HANDS ACROSS THE (tar) SAND(S)

• Contact: Renee Lindstrom FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
• Phone: 250-361-7508                                                     
• Email: renee@insideawareness.com

Hands Across the Sand – Willows Beach on August 4th!

Victoria, BC – local residents Renee Lindstrom and Zia Cole have announced their plans for the 3rd annual Hands Across the Sand event on Saturday, August 4th, but this year founder Dave Rauschkolb has nicknamed the event “Hands Across the Tar Sands.”  Everyone is invited to gather at Willows Beach at 11 a.m.  At 12 noon, participants will form a line in the sand and join hands for 15 minutes.

People will be lining up at hands at Hands Across the Sand events all over the world on August 4th to support clean energy solutions. “This isn’t your typical social activism event,” says Lindstrom. “It’s a coming together of different traditions for a common purpose, recognizing the longing of humanity to deepen our connections while caring for our oceans, coastlines, and marine life.”

Rauschkolb founded the movement in Florida in 2010 as a response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and it quickly caught on. On June 26, 2010, more than 1000 events were held in 43 countries worldwide. In Victoria, over 400 people showed up at Willows Beach to join hands, forming a line that stretched from one end of the beach to the other.

“This year,” says Cole, “Rauschkolb is asking Canadians to stand together against the ever-expanding Tar Sands. Air and water pollution, habitat and species destruction are all direct results of these operations in northern Alberta that affect us all. It’s absolutely vital that we make the shift from toxic to clean, renewable energy sources right now – and this event is a positive step in that direction!”
The aim of Hands Across the Sand is simple: joining hands sends a powerful visual message of solidarity to world leaders.  People are unified in the defense of the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the food they consume from dirty energy sources. Joining hands in this way means supporting clean energy solutions.
“People are invited to join our Facebook Page by searching ‘Hands Across the Sands – Victoria, BC’,” says Lindstrom, “and if anyone is interested in helping us promote this event, please feel free to get in touch.”

“In 2010, there were 400 of us at Willows Beach,” adds Cole. “This year, let’s make it a thousand!”

For more information on the global event, visit: www.handsacrossthesand.com.

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