The other day we went to a “grunion run” in Southern California. The grunion are a species of fish that only live in CA and spawn on the beach at night during a very short window in the spring and summer. Watching these thousands of small, slender fish wriggle and squirm and be swept out to sea, as they’ve done for thousands of years is thrilling and amazing but also, kind of reminded us that what we were seeing doesn’t compare to the numbers of grunion that you could see 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago…nature is changing, and changing quite rapidly at this point and it’s going to take real work and sacrifice from all of us to keep this spectacular planet healthy enough to sustain us.
This year, we’re giving 10% of the proceeds from April sales to The Center for Biological Diversity. Near and dear to our hearts because they’re based in Tucson, where we have a small KB outpost, we’re also in awe of the work they do to protect the world’s most critically endangered animals and plants and the lands and waters that all living things need to survive. They are an organization that we admire and that gives us hope through our anxieties and fears for the planet – in their words “we want those who come after us to inherit a world where the wild is still alive.”
The Center for Biological Diversity was founded in 1989 when Kierán Suckling, Peter Galvin, and Todd Schulke, surveying for the US Forest Service, found a rare Mexican spotted owl nest in an old-growth tree. When they found out that same tree was part of a vast area slated to be razed in a massive timber sale, they took their findings to the local Forest Service manager. It soon became clear that the agency was more invested in its relationship with big timber than in its commitment to protect forest wildlife and the resulting fight to save this rare owl kicked off the group that would eventually be known as the Center for Biological Diversity.
The Center now works to combat a growing number of national and worldwide threats to biodiversity, from the overarching global problems of unsustainable human population and climate change, to domestic sources of species endangerment, such as off-road vehicle excess. Through their unparalleled record of legal successes they have developed a unique negotiating position with both government agencies and private corporations, enabling them, at times, to secure broad protections for species and habitats without the threat of litigation. The center looks forward to a future of continued expansion, creativity, and no-holds-barred action on behalf of the world's most critically endangered animals and plants.
