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Someone asked me the other day: “What is your favorite flower?”, and I immediately answered: “A dandelion.” It was a spontaneous answer and it took me by surprise. I would have guessed it would be a species more pedigree, more concrete or at least more colorful. Then I realized that the dandelion is so much more than that. It is a symbol of summertime, of joy and of dreaming. When we pick a dandelion and hold it to our lips we are invited to make a wish. We then gather all the air we can into our lungs, blow through its downy petals and release its delicate form into the space around us. It is the only flower that can count human beings as one of their most effective seed dispersers – and in return they restore within each of us our inner child – our dreaming self.

This issue focuses on the topic of air, but it is not all about the air we breathe. It is also about the dreams we dare to follow, like the story we cover of the first solar-powered aircraft to attempt an around-the-world flight through the darkest hours of night. It is about the need to stop and smell the flowers and appreciate the senses we have been given by which to experience and interpret the world, as garden writer Bonnie Blodgett learned after she lost her sense of smell.  We also recognize that our dreams may lead to conflict, as we learn from the wealthy enclave of Cape Cod filled with influential politicians now up in arms over the building plans for America’s first offshore wind farm. And, like air, this issue is about the things unseen and the unrecorded actions we commit that can make a huge impact.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the infamous hole in the ozone layer, and we pay tribute to the men who blew one of the most resonant whistles in the name of the environment to date. We also pay tribute to trees – our unsung soul mates for whom we can thank for every breath we take. And Angela Ruggeri a beautiful girl living with Cystic Fibrosis calls us all into action by asking us simply to breathe and believe.