Wildfire Update
Wildfire Update from Annie
I am writing to you today with gratitude for many things: chiefly the fog, the selfless firefighters and for my fearless friends in Bonny Doon and Big Sur defending their homes. Too many people have lost their homes or do not know and cannot find out. Several former staff members and colleagues are suffering this fate. As if that is not enough, COVID-19 aside, another hurricane is slamming into the Gulf states as I write.
All Annieglass staff and families are safe. Fortunately, none of us have had to evacuate like 77,000 others have in this county.
Our fellow glassmakers at Lundberg Studios in Davenport have been evacuated and the town is being heroically defended by the Bureau of Land Management and Cal Fire.
On my daily walks, I have personally witnessed the magnificent redwoods by my home slowly dying over the last 4 years from the top down due to climate change - lack of fog, hotter summers, less rain, and more drought.
These magnificent coastal California redwoods enchanted me when I first arrived in 1974. I lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains in a house that most surely is gone by now, fascinated with trees so large it seemed that could make their own climate. It was as different as one could get from New Jersey. I remember dressing in long johns in the morning it was so cold, to go to work at Upper Crust Pizza and being teased by Jim Lundberg for it. By noon, once the fog burned off, I would be boiling in them. I was never prepared for the cold and damp of the redwood forest, but I stayed because of their beauty, majesty, and wonderful scent like no other.
Fires were not something that ever happened in this area due to the intense fog we get, particularly in summer months, that prevents our coast-side town from being very sunny. The virgin forest burning now is on steep ravines that were too remote to log two centuries ago. The dense tree canopy has made it impossible to use aircraft to mitigate the fire. Studies show that redwoods capture more CO2 from our cars, trucks, and power plants than any other tree on Earth. We cannot afford to lose any more.
The Annieglass Grove cheeseboards or planks, as I designed them to be, were made by a mold Biagio Scarpello (our R&D guy) took from the bark of an ancient redwood. We will donate 20% of sales of these planks to the Community Foundation that can fund all manner of aid fire victims will need in the coming months and possibly years.
If you know someone who lost their Annieglass in the fire- send them our way for help replacing it.
I urge you to do your part to stop climate change now. It is happening in all parts of the world, from the Amazon to every corner of America. Let us do something before it is too late, no matter what your beliefs may be.
Donate Here to The Environmental Action Fund that has been seeking real change since 1974.
We have so little time left to get this right. Please help.
Local volunteer opportunities and donations may be made here to the Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, Fire Response Fund.
