Texas Green Report

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Marshall Hinsley talks to Michael Ryder of Dark Skies International and Cindy Luongo Cassidy of Dark Skies Texas about how the widespread use of artificial light is harming the natural world.

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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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Marshall Hinsley:
A nonprofit that's connecting Texans to the organizations that are saving wild areas, cleaning up the environment, and making the state a beautiful, livable place and that you may have already donated to -- in this episode of the Texas Green Report, a production of Green Source D.F.W. and the Memnosyne Institute.

I'm Marshall Hinsley.

If you've ever shopped for groceries at H.E.B. anytime around Earth Day, you may have torn a small tear sheet off of a promotion at the register and given it to the cashier to add $1, $3 or $5 to your total in order to help out the planet.

Or if you are a Reliant Energy customer, you may participate in the EcoShare program.

If so, you're already familiar with the work of our guests for this episode.

Francois Van Keuren is the Executive Director of EarthShare Texas, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit raising and distributing funds to qualifying member charities that work on campaigns that range from improving air quality and rehabilitating wildlife to developing green building technology and restoring native Texas ecosystems.

EarthShare Texas is an organization for organizations.

Based in Austin, EarthShare Texas has a small team of just nine employees and an operational budget that takes only 9 percent out of the donations it receives. Though the money raised through H.E.B. and Reliant Energy are pass-through funds, which means that 100 percent of the money raised in the programs goes to member nonprofits in the state.

Also EarthShare Texas gives its nonprofit member organizations funding with no strings attached, and we'll find out more about why that's important in a minute. But first, Francois, how do you describe what EarthShare Texas is?

Francoise Van Keuren:
EarthShare Texas is a nonprofit federation raising unrestricted funds and awareness for more than 30 local and statewide environmental nonprofits.

Our mission is to build support for these local nonprofits through fundraising and partnership building with businesses municipalities and individuals, like you and me.

So, EarthShare Texas was formed 30 years ago by leaders in the environmental space who recognized that for us to care more deeply for our state from an environmental perspective, we also need to support local nonprofits doing the hard work in these communities.

Ultimately, it's grown from then to focus on engagement with companies through workplace giving. We've started to incorporate more awareness building in our work, and we've also started to incorporate some more capacity building in our work. One of the reasons we do focus on unrestricted funds, for example, is we recognize that nonprofits, they are organizations just like any other.

They need to make sure that they're supporting their talent. They need to be supporting their innovation, and so providing those unrestricted funds helps them have a baseline to thrive and better serve their communities as well.

Marshall Hinsley:
What do you mean by unrestricted funds?

Francoise Van Keuren:
Unrestricted funds is funding that can be given to a nonprofit that can be used for their operations.

So, often when you think about funding, it might be tied to a grant. So, a specific program that that nonprofit might be focusing on, where they're really only restricted to use those funds for that grant or for that program. Unrestricted means that in times when maybe there is a pandemic, for example, and a little bit of chaos out there, if there are grants that might disappear because maybe folks are feeling a little bit, tepid about getting involved in the community because they're worried about some of the things that's going on with their own organizations — that unres

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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 nonprofits 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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A golden-cheeked warbler, found only in Texas’ Hill Country, was recently spotted at Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center in Cedar Hill, a community south of Dallas. Wildlife experts explain why the sighting could be a warning sign for the endangered bird. Story by Marshall Hinsley.
For more stories on Texas wildlife and other environmental issues, visit GreenSourceDFW.org.

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Texas plays a critical role in bird migration as the anchor for the Central Flyway. We talk to Ben Jones, executive director for the Texas Conservation Alliance, who explains how turning off lights from 11 p.m. to 6 p.m. during peak migration months in fall and spring can help save the lives of millions of birds. Marshall Hinsley reports. For more information, see Lights Out Texas and GreenSourceDFW.org.