When it comes to sustainability, every company on Earth needs to think about how their organization, and how the people involved with that organization impact the world around us.

At Speck, even though we’re a global brand, we’re a tight-knit group that takes great pride in our hometown of San Francisco, as well as in the surrounding Bay Area communities. Now more than ever, every member of Speck understands the importance that goes with truly giving back to our society and making sure our organization isn’t just sustainable, but that we’re proactive in making the world a better place for future generations to come. That’s why our brand slogan is designed for impact.

This year for Earth Day, we wanted to act locally and make a true impact, that’s why we shifted our focus towards directly affecting the Bay Area.

We were looking for a source of instant gratification, not in the sense of Earth Day being a quick and easy task for us to complete and move on from, but more-so being able to actually see the physical or concrete change take place right before our eyes.

That’s why we teamed up with Save The Bay for Earth Day 2019 to help protect and restore the wetlands of the Bay Area. They are so significant to San Francisco’s wildlife and environment, and it’s our duty to ensure they not only survive, but thrive.

What is Save The Bay?

Since 1961, Save The Bay has been working tirelessly to restore the Bay Area’s wetlands to reduce pollution and to educate future generations of Bay inhabitants as to how they can protect and restore the environment.

Save The Bay has been an incredible reminder for everyone in our organization to push ourselves and to confront major challenges—such as climate change and pollution—in collaborative and groundbreaking ways that allow true change to take place.

Why are the wetlands important?

The Bay Area has countless ecological, psychological, and economic benefits that we get from thriving wetlands. The healthy tidal marshes aren’t just an enticing visual landscape, they serve as filters for the Bay, sifting out harmful pollutants and improving the water quality for wildlife and humanity.

This beautiful and useful habitat that surrounds our home provides life to hundreds of fish and wildlife species, as well as plays an integral role forming the base of marine and native food ecosystems. As the Save The Bay organization quotes, “when tidal marshes thrive, we all thrive.”

What are some benefits of a healthy tidal marsh?

Cleaner Water

Common plants found in the wetlands filter the pollution to actually clean the Bay by trapping polluted runoff before toxins can reach open water.

Economic Benefits

The wetlands provide incredible economic benefits to California due to the amount of tourism and fishing. Without it, the Bay Area wouldn’t be the Bay Area.

Curbs Global Warming

Natural environmental systems like tidal marshes help capture and store carbon from the atmosphere, improving the quality of air and our ozone layer.

Ensures A Habitat For Sensitive Species

In a healthy state, tidal marshes serve as hunting and breeding grounds for a myriad of wildlife. They also provide food for hundreds of species, including threatened or endangered species.

What environmental issue was our goal for Earth Day?

There are a few different geographic zones that describe the habitat around the Bay Area’s marshlands. Our focus was on what we call the transition zone. This wide and gently sloping habitat sits between the marshlands and the uplands and is home to countless wildlife and plant species. It’s an integral component of a functioning wetland system, and in many areas has been reduced to only a few feet wide.

This is partly due to an influx of invasive plant species that are continuing to threaten our natural wildlife sanctuaries. These invasive plants infiltrate the natural landscape, alter the ecosystem processes, and in turn deteriorate the habitat for native plants and animals.

Our goal was to help decrease the amount of invasive plant species that are plaguing the transition zone, and to keep them from coming back.

We spent this Earth Day tirelessly locating and extracting these problematic plant species in order for the natural ecosystem to thrive. After a full day, we were very proud of our accomplishments, but we realize it was only a small drop in the bucket. However, this experience has opened our eyes to the good that we can do, and the ripples of inspiration and passion are currently permeating through our company, and hopefully to the rest of the Bay Area.

We can’t wait for our next excursion out to Save The Bay, because this Earth Day we’ve realized environmental issues need to be a focus 24/7/365, and not just one day a year.

Interested In Helping Save The Bay?

If you’re looking to help protect and restore San Francisco Bay for people and wildlife, see how you can volunteer or donate today.

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