Welcome to the Mark Polet professional site


I work as a biologist, a career I started in 1977. My work intersects two areas, often in tension; the intersection of faith and science, and business and environmental stewardship.

In the almost 30 countries I have worked, I have consistently seen a correlation between the lack of people flourishing, and poor air quality, water stress and depleted soil.

In some of my talks, I have challenged people of faith, social activists, business people and scientists to work together to help people flourish, by providing clean air, clean water, restored soils and clean energy.

These pages are dedicated to those people working together, so all can flourish.

– Maynard (Mark) Polet

Introducing the Environmental Technology Initiative (ETI)

In my work around the world, I have noticed that the people I love and serve that are not flourishing spiritually are also not flourishing physically. They often suffer from poor air quality, water stress (both quantity and quality) and the impact of degraded soils. I...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 320 – Mind the Gap

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 320 – Mind the Gap View this in your browser Recently my activities in London took me all over the city on the Underground and the train.  At every station, a familiar announcement reminded passengers: “Mind the...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 319 – When Fields Need Fallowing

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 319 – When Fields Need Fallowing I am working on our Seed Farm in north Kyrgyzstan as I write this. We have just acquired the land, and some of it is in rough shape. Before we received it, the land had been worked hard,...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 318 – Deep Soil

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 318 – Deep Soil I was in my happy place twice this week. “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”— Luke 8:15 On Tuesday, I...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 317 – Eating the Darkness

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 317 – Eating the Darkness You have to eat the darkness. It is a hard phrase, I know. I do not remember reading it anywhere exactly that way. I think it came to me through a synthesis of Scripture, personal experience, the...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 316 – The Compass That Is Christ

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 316 – The Compass That Is Christ I’m a biologist, comfortable working in the bush. One of my key tools, long before the advent of smart phones, was my compass. I would adjust it for magnetic north, depending on where I was in...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 315 – Correcting our Aim

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 315 – Correcting our Aim Every business needs regular re-evaluation. In Scripture, this kind of re-evaluation is not merely strategic. It is spiritual. The biblical word for sin carries, among other meanings, the idea of...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 314 – The Healing Discipline

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 314 – The Healing Discipline Most of us do not like discipline. In business, discipline can sound like punishment. A missed target. A reprimand. A painful correction. A hard conversation. A budget cut. A failed plan that...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 313 – S()R – A Sacred Space

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 313 – S()R – A Sacred Space The demands never stop. A client sends an urgent email. A project runs behind schedule. A staff member needs guidance. A new opportunity appears on the horizon. "Better one handful with tranquillity...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 312 – Repairer of Broken Walls

The hard work of radical discipleship leads to great hope.  Isaiah does not describe a thin hope, or a hope built on sentiment. He describes a hope that rises when God’s people spend themselves on behalf of the hungry, satisfy the needs of the...

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 311 – Being Radical

Devotions for a Busy Business Person, no. 311 – Being Radical Oswald Chambers is characteristically direct when he writes that surrender is not primarily about giving up the external things of life, but about surrendering the will. In My Utmost for His Highest,...

Contact

6 + 3 =