|
In 2021, MRC consulted with 100 community stakeholders across the Indian River Lagoon to discuss the state of the Lagoon and craft a vision of its future. That community vision was unveiled in 2022 as IMAGINE!:
By 2050, the Indian River Lagoon, the environmental and economic lifeblood of the globally important east-central Florida region, will be restored to sustainable balance, providing an example to the world of what’s possible when people collaborate.
This is now serving as MRC’s vision statement and was the umbrella under which we facilitated two Action Assemblies and four Low Impact Development conferences, evolved the new IRL Health Report, and completed numerous restoration projects. Now that we’ve spent three years spreading the message, it’s time for follow-up.
Low Impact Living is how we achieve the IMAGINE! vision.
Low Impact Living builds on Low Impact Development (LID) and expands it by empowering individual citizens to make a positive impact. LID addresses how to “reduce runoff and pollutant loadings by managing runoff as close to its source(s) as possible” (per the US EPA), but the broad focus on municipalities and developers often alienates individuals. We want to make sure every person has a chance to make a difference. Rest assured, we will continue shoreline restoration work, mangrove research, producing the annual IRL health report, hosting conferences and action assemblies, and supporting citizen science. But in 2025, we are excited to expand our public education and campaign, evolve the LagoonWatch citizen science program for broader impact, revitalize the Ted Moorhead Lagoon House as a community resource, and advocate for municipalities to codify LID.
We will share more details about what we’re doing and how to get involved at our Low Impact Living launch on Monday, March 3rd at the Ted Moorhead Lagoon House. Reach out to MRC’s Development Director Ken Parks (ken@mrcirl.org) to register.
We hope to see you there!
|
