Today, registration officially opens for the 6th annual Hands Across the Sand, taking place this year on Saturday, May 16. Hands Across the Sand is the annual grassroots day of action in which communities all around the globe gather at a local beach or other treasured place and join hands to protect these treasured places from the impacts of offshore drilling and dirty fossil fuels.
SACE has been a leading sponsor of Hands since its inception on the beaches of Florida in 2010. Since then, Hands events have brought thousands of communities together to stand up for their most treasured places in all 50 states and in 44 countries around the world.
The gatherings are simple… at 12:00 noon, in any time zone, participants join hands to form a line as long as possible along their local beach, river, lake, park, or other treasured place. This chain of people is both a physical and metaphorical line in the sand, making a statement that these people are standing up for the protection of our treasured places from the impacts of risky fossil fuels.
Will you consider signing up here to help with an event in your community?
The importance of Hands Across the Sand is perhaps greater to the Southeast this year than ever before, with the newly released proposal to open the mid- and south Atlantic to offshore drilling for the first time. Unless we citizens get really loud, a huge area off the coast of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia will be leased for drilling starting in 2021.
Hands Across the Sand is the perfect opportunity for citizens to voice their opposition to Atlantic drilling while the proposal is still just that – a proposal. Moreover, this year is the 5th anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil tragedy. It is five years later and the impacts of the spill are still being discovered, like the tar balls continually being discovered on Florida’s beaches and the gigantic deposit of oil just found on the floor of the Gulf.
Hands Across the Sand isn’t just for coastal citizens, though. Hands Across the Land is the inland counterpart and stands in opposition to fossil fuel impacts like coal ash spills, fracking pollution, and climate change. All of these phenomena show that risky fossil fuels must be replaced by clean energy and Hands Across the Sand gives us the opportunity to let this message ring loud and clear around the world with a united voice.
Remember, YOU can make a difference. Be part of the solution. Sign up here.