Hands Across the Sand Events Across the US Today

Over one year since the horrible BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, media attention on the matter has waned,  politicians have gone back to their old ways, and oil companies.. well, you know what they do (all while residents and wildlife are still being tremendously harmed by the disaster). But many (beyond those clearly harmed) have not forgotten and have been continuously working to prevent another such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico or anywhere else in the United States.

Oceana, a leading ocean conservation and activism organization, wrote to me that, today, “thousands of people will join Oceana, the Surfrider Foundation, the Sierra Club and other conservation groups to point out that one year after the Deepwater Horizon debacle, very little progress has been made to protect marine ecosystems (and the local beaches we all love) from another harmful oil spill.”

hands across the sand activism

Hands Across the Sand is the event, and it has even spread to other countries now.

Beyond going to the beach and holding hands, though, the great network of activists behind this are also gathering signatures in Florida to get offshore oil drilling legally banned in Florida waters.

HATS community organizers in Florida are now working to gather enough petition signatures (700,000 signatures) to get a constitutional amendment on the 2012 Florida ballot that would ban near shore oil drilling (10 miles from the coast on the Gulf of Mexico side, 3 miles from the coast on the Atlantic coast side) during statewide elections. If they manage to do so, and garner a 60 percent “yes” vote in 2012, Floridians will prevent the expansion of offshore drilling for oil and gas in Florida waters.

An awesome goal to be working towards.

Hand Across the Sand, interestingly, started before the BP oil spill due to other environmental problems in the Gulf of Mexico, but it picked up steam as a result of that horrible disaster, of course. Here’s a little more background on how it actually started:

BACKGROUND: This grassroots event was begun by restaurateur from the Florida Panhandle named Dave Rauschkolb, who organized several Florida events in June 2009, before the spring 2010 BP oil spill. Rauschkolb was concerned about how increasing pollution in Florida waters and on Panhandle beaches would affect his livelihood, two beach-side restaurants, and Floridians’ quality of life.

Great to see the event continuing on and even growing.

Now, hopefully people didn’t drive to those events, using more oil and fueling the oil companies and oil drilling practices they are opposing.

Related Stories on Planetsave:

  1. BP, Under Criminal Investigation & Violating Its Probation, Still Gets Multi-Million Dollar Government Contracts
  2. BP Getting $13 Billion Tax Break? {TAKE ACTION}
  3. Gulf Residents Trek 1,200 Miles on Foot to D.C. to Ask for More Action on BP Oil Spill
  4. More BP Oil Spill Reflections: Could Another Similar Disaster Happen? “Absolutely”
  5. Offshore Oil Drilling after Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill — No New Safeguards, GOP Push for Less Oversight

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