Yesterday thousands of people across the country joined together as part of "Hands Across the Sand" to protest offshore drilling and promote clean energy. Locally, gatherings were organized at Coney Island, Long Beach, and down the shore in New Jersey. Asbury Park protester Karen Broselofsky told NJ.com, "The more people show they care, the more the right things will happen. I’m really worried about the world my nieces and their children are going to inherit."

As protests were being planned, Stephanie Massaux realized there was nothing going on in New York City, and took it upon herself to organize a protest at Coney Island. She said, "I felt Coney Island was a good choice because it was easily accessible to everybody. They didn't need a car to get here, they didn't need a lot of money to get here...they can even bike here." Here's a video of her explaining why she wanted to protest.

Protesters gathered at noon and held hands for 15 minutes, and Rep. Frank Pallone even showed up at one of the Jersey gatherings. He said to the crowds, "From the very beginning, big oil sold the nation a bill of goods, that they would be able to drill it and prevent a spill. They said if a spill occurred they could stop it. None of that is true. It never was true. The answer here has to be no to deepwater drilling." It has now been 69 days since the oil spill started in the Gulf of Mexico, and the latest NOAA oil trajectory shows "potential beached oil" all the way to Pensacola.