Julie Thibodeaux

Steve and Ryan Riella, frustrated by litter in state and national parks, founded Cleaner Parks, a Fort Worth-based nonprofit organizing cleanups in North Texas. They aim to expand their efforts nationwide, hosting events like the upcoming Isle du Bois Cleanup and engaging volunteers to preserve nature's beauty.

A natural gas company wants to put a wastewater injection well in east Fort Worth next to Lake Arlington, a major water source for North Texas. The proposed site is located near the intersection of Cravens and Berry Streets, about 9,000 feet from Lake Arlington Dam, according to the city of Arlington.

High-level radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear reactors could start traveling through North Texas as early as 2021 if a West Texas dump site is allowed to expand its operations.

Last April, experts from across the state came together at Tandy Hills Natural Area in Fort Worth for the largest bioblitz ever held in North Texas. Volunteers not only recorded 3,000 observations of flora and fauna at the 160-acre prairie remnant, they inspired another group of naturalists to host their own bioblitz.

The first year my husband and I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, we were prepared to count birds and take names. On the weekend of the worldwide citizen scientist event, our canopied backyard deck in Fort Worth was our bird blind. Binoculars? Check. Bird guides? Check. Checklists? Check.

Thousands of North Texans marched Jan. 21 a day after the Inaugeration in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington. The worldwide event drew nearly 700 sister marches and more than 4 million participants, according to high estimates.

Native plants have been touted for their water saving properties and importance to pollinators in recent years but a professor of entomology and wildlife ecology says the need for native plants is more dire than many experts have let on.

While the year ended with a fossil fuel-loving president-elect and cabinet waiting to take office and threatening to rollback environmental progress, locally there was much to rejoice about in 2016. For North Texas, the year was packed with pioneering achievements from local activists, entrepreneurs and other greenies.

A new nature documentary Seasons, directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, the French filmmakers who made Winged Migration and Oceans, offers animal lovers an emersion into a world where wild things rule.

They didn't venture into Cowtown, but PETA recently placed a pair of PETA billboards promoting kindness to cows in Dallas – and just a stone's throw from two McDonald's restaurants. It was a nervy gesture in a city known for its steaks and barbecue.

Wendel Withrow at Green Source DFW Sustainable Leadership AwardsEnvironmental activists, eco-preneurs, solar advocates and bee huggers came together Dallas Arbortum's Rosine Hall to honor local eco-heros at the Memnosyne Institute’s fifth annual Green Source DFW Sustainable Leadership Awards on Thursday.

A new coworking space in Dallas is in the works that aims to be the greenest flexible work space in North Texas. GoodWork, the brainchild of Amy King, a Dallas-based creative consultant, and Steve Kinder, founder of LOFTwall, is set to open late 2017 at 1808 S. Good Latimer Expressway in Dallas.