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Little Boy, Big Sign: A young protester joined the Hands Across the Sand demonstration in Kings Beach on June 26. |
CommentsJoining Hands for Clean Energy
Tahoe takes part in global event to protest oil spill
By Melissa SiigPublished: July 19, 2010
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Kristi McMurray, dressed in a bikini top and wrap, walks over to a group of 20-something tourists from San Francisco lounging on beach chairs and towels at Kings Beach Recreation Area. It’s Tahoe’s first warm Saturday of the summer, and the beach is packed. After handing out a petition she hopes they’ll sign, McMurray gives her spiel:
“It’s going to be an historical event and it will change the tide of energy,” she tells them. “You will be telling your grandkids you were involved.”
As she walks away and the group seems unmoved, McMurray admits: “It’s hard to get people mustered.”
The historical event McMurray is talking about is Hands Across the Sand, a global movement that called for people on beaches across the world to join hands at noon on June 26 for 15 minutes as part of an international demonstration against offshore drilling. The protest was also intended to show support for clean alternatives to fossil fuels. While people did not turn out in historical proportions for the Kings Beach event, McMurray and other organizers were able to rally about 50 visitors and locals to participate.
The Kings Beach gathering was organized by Cyndee Shuey, an Incline Village resident who saw the event posted on Facebook. When she saw that not just coastal states were signing up but also inland areas with lakes, she decided to spearhead the event on the North Shore.
“I’ve always been an advocate for alternative energy,” Shuey said. “I grew up in a family that was strong supporters of that, but it hasn’t come as far as it should have. I was real disappointed with what happened at Copenhagen (the 2009 climate conference).”
Shuey was also deeply affected by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I cry at night looking at pictures of the tragedy,” she said. “My heart goes out to the animals that were affected.”
Shuey, who only signed up Tahoe on the Hands Across the Sand website two weeks before the event, did not have a lot of time to get the word out about the gathering. She spent days calling friends and asking them to come to Kings Beach on June 26. By 11:45 a.m. on the day of the event, however, only a few of her friends had shown up, so she and McMurray, who drove up from Reno with her two children to help Shuey, tried to motivate people on the beach to participate.
One woman the pair inspired was Mary Peetsch, who was visiting Tahoe with her husband and two kids from Rocklin. Her family left their sunbathing to join hands with strangers (including the group from San Francisco) for 15 minutes in a show of solidarity against offshore oil drilling.
“The oil spill is just disastrous for so many people, and the loss of income is so devastating. I would love for something to be done,” Peetsch said. “Hopefully us getting together will encourage our government to do something.”
Hands Across the Sand was founded in 2009 by Dave Rauschkolb, a surfer and businessman in Florida, to send a message to state leaders not to lift the ban on near and offshore drilling in Florida waters. After the BP oil spill that began in April, Hands Across the Sand supporters organized 678 events in every state in the union and 742 events abroad, including in Australia, India, South Africa, Japan, and Brazil. Info: handsacrossthesand.com
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