Hundreds ‘Stand in the Sand’ to Protest Refugio Oil Spill
They Called for More Renewable Energy Sources to Save Environment
Nearly 500 people gathered Sunday at De La Guerra Plaza before marching down State Street then stringing themselves along West Beach. They decried May 19’s oil spill and promoted the use of more sustainable energy sources.
Joined by Stand in the Sand organizer Eric Cardenas, Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, Gaviota Coast Conservancy director Phil McKenna, and Community Environmental Council leader Dave Davis, among many other elected officials, nonprofit partners, and area residents, the crowd formed a human boom at the waterfront to symbolically stem the rising tide of U.S. oil use and the damage it does to natural environments.
“We have seen this before. The 1969 spill in the Santa Barbara Channel, the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, and in 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico,” Schneider told the crowd. “The reality is that under the status quo we will see more spills like this in the future. We are here because we want to see an alternative.”
