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Floridians Gather to Say 'No' to Offshore Drilling
The line of black-clad protesters was stark against the sugar-white sand. Hands clasped, they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, staring out to sea.
Just over 250 people showed up for the "Hands Across the Sand" demonstration on Pensacola Beach. (Bruce Graner/bgraner@pnj.com) On
Saturday afternoon, more than 250 people gathered at Casino Beach near
the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier to participate in "Hands Across the
Sand." The 30-minute demonstration was part of a statewide endeavor to
show opposition to proposals to permit oil and gas exploration in the
Gulf of Mexico.
Simultaneous protests took place at Navarre Beach and the Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce.
Saturday's event, aided by clear, sunny weather, drew a diverse crowd.
"There are young and old, Democrats and Republicans here today," said Patricia Edmisten, spokeswoman for Pensacola Patriots for Peace. "We all care about our beaches and the health of our environment. We're here to draw a literal line in the sand."
"Hands Across the Sand" participants were asked to wear black to represent an oil spill. Protester Linda Lewis accessorized her dark outfit with a silver dolphin pin and a small American flag.
The Gulf Breeze resident said that offshore drilling would harm Pensacola's pristine beaches.
"Spillage and debris from the platforms are my biggest concerns," she explained. "I believe that the United States should stand alone in regards to oil, but this is not the way to do it."
Her husband, Jack, feared that offshore drilling would pose a serious threat to local tourism.
"When someone checks into one of these beach hotels, the rooms don't include tar-removal packs," he said. "It really concerns me to think that one day, they will."
During the peaceful gathering, attendees chatted quietly, hair dancing in the stiff breeze.
Chasidy Hobbs, event organizer and member of the environmental group Emerald CoastKeeper, walked along the long line of protesters. Wearing a "No Oil Drilling in Florida" T-shirt, she encouraged participants to do more by writing letters of protest to their state representatives.
Hobbs, 34, said the numbers just don't add up when it comes to offshore drilling.
"The number of potential jobs with drilling is nowhere near the number that we have in our tourism industry," she explained. "One study stated that 10 years after we start drilling, gas prices would drop three cents. It doesn't make sense to risk a million-plus tourism jobs to maybe save 3 cents."
26 Comments so far
Show AllIts the OILARCHY. And Obomber is their puppet.
Just ask the Alaskan Native subsistence fisherpeople whose waters Obomber is polluting.
I protest all new oil drilling. I understand the corporations' wanting new oil because new oil means new profits. But seriously, why are we wasting time, effort and probably our future by searching for more fossil fuel when we should be desperately seeking renewable energy sources and refining them?
Is good old common sense so hard to find these days? (rhetorical question).
I doubt two hundred and fifty well intentioned folks are going to make any difference to the desire for more and more profit and a disregard for sanity and the environment.
The oil offshore our coasts can only provide a few years respite from the inevitable depletion of all oil reserves and thus seems another in a long, long line of shortsighted policies from our current administration. Instead of pandering to an industry that has proven itself insulated from any regard for the welfare of this planet this government should be working harder to find the alternative and greener sources of the energy we need to survive.
So let's all stay home and do nothing? That's a defeatist attitude.
I applaud these people for actually doing something.
Why did you assume I was in favor of inaction? What in my post sparked this rather unintelligent criticism of words of mine that never once mentioned defeatism?
If you wish to insult someone, pick on one of your own diminished intellect.
doubledee,
You took offense where none was meant, my friend. I thought you sounded discouraged. Please feel encouraged, not insulted.
I have no doubt your intellect is quite high and I hope you will afford me the same respect.
Peace.
I trust you post with honesty. Thanks for the correction. Far too many here ,when their cherished belief system is challenged, however respectfully, act like children and engage in temper tantrums. I had recently been subjected to the tantrums of two children masquerading as adults and you suffered the fallout. I apologize.
Good show and also the oil acts as cushions if you have earthquake faults there and since
Haiti is right downn the street,so to speak,you probobly do.That is my total reason for opposing any drilling off the coast of California.Tony
I am not sure if it is the reporter or the people interviewed but this article clearly points out that most Americans are dumbasses.
The reasons for or against drilling in the gulf are based on the best capitalist goals of production of jobs and money.
Not one mention that to use all fossil fuel resources remaining means that some who attended will not have a home anymore as in this century Florida will be under water.
DUH!!!!
My wife and I stayed at a motel in Pensecola once - on the beach. The sand was so fine it squeaked when you walked on it. You can guess what tar will do to the sand.
The 250 people would do more good by standing in front of the state capitol building and letting state legislators know that they will be voted out of office if they do not get Washington to change its policies.
now who is going to run against obama in the democratic presidential primary in new hampshire in 2012?
Now how many of those floridians will still be in that line when gas hits $4/gal?
Not all of us are so addicted to the automobile.
I totally understand that. I just wanted to point out that a couple of years ago when gas was almost $4 everyone was asking for heads to roll left and right and start drilling everywhere. Where are all those people now? I bet some of them are on a beach in Florida.
although you bring up the issue of inertia... about our way of life...
there's little... any of us... including this blog i'm typing... that doesn't... in some part... depend on cheap oil and gas...
now... 40 year olds and up... and... 40 and below... it's hard to jettison... societies the world over... built from the ground up... to depend on... ships... trains... planes... trucks... and cars... to get everyone and everything from one place to another...
for example... take george dumbass bush's proclamation... a few years back... "...I can't wait to be eating Indian mangoes"... or some such thing... after some "bi-lateral" accord or treaty of some sort...
the "division of labor" principle... which enabled ancient societies... to become more than agricultural migrants... today... has people sitting down for a basic chicken dinner... and poosibly... not one of the foodstuffs or packagings for it... came from anywhere within a 1000 miles of the diners...
btw... what were YOU doing on saturday...
Thank you to those few who took 30 minutes of their day to say protecting their shores and beaches is important. For understanding the importance of standing up and saying we need to find alternative resources of energy and stop our addiction to oil.
And to the million of senior's in FL who sit on their butts all day. Those who would not stand up for 30 minutes to say you want FL's beaches and ocean fronts protected for future generations, that 30 min’s is asking for too much. Enjoy the sunshine, you bunch of pathetic, cantankerous, parasites.
I wonder how many in the NIMBY crowd are opposed to offshore drilling in someone else's backyard.
Right on baby, Power to the people. l wonder how many of those protesters drove to those rallies in vehicles tanked up with petro made by sucking the life blood out of some Middle Eastern or Latin American country while raping their enviroment and killing their citizens in order to keep the oil flowing to the good ol' USA. God Bless America or maybe the Reverand Wright was right....
ES;"Power to the people".Dont we wish and the fact that we use other peoples oil leaves alot to be desired but there is OPEC who has to be dealt with and most countries who produce oil would be broke without it so,to me,it is their government's choice to drill.It would probobly be a good thing if these countries people protested their governments but that is their choice and I know the US oil folks have their greedy hands in all of these countries politics and businesses.A finger in the dike is all this is but it is a positive among so,so many negatives.Tony
The desperate demand for oil needs to decrease significantly if we are to keep offshore drilling off permanently. One example is taking a means of public transportation in place of a car where possible. Light rails for train rides would reduce the demand for oil.
It's a start.
It's not much of one.
But ask a pebble to change the course of an avalanche.
The time is coming when all the guns and thugs the governments can muster won't be enough to stop what's coming...
What? Drill, baby, drill, but not in my back yard?
Sandbaggers?
250 people. How many drove to get there?
With this level of debate, we are doomed.
Do we reflect the poisoned atmosphere in Washington DC and around our planet or do they reflect our attitude?
I was a part of the action in Palatka, FL along the St John's River and was proud to be there. We expressed our opposition to drilling in Florida because it is our home and we want to protect it. The Earth is also our home and I am sure most or all of us would be out to protest drilling wherever it is dangerous and ill advised. Which is, in my opinion, if I am still allowed to express one, dangerous everywhere.
We need to stop burning oil - period.
If we burn it all to move our automobiles we will not have it for other important uses that don't involve combustion. Put the investment into solar technology in the "Sunshine State" and we will all be better off. Climate chaos is already unfolding all around us and we keep adding to the danger with every mile driven. Really clean alternative energy research is the only responsible move.
Let's stop calling each other names and get down to fixing the problem before we are all fighting over the scraps of our industrial society.
I don't know how much time we have to fool around. I want a livable world for my grandchildren to grow up in. That is what is at stake here.
Can we all agree that delivering a sustainable world for all future generations is our responsibility
I thank you for your good citizenship in acting upon your principles and second your criticism about the level of debate here and everywhere.