On February 19, 2023, hundreds of protesters filled the boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. Their cause — or so it seemed — was protecting the whales: photos from the rally show demonstrators waving signs reading "Save the Whales," some adorned with images of humpback whales.
At first glance, this gathering appeared to be a boilerplate environmental protest, one in which activists were demanding environmental protections for whales. Yet curiously, protesters' signs were also peppered with anti-wind turbine rhetoric — not what one might expect among a conference of environmental activists. One person in the crowd held a sign that read: "Windmills at sea DUMB." As reported by the local news station WKXW, attendees were chanting "whale lives matter" as they called for an end to wind projects.
