Oil drilling opponents to lock Hands Across the Sand today at Swampscott beach

SWAMPSCOTT – Environmental and public health activists are scheduled to gather at noon today on Preston Beach to lament the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and pay homage to the nation’s first offshore wind energy project approved off Cape Cod.The international event, dubbed Hands Across the Sand, will locally feature an appearance by Mark Rodgers, communications director for Cape Wind, the Boston-based company developing the wind turbines on Nantucket Shoal.Rodgers will be joined by state Rep. Lori Ehrlich, whose district includes Lynn, Swampscott and Marblehead, and Don Orne, leader of a North Shore peace group. Sponsored by Swampscott-based HealthLink, a regional environmental awareness organization, participants can lock hands and literally walk across the sand while others do the same throughout the world.Hands Across the Sand is the largest gathering against offshore oil drilling in history. Organizers emphasize it is a peaceful event and that participants should arrive at their beaches at 11 a.m. in the local time zone, prepared to hold hands and march at noon.According to HealthLink, “Looking out at the ocean, we will express our sorrow at the desecration of the Gulf and will gather the resolve to turn the nation towards safe renewable fuels. This oil spill is more than a warning. It is a call to action.”The solidarity is aimed at changing energy policy worldwide from fossil fuels to clean alternative sources.The message: No to offshore oil drilling, yes to clean energy.”The image is powerful, the message simple,” said event founder Dave Rauschkolb.”No to offshore oil drilling, yes to clean energy. We are drawing a line in the sand against offshore oil drilling along America’s beaches and in solidarity events across America and around the world. No one industry should be able to place entire coastal economies and marine environments at risk with dangerous, dirty mistakes.”Hands Across The Sand was founded by Rauschkolb in October 2009. He organized a statewide gathering on Feb. 13, 2010, to send a message to Florida’s legislators and the state’s governor that Floridians did not want them to lift the bans on near and offshore oil drilling in Florida’s waters.Thousands of Floridians representing 60 towns and cities and over 90 beaches joined hands to protest the efforts by the Florida Legislature and Congress to lift the ban on oil drilling in the near and off shores of Florida. Thousands joined hands from Jacksonville to Miami Beach and Key West to Pensacola Beach. The lifting of the near shore ban would have brought oil rigs as close as 3 miles from Florida’s shores. Shortly after the event the Florida Legislature tabled the effort.Parking is available across the street from Preston Beach.