I love protesters and the mindset of the protester. A group of protesters in St. Pete held a rally on the beach that they termed “Crude Awakening” to protest the gulf oil spill. About 30 young adults (read morons) gathered on a small beach at North Shore Park for the event. It says they chanted “save our shores, clean energy now.” They put signs up that read “Spills Kill,” “Drill Here, Spill Here,” “BP= Bad People” and “Don’t Oil Me Bro.”

Protesters included members of the Southern Energy Network, students from the environmental groups at USF and Eckerd College, the Sierra Club, Repower Florida, Hands Across the Sand, Surfrider Foundation, Greenpeace and 1Sky.

A USF student said “It feels awesome. I love the energy that people are bringing here and it’s been so much fun standing here, protesting here and uniting against something that could really hurt our environment.” She said she is already organizing another protest through her ties to USF student government.

My thoughts on the issues here…first, I think it is horrible what has happened. I believe BP and any party involved needs to be held responsible. However, I do not see any sense in standing on the beach protesting. Whose mind are they trying to change? Do you think there are people on the beach that are for oil spills? I would give them just slightly more credit if they were protesting in front of, oh, say, a gas station or an oil company’s headquarters or a government entity responsible for allowing drilling. If any issue is so important to you to change, take steps to make the change, don't hold up a sign demanding someone else make the change for you. Next, I have heard USF is a well thought of engineering school. Maybe the student that plans to organize more protests could instead organize engineering students to develop and bring to market more viable energy sources or organize students to become less dependent on oil to reduce demand. I went to USF. They have big parking lots for a reason. Finally, I hope there was plenty of parking for the 30 protesters at the beach.