 methods for conducting environmental assessments of whole communities.

• Demonstrate environmentally sustainable, integrated aquaculture and agriculture practices.

• Create a biological field station to attract professional scientists working on terrestrial ecosystems, bringing their capital, grant funds and spending dollars to the community.

 • Support a project to demonstrate biomimicry, which creates commercial value from copying processes of nature.

               Life and Environmental Sciences Meeting Minutes

               Myakka Peer-Reviewed Pulbications 

               Accelerating Natural Capitalism in Sarasota County

               Arsenic Speciation and Toxiity Report