Join Hands At The Beach In A Nationwide Spill Protest

by Jess Leber · 2010-06-10 07:33:00 UTC
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Want to participate in an powerful expression of your anger about the Gulf oil spill? Mark your calendars.

On June 26, a group called Hands Across The Sand is promoting a global day of peaceful protest with a simple message: Say no to offshore drilling; Say yes to clean energy. All you have to do is go to a beach near you, form a line in the sand, and then join hands for 15 minutes at 12 PM local time.

It seems like a simple idea, but it's possible -- just possible -- the message might actually get through to those thick-headed folk in Washington. After all, it was the first Earth Day demonstrations, which brought 20 million people together in the nation's largest protests to date, that helped spur the landmark laws we live by today.

You can go here to learn how to organize and promote an event on your local beach, or find out if you're near one of 200 already planned in 30 states. If you're landlocked, you can also organize a solidarity protest.

The movement began in Florida before the oil spill. Outraged by state and national politicians' plans to lift the offshore oil drilling ban along the state's coasts, more than 10,000 people formed a human chain on 100 beaches on February 13.

"We gathered to stop the expansion of oil drilling in our coastal waters. Now, just a few months later our entire Gulf of Mexico marine environment and coastal economy is at risk from the very thing we tried to stop, offshore oil drilling off our coast," says the movement's founder Dave Rauschkolb, a surfer and an owner of three beach restaurants in Seaside, Florida on the state's northern Gulf Coast.

He employs 150 people and worries that the spill could put him and others out of business during the summer tourist season. "The Deepwater Horizon disaster is a wakeup call," he says.

The February protest has already met with some success, Rauschkolb says. Shortly after the gathering, Florida's state legislature tabled a move to lift a near-shore oil drilling ban that would have brought rigs as class as 3 miles from the beach.

During the event in June you can also pledge to conserve energy and tell elected officials what you think of their plan to open the nation's beaches to the next offshore oil drilling disaster. More than a dozen environmental groups are helping sponsor the event.

Photo Credit: Hands Across The Sand

Jess Leber is a Change.org editor. She most recently covered climate and energy issues as a reporter in Washington, D.C
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