Wanted to share a little Zac Brown Band with you. “TOES”

Hands Across the Sand is now international. Any person in any country may plan events on this website. This is a peaceful gathering of the people of the world. Planning an event is as simple as this:

* Go to your beach on June 26 at 11 AM in your time zone.
* Form lines in the sand and at 12:00, join hands.

The image is powerful, the message is simple. NO to Offshore Oil Drilling, YES to Clean Energy.

The Movement Started In Florida

In Florida on Saturday, February 13, 2010, a statewide gathering against offshore oil drilling occurred. Thousands of Floridians representing 60 towns and cities and over 90 beaches joined hands to protest the efforts by the Florida Legislature and the US Congress to lift the ban on oil drilling in the near and off shores of Florida. Florida’s Hands Across The Sand event was the largest gathering in the history of Florida united against oil drilling. Thousands joined hands from Jacksonville to Miami Beach and Key West to Pensacola Beach, each against oil drilling in Florida’s waters.

Mission Statement

1. To organize a national movement to oppose offshore oil drilling and champion clean energy and renewables. These gatherings will bring thousands of American citizens to our beaches and cities and will draw metaphorical and actual lines in the sand; human lines in the sand against the threat oil drilling poses to America’s coastal economies and marine environment.
2. To convince our State Legislators, Governors, Congress and President Obama to stop the expansion of offshore oil drilling and to adopt policies encouraging clean and renewable energy sources. America needs legislation that creates tax incentives and subsidies to encourage the growth of clean energy and renewable industries for America’s future.
An Opportunity of National Importance

Now is the time for America and our leaders to join hands and steer our country’s energy policy away from our dependence on fossil fuels and into the light of clean energy and renewables.

Join hands with us and draw a line in the sand against offshore oil drilling

What to do at a
Hands Event
STEP 1
Go to the beach at 11 AM in your time zone for one hour, rain or shine.
STEP 2
Join hands for 15 minutes at 12:00 forming lines in the sand against oil drilling in our coastal waters.
STEP 3
Leave only your footprints.

We all know that polystyrene is bad for the environment: but also know that it isn’t so great for your health either. So we do we keep producing it and using it? Plastics marked with the recycling code 6, for polystyrene, can be fashioned into soft or rigid foams, and are in common use. Not only do they require petroleum to make, but they take eons to break down in the environment.

But what you might not know is that polystyrene can also release potentially toxic breakdown products (including styrene), particularly when heated! If you don’t want harmful chemicals leaching into your food or drink, even at low concentrations, choose ceramic, glass (recycled), paper or safer plastics like numbers 1, 2 or 5.The bottom line is to keep your foods safe and free of chemicals. Stop using poison to store it in.

By David Edwards
Thursday, June 17th, 2010 — 10:17 am

Jon Stewart to Obama: Eight presidents couldnt rid US of oil addiction

President Obama called for “America to seize its own destiny” and stop depending on foreign oil in his Oval Office speech Tuesday. But Obama is just the latest in a long line of presidents who have tried to get the U.S. off of oil and failed, Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart says.

Stewart presented a little history lesson Wednesday to remind his viewers just how hard it would be for America to beat its oil addiction.

Unlike many of his predecessors, Obama is one of the few presidents who has been willing say that oil is a finite resource.

“For decades we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America’s innovation and seize control of our own destiny,” Obama said Tuesday.

But the call to end the country’s dependence on oil isn’t a new one. In his 2006 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush said, “This country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.”
Story continues below…

“But back then in 2006 we didn’t do it because oil dependence had at that point only entangled us in two simultaneous wars,” Stewart noted. “But now it’s gotten us into two wars and a giant spill. That’s the push we needed,” he said sarcastically.

“I wish we had taken care of this energy problem ten years ago when there was no war and the economy was great. That would have been a great time to develop a long-term energy strategy,” said Stewart.

“I bet the four guys before him would have gotten us off of foreign oil too if they had thought of it,” Stewart continued.

But they did.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan told a joint session of Congress, “We will continue supportive research leading to the development of new technologies and more independence of foreign oil.” In 1979, President Jimmy Carter appeared outraged at the “intolerable dependence on foreign oil.”

So was Nixon, in 1974: “We’ll break the back of the energy crisis. We will lay the foundation for our future capacity to meet America’s energy needs from America’s own resources.”

Stewart was nearly speechless at the failure of the last eight presidents. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me eight times, am I a f**king idiot?” he wondered.

This video is from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, broadcast June 16, 2010.

Why is it when yo go to the beach you leave your garbage behind? I will never understand the lack of respect for our waters. Do you want the beach to be here for you? Do you want to take your grandson fishing someday? Well do do me a favor pick up after yourself. Stop the liter and keep the beach’s clean! So all can enjoy what nature has to offer.

Thank you,

The Beach

The family will benefit from green cleaning products in a number of ways. Here are some of those ways to keep in mind.

Allergies Reduced
Many families find that their children are suffering from allergies, even though their family history does not necessary say that there are no allergies. In some situations, chemicals found within cleaning products contain allergens. Bleaches, toxic cleaning sprays and other chemicals used to clean the home commonly contain a variety of ingredients specifically able to cause or trigger allergies in people. Children and the elderly are most likely to suffer from them, since they have weaker immune systems, but anyone can suffer from them. Most people do not make the correlation between the allergies and the chemicals, though.

Less Toxic Risk
Many chemicals contain toxins, including poisonous elements, cancer causing irritants, skin irritants, and harmful products for your respiratory system. Each of these is likely in your cabinet right now. They are there at the risk of a child drinking them. They can also be a risk of inhaling these products when they are sprayed into the air or applied to surfaces. There are many instances where you can easily ingest products that are unhealthy for you that contain chemicals on them. Even trace amounts of some chemicals can and do build up in your system, with the potential to lead to heart and lung conditions, including cancers.

More Risks Examined
There are many other risks associated with traditional cleaning products. These are some of the reasons you should consider green cleaning. Even if you do not do the cleaning yourself, but hire a professional cleaning service, the key is to look for the “green” factor.

* Chemicals applied to counter tops or sponges will rinse down the drain into the water sources for your home. If there are a large amount of chemicals being used, the fumes from those chemicals can be dangerous coming up from the drain. Inhaling them can have immediate effects.
* Some chemicals have extraordinary risks associated with them when individuals are exposed to them. A chemical called alkyl phenol ethoxylate is commonly used in many types of surface cleaners. You may use it to clean your tabletops or the cabinets in your home. In some lab studies, there is evidence that these products wind up in water sources where they cause reproductive effects in wildlife.

You may be asking, then, why should you buy green products? The answers are everywhere. No matter if you are to buy green cleaning products or you hire a professional company using green cleaning products, the key is to have them in your home instead of having other, more potentially dangerous chemicals in your home.

* When you clean green, you avoid exposing your family to the harmful toxins in many of these products.
* You reduce the environmental impact of your home and family on the environment around you.
* You are using non-hazardous products, those that provide your family with safety even when you do turn your back for a second and your toddler climbs into the cabinet.
* Buying products that are green cleaning products is also much less likely to use as much packaging and these products are often biodegradable.
* Sometimes, you can reduce your costs by not having to purchase costly products.

Clean green one way or the other. Call on your local service company to provide you with the green cleaning you need. Be sure to purchase only products that have been tested to be safe to use within the home. You will be happy you did when your family’s health improves from the lack of chemicals in the home.