On June 26th, FTLOB photographer Ed Brydon trekked out to Coney Island to support Hands Across the Sand, an organization which coordinates international demonstrations against offshore drilling. According to their mission statement, their aims are simple: to “oppose offshore oil drilling and champion clean energy and renewables… [to draw] human lines in the sand against the threat oil drilling poses to our cherished coastal economies, marine wildlife and marine environment.”

Ed recently gave us the heads up and graciously offered to share his photos and some thoughts. Read about the event below, or head on over to his blog for more!

Ed writes:

This was not a reactionary protest against BP or the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Hands Across the Sand was conceived before that and the first protest was held across Florida on February 13th, 2010. The protest was a simple one. At noon, the gathered people on over 700 beaches in the USA, over 900 total around the world, formed a single line facing the sea and joined hands for 15 minutes.

To me it was the simple act of the joining of hands between all sorts of people, nevermind their age, race, ethnicity, that was the most powerful and symbolic. Is a line of people in the sand going to actually do anything about this? Arguably not. Many don’t have the time or money to go down to Florida and help with the clean-up, and there are agencies much better at doing so even as it proves difficult. However, those who gathered still want their feelings to be known. The fact that this was a huge event across the country, and even world, shows that people really care about this. The coming together of people saying to industry and government that now is the time to take action, please take notice!

My own feeling though is something like helplessness. The Deepwater Horizon incident is just one example of some of the profligate practices and malpractices pursued by companies in the rush for the money as they compete for our dwindling resources. I don’t know what the solution is, this kind of engineering and science is not my field, but in the case of the Florida Gulf there needs to be one, and quick. A hugely pressing issue though is that we really need to accelerate our investigations into better, safer, and less destructive methods for a lot of our industries, not just oil. I am sure there is opportunity for entrepreneurship out there if people look past what we already know!