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Natural Awakenings Dallas -Fort Worth Metroplex Edition

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April 2015 Publisher Letter

I’m excited when April rolls around, because it’s Earth Day month. We get to celebrate nature together and it’s a grand opportunity for us all to learn to better appreciate our home planet’s manifold wonders. It reminds us that our health is inextricably tied to the natural order of things, and that nature’s own health in turn depends on our reverent stewardship. This is how God created it to be.

It’s also my chance to stand on my soapbox for a whole month on how green living is healthy and healthy living is green. As publisher of this magazine, I love communicating practical aids to natural health and sustainable lifestyles each month—all things aligned with Earth Day—but this month, a stupendous choir of Earth Day festivals, health fairs, expos, seminars and conferences, recycling events and trash bashes is backing me up as we all burst into song. Yay!

Starting on page 8, you’ll find a list of some of the many Earth Day events happening across North Texas. We learned of five times more than we had space to list, so please check our calendar, as well as that of our partner in going green, GreenSourceDFW.org. I’m elated to know that after this month, there surely will be many more converts to green and healthy living.

We are equally pleased to share highlights of the indispensable lead singer of the group—our local nature assets. Creation’s rich bounty is well represented in our own backyards, next door and just down the road. Starting on page 34, we spotlight some of North Texas’ best urban  assets, natural areas ranging in size from 69 to 6,000 acres. Who isn’t now planning their next outing in these natural settings for camping, bird watching, hiking, bike riding or simply indulging in a spot of genuine “being”?

Leading with Christine MacDonald’s feature article, “Nature’s Wisdom: It’s Lessons Inspire, Heal and Sustain Us,” we proceed in our Earth appreciation offerings with opportunities to support a healthier environment through choosing a renewable energy source for our electricity needs. We’re glad to learn about the state of Texas’ national leadership in generating wind power and other eye-popping facts from our partner Breeze Energy; we also hear about a new solar program being rolled out in our local area.

Finally, as every significant movement must involve future leaders, we complement Avery Mack’s Healthy Kids article, “Earth in Peril: Children Confront Climate Change,” with the scoop on a new Environmental Academy Charter School opening in North Texas this fall.

We hope that you are inspired and moved in some way to commit more largely to nurturing a healthy environment for your own health and that of loved ones as a result of what you read here. As always, let us know how we can help.

Blessings always,

Bernice Butler, Publisher