Sunday, April 22, 2012

EARTH DAY

April 22, 2012 is a day for us to appreciate the unbelievable resources we have on Earth and to pledge to do our best to protect the offerings that nature unfailingly provides us.  The EarthDay Network is encouraging its supporters to pledge 1 billion acts of green.  Sounds like a big undertaking, doesn't it: overwhelming in fact.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."  Margaret Mead


What can an ordinary person do to create an "act of green"?

Have a picnic!  The Nature Conservancy, an international conservation nonprofit, is hosting the largest picnic ever by setting up "Picnics for the Planet" events throughout the world.  Even if you are not a part of this vast undertaking, go to a local park with your family and enjoy being outside with an old-fashioned meal outdoors.

Plant a tree!  Green World Campaign restores indigenous ecologies and lessens the climate crisis in environmentally-damaged locations by planting trees in the communities that desperately need them.  Go to your local nursery and buy a sapling to plant in your yard.  Each year add another sapling as an Earth Day celebration.  On an average sized urban lot, it takes ten trees to neutralize the impact of the CO2 that one person living in a house on that lot expels every day.

Enjoy a local trail or walking path!  Legacy Performance and Integrated Wellness Center donates to DORBA, Dallas Off-Road Biking Association.  Our contribution provides the tools and infrastructure used to build trails in Dallas county.  It also lets local municipalities know that we care about and use the trails built and maintained on their properties.  These trails are for off-road bikers and hikers.  As the trails are build in urban forests, DORBA pledges to leave the smallest footprint possible, retaining the natural eco-system with the least human impact.  Certain trees are off-limits for cutting in order to create a trail.  Known nesting grounds are left untouched.  Water areas are kept as pristine as possible.  Trails are created with a reverence for what nature has gifted us.  They become  "sacred places", if you will, bringing people into the out-of-doors in an inter-active way.  DORBA members are charged with maintaining the trails in the spirit in which they are designed and offered to the public for rest and recreation.

Saturday, April 21st., Legacy took a group of hikers to Big Cedar Wilderness Trail for a morning of hiking.  Big Cedar is the best trail in DFW and one of the top in the entire state.  The terrain is varied, going from smooth soft single track, to long sweeping descents, and finally some incredible Texas climbing.  Two years in the making, the Trail has 17 miles of mountain bike and hiking choices.  Once completed, Big Cedar should have over 30 miles of cross country trails.  Our group hiked about 7 miles  with gluten-free snacks, clean water, and a few Myo-fascial Stretches and an ELDOA at the end of the adventure!

The Trail Steward is Shadow Jons, an artist in trail design and construction.  Located atop one of the most breathtaking escarpment areas in North Texas, Big Cedar boasts the highest elevation in the city of Dallas.  Winding through cedar and hardwood forest, trails descend into a valley in dramatic elevation changes.  Bobcat, coyote, abundant bird life, butterflies of all descriptions...hills, meadows, water, trees...dappled sunlight...hugh boulders...there is something for everyone.

Our goal at Legacy is to enlist our clients as volunteers to create and maintain a Legacy Trail at Big Cedar, thereby creating a community of our people involved in creating a legacy for generations to come.