Texas Green Report

Michael Smith is an Arlington-based writer and naturalist. He is author of two books on reptiles and amphibians and a new book Mindfulness in Texas Nature, published by Texas A&M University Press in July. The book draws on his expertise in regional ecology as well as his 35-year career as a Psychological Associate.

Texas Green Report reporter Marshall Hinsley talks to Smith about how to practice mindfulness in various Texas ecoregions, our resistance to it and what we gain by incorporating nature and mindfulness into our lives.

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Texas Green Report reporter Julie Thibodeaux talks to Ben Pfeiffer, a New Braunfels-based biologist and founder of Firefly Conservation and Research, about what is causing firefly decline and ways we can help bring them back.

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Modern life and the world economy depend on a 24-hour system, made possible due to artificial light. Meanwhile the natural world has relied on darkness for many of its critical activities. Marshall Hinsley talks to Michael Rymer of Dark Sky International and Cindy Luongo Cassidy of Dark Sky Texas about how artificial light is harming the natural world and ways we can practice smarter lighting.

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In this episode of the Texas Green Report, Marshall Hinsley talks to author Doug Tallamy about how the work of maintaining the essential ecosystem services that we all depend on must be taken up by every single person inhabiting the planet.

From flood control and keeping pollinators thriving to protecting the plants that produce the oxygen we breath and mitigating the rise in average global temperatures all comes down to every single person on the planet learning to live in a more responsible relationship with the natural systems that sustain us.

Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has taught for over 40 years while authoring more than 100 research publications. He's written several books, including New York Times bestseller Nature's Best Hope, released by Timber Press in 2020.

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Exploring wild places and wild creatures in the Dallas Fort Worth area with a new book from journalist and naturalist Amy Martin in this episode of the Texas Green Report, a production of Green Source DFW and the Memnosyne Institute.

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Austin-based EarthShare Texas is a 30-year-old nonprofit that supports more than 30 local and state environmental organizations with no-strings-attached funding and partnership building. Marshall Hinsley talks to EarthShare executive director Francoise Van Keuren about how the group formed, how they raise funds and the benefits of donating through their organization.
The nonprofit recently kicked off a new campaign to engage individuals and businesses called My Earth, My Texas.

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Outside the doors in a busy medical district near downtown Dallas lies a harsh, unhealthy landscape. Marshall Hinsley talks to the planners who aim to green up the Southwestern Medical District — an area originally developed in the 1940s to move freight. Plans are underway to incorporate biophilic design  to breathe new life into the district, which serves 3 million patients and visitors a year.  

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How you can help restore native Texas habitat with a pocket prairie.

Marshall Hinsley talks to entomologist and New York Times best-selling author Doug Tallamy;  Diane Sloan, CEO of K.S.S., a Dallas landscape architectural studio; and experts with the Native  Prairies Association of Texas about what prairies are, why we need them and how you can turn a little spot of your yard back into a verdant part of the state's native ecosystem.

A production of GreenSourceDFW.org.

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Texan by Nature, a nonprofit founded in 2011 by former First Lady Laura Bush, acts as a mediator between companies and environmental groups to advance conservation projects. TGR reporter Marshall Hinsley talks to Texan by Nature CEO Joni Carswell about how the organization operates and highlights some of the group's accomplishments, including expanding the Dark Skies initiative in West Texas oil patches. To learn more about what people in Texas are doing to protect the state's natural resources, visit GreenSourceDFW.org.

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Mountain lions are key to our Texas identity and should remain part of the landscape, says wildlife filmmaker Ben Masters, director of Deep in the Heart.  He represents Texans for Mountain Lions and shares in this episode the organization's aim to save the dwindling mountain lion population in Texas and enlist residents to contact lawmakers to keep these wildcats from being shot and trapped into nonexistence. Marshall Hinsley reports.
For more stories like this, visit GreenSourceDFW.org. 

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