Global Wind Day - At the Beach
Today is Global Wind Day, an international celebration of the potential for wind power around the globe.
The New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club decided to celebrate by inviting friends and families down to the beach. The plan was for families to fly kites, build sandcastles, and otherwise enjoy a beautiful summer day, all while showing their support for wind power in their communities. Or, as the big polluters group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) put it, "to indoctrinate small children into a cult-like movement to force taxpayers to provide massive subsidies for on land, and the even more costly, offshore wind mills."
While kids in penguin costumes and swimsuits ran around the beach, a few protesters from AFP (pictured below) stood vigil on the boardwalk trying to shout, but you couldn't hear them over - you guessed it - the powerful wind that was blowing all day.
It's humorous -- but not at all surprising -- to see these Tea Partiers protesting an event where kids are flying kites and families are discussing clean energy. Big polluters are scared of even a symbolic showing of support for an energy source that isn't oil or coal, and when they heard that wind would be discussed along with sand castles and sunscreen, they unleashed wrath on a beach full of kids.
Our Ocean City Sierra Club volunteers know the potential that offshore wind has for their families. It's a clean, renewable source of energy that doesn't pollute the air or make their kids sick. Wind power will create new, American jobs and will ensure that their kids can live without fear of toxic mercury in their fish or breathing in harmful contaminants that trigger asthma attacks.
Since the Sierra Club powered its kites with wind, AFP decided to power their protest with fossil fuels, bussing in people from around the state to counter-protest and even hiring a plane to fly over the beach with a banner that read: "Save our Beaches - No Offshore Wind." Somehow they thought the beach-goers would believe that a big oil-backed group is truly interested in protecting American beaches.
The wind was so strong in Ocean City today that our organizers had trouble keeping their signs from blowing away. Indeed, as the AFP "patriots" protested this powerful energy source, bravely facing down the intimidating array of kite-bearing children, they stood strong holding large American flags overhead - blowing in the wind.
-- Heather Moyer, Sierra Club