By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
In a symbolic but moving gesture, the Hands Across the Sands oil drilling protest on Saturday brought out people from Miami to Melbourne to stand in solidarity for clean beaches, and against more offshore oil drilling.
There were events around the world, but the turnout was especially heavy in the U.S., spanning the nation from High Line Park in New York City and Nags Head in North Carolina in the East, to Puget Sound and Los Angeles and several beaches in between on the West Coast. People lined up in Anchorage and Maui.
But Floridians, where Hands began last year, and other Gulf Coasters took the lead, turning out in force on shores threatened by BP’s out-sized, oozing and seemingly unstoppable oopsie.
Many photos document this touching turnout on the Sands’ Facebook page. We’ve brought you a few selected shots:
The message is clear here on this Pinellas County beach in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area
Nothing quite says “Don’t Drill Our Beaches” like “Don’t Drill Our Beaches.” In Pinellas County they’ve got some beautiful white sand in the way of that oil slick in the gulf, and the message was clear.