The environmental activists Southern California Action Coalition 350 called on the residents of Wilmington to join them in a march to Waterfront Park and a moment of unity, standing hand-by-hand across the bridge which lays a midst the shadows of toxic smoke being exerted from a refinery nearby, waving their banners in the faces of the guilty.
They called this day, Hands Across the Harbor. It's an extension of Hands Across the Sand, which celebrated its fourth anniversary on Saturday, the day of the event. The organizers decided to give it this name because of the location of the event.
Hands Across the Sand is a day dedicated for different groups to simultaneously display their support for clean energy and protest the use of hydraulic fracturing and the burning of fossil fuels for industrial purposes. Its also a day to recognize the reality of climate change and to push the community to action in order to drastically slow the effects, which has so far yielded unpredictable climates and the biggest drought in the history of California.
The topic of protest highest on everyone’s list today is the Keystone XL pipeline which runs from Alberta, Canada to Oklahoma. The pipeline was installed in order for the company to extract fuel from Canada and deliver it into the U.S. The process used to extract the fuel is called hydraulic fracturing, which studies have shown to cause major seismic activity on unstable faults, increasing significantly the number of earthquakes our land sustains.
The event began across the street inside of a presentation room located on the bottom floor of the apartment building adjacent to Waterfront Park. A table was set outside and on top of it, sign-in sheets with the intention of gathering information to help stay in contact with the individuals who were present.
Inside the room, there were approximately 10 rows of seats, which by 10:45 a.m. were filled to capacity, with some left to stand. The front-two rows were designated for those who only spoke and understood Spanish. There was also a Spanish-speaking translator who verbally transcribed the whole presentation for whomever necessary.
Behind and aside the spectators, were four tables which individually represented each organization that made up the Coalition 350. The organizations present consisted of: Carson Connected Inc., Communities for Better Environment, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, each vehemently opposing fracking and the burning of fossil fuels.
And, as if not to forget a crucial piece of the ceremony, a table lay in the back-right side of the room holding deliciously-tasting torpedo sandwiches that were being refilled by the minutes by a couple of feverishly-working patrons in the kitchen.
Jack Eidt, who is the publisher of the website WilderUtopia.com and an award-winning activist, made the majority of the presentation, stopping after every section in order to allow the translator to do her job.
Eidt went on about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing and the dumping of the contaminated water after its use back into the ocean, the burning of fossil fuels and the emission of dangerous greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and what effects each of these practices are having in today’s climate and environment. It would be helpful if the community knew which contaminants were being thrown into the ocean so they would know what they’re up against, but thanks to Senate Bill 4, which is supposed to regulate the use of hydraulic fracturing, only mandates companies to reveal that they are in the process of doing so and leaves the community guessing about what that process actually is. “We need to move towards [a] sustainable, clean energy future,” Eidt said. “Cities where we rethink how its made and keep trying to work better on the personal level as well as the political level.
“Fracking is massive industrialization of rural landscapes,” Eidt said. “It stretches roads [and] pipelines throughout places where there was nothing. It is affecting 34 states and most particularly here in Southern California; we have a long history of drilling.”
Eidt cited a study which shows that in the area the pipeline has extended to in Oklahoma, seismic activity has drastically increased. He said that from 1975 to 2008, Oklahoma sustained one to three earthquakes annually. From 2009 to 2013, the state is now enduring an average of 40 annually!
He also explained the dangers of transferring crude oil by pipeline, or train by referring to an accident that took place in North Dakota in Dec. of 2013, which saw trains carrying oil colliding and a massive explosion taking place, omitting massive amounts of dangerous gasses into the atmosphere.
Major activism is necessary in Southern California. There are a couple of sites in Baldwin Hills and Long Beach that are extracting oil, using the process of hydraulic fracturing. Because California lies on many fault lines, seeing what is happening in Oklahoma should serve as more than a red-flag warning to stop, but apparently someone hasn’t gotten the message; seeing there are 191 offshore fracturing wells in Long Beach and 12 more in Huntington and Seal Beaches.
Eidt insists that putting a stop to and countering the effects hydraulic fracturing and the dealings and transportation of crude oil, has had on the environment and climate must start with each individual in the community before reaching the political apparatus, which holds the final word and mustn't end until we’ve seen the end; which means planning for the future as well as dealing with the now.
“We need to move towards [a] sustainable, clean energy future,” Eidt said. “Cities where we rethink how its made and keep trying to work better on the personal level as well as the political level.”
The future must begin somewhere and to kick-start the action, a union organizer who was present vaulted to the front of the room and with the brash tone needed to fight against an enemy while yielding the bare-minimum chance of success, caught the attention of the room by blaring the question, “How many people here are depressed today” and offering a solution of, “We’re going to turn that sad into anger!”
With everything he could conjure from within, he led the charge in the room and begun to exclaim, “Sad never won a fight!” Until the entirety of the room could be heard from blocks away, shouting in the unity that is necessary to chalk up a W(win).
After he set the mood and got the crowd wild up, they set forth on a march across the street to Waterfront Park. At the park, the different organizations that made up the 350 coalition, announced future events that are related to this one and reminded the community they can attend to show support and congress that they’re serious.
Once the announcements have been made, the group made a single-file line and headed toward the bridge which stood perpendicular to one of the major factories in Wilmington, hoping they’re brass was paying attention to the surrounding commotion.
Everyone stood across the bridge, dropped their banners and hand-in-hand, begun singing, This Land is Your Land and chanting, “The people united, we’ll never be defeated!”
