Main Beach Park, Amelia Island in Fernandina Beach, Florida (Photo June 18, 2010)
Join Hands Across the Sand in the Largest Gathering Against Offshore Oil Drilling In History
“Hands Across the Sand,” is being sponsored here on Amelia Island, Florida by the Nassau County Sierra Club. Participants should meet at Main Beach Park in Fernandina Beach (at Atlantic Ave. and South Fletcher) on June 26, 2010 at 11:30 a.m. Then at 12 noon join hands in a line across the beach, a metaphorical and actual “line in the sand.”
This is a peaceful gathering of the people of America and the world. The image is powerful, the message is simple. NO to Offshore Oil Drilling, YES to Clean Energy. On Saturday, June 26, Americans and the people of the world in solidarity events will join hands on beaches and in parks and cities united against the dangers offshore oil drilling present to our oceans and marine wildlife, fishing industries and coastal economies, in Hands Across The Sand.
Hands Across The Sand is endorsed by national and international environmental organizations including Sierra Club, Audubon, Surfrider, Oceana, Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife, Alaska Wilderness League, Ocean Conservancy, Friends of the Earth, Environment America, 350, MoveOn.org, Center for Biological Diversity and CleanEnergy.org.
Hands Across The Sand‘s mission is to change energy policy away from its dependence on fossil fuels and into the light of clean energy. The aim is to convince our leaders to abandon expanded offshore oil drilling and adopt policies that encourage clean and renewable energy sources.
Boardwalk, Main Beach Park in City of Fernandina Beach
“The image is powerful, the message simple,” said event founder Dave Rauschkolb. “No to offshore oil drilling, yes to clean energy. We are drawing a line in the sand against offshore oil drilling along America’s beaches and in solidarity events across America and around the world. No one industry should be able to place entire coastal economies and marine environments at risk with dangerous, dirty mistakes.”
Hands Across The Sand was founded by Dave Rauschkolb in October of 2009. He organized a statewide gathering on February 13, 2010, (about two months before the Gulf Oil spill), to send a message to Florida‘s legislators and Governor Crist that Floridians did not want them to lift the bans on near and offshore oil drilling in Florida’s waters. Thousands of Floridians representing 60 towns and cities and over 90 beaches joined hands to protest the efforts by the Florida Legislature and the US Congress to lift the ban on oil drilling in the near and off shores of Florida. Thousands joined hands from Jacksonville to Miami Beach and Key West to Pensacola Beach. The lifting of the near shore ban would have brought oil rigs as close as 3 miles from Florida‘s shores. Shortly after the event the Florida Legislature tabled the effort.
