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600 strip naked on glacier in global warming protest
Chilling message from wear-nothing activists to do-nothing politicians
18 August 2007
Living sculpture: hundreds of naked volunteers express the vulnerability of glaciers and human life in a warming world.
Enlarge ImageParental warning: the story below contains nudity
The nude volunteers posed for us and renowned installation artist Spencer Tunick on the Aletsch Glacier.
Without clothes, the human body is vulnerable, exposed, its life or death at the whim of the elements. Global warming is stripping away our glaciers and leaving our entire planet vulnerable to extreme weather, floods, sea-level rise, global decreases in carrying capacity and agricultural production, fresh water shortages, disease and mass human dislocations.
If global warming continues at its current rate, most glaciers in Switzerland will completely disappear by 2080, leaving nothing but valleys and slopes strewn with rock debris. Over the last 150 years, alpine glaciers have reduced in size by approximately one third of their surface and half of their mass, and this melting is accelerating. The Aletsch Glacier retreated 115 meters (377 feet) in a single year from 2005 to 2006.
Climate change now requires fast and courageous political decisions to radically cut green-house gas emissions and stabilise global warming. Governments around the world must know that the people they represent expect and demand them to take action.
Known around the world for his installations, Spencer Tunick wants people to know that global climate change is not an abstract issue, but a hazardous threat which affects us all.
"I want my images to go more than skin-deep. I want the viewers to feel the vulnerability of their existence and how it relates closely to the sensitivity of the world's glaciers", he said.
These volunteers had the bravery to do something to raise the alarm. Not enough people do.
What are you doing? You don't need to get naked on a glacier to be part of the energy [r]evolution. You can sign up for the Greenpeace Seven Steps campaign and start easy: with simple ways to improve your energy efficiency. If you are a student, you can set up a Solar Generation group on your university campus. Vote for candidates that are willing to take on the coal and oil industry. Stand in front of a bulldozer to stop the build of a new coal-fired plant. Change the way you use energy. Install solar panels.
Or you can come up with your own audacious means to raise the alarm.
You may not need to get naked, but you do need to roll up your sleeves.
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Without clothes, the human body is vulnerable, exposed, its life or death at the whim of the elements. Global warming is stripping away our glaciers and leaving our entire planet vulnerable to extreme weather, floods, sea-level rise, global decreases in carrying capacity and agricultural production, fresh water shortages, disease and mass human dislocations.
If global warming continues at its current rate, most glaciers in Switzerland will completely disappear by 2080, leaving nothing but valleys and slopes strewn with rock debris. Over the last 150 years, alpine glaciers have reduced in size by approximately one third of their surface and half of their mass, and this melting is accelerating. The Aletsch Glacier retreated 115 meters (377 feet) in a single year from 2005 to 2006.
Eight years to act
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the world only has eight years remaining to take the urgent action needed to curb catastrophic climate change. Without swift action, the damage could become irreversible. Never before has humanity been forced to grapple with such an immense environmental crisis.Climate change now requires fast and courageous political decisions to radically cut green-house gas emissions and stabilise global warming. Governments around the world must know that the people they represent expect and demand them to take action.
Known around the world for his installations, Spencer Tunick wants people to know that global climate change is not an abstract issue, but a hazardous threat which affects us all.
"I want my images to go more than skin-deep. I want the viewers to feel the vulnerability of their existence and how it relates closely to the sensitivity of the world's glaciers", he said.
Barely active
These volunteers had the bravery to do something to raise the alarm. Not enough people do. What are you doing? You don't need to get naked on a glacier to be part of the energy [r]evolution. You can sign up for the Greenpeace Seven Steps campaign and start easy: with simple ways to improve your energy efficiency. If you are a student, you can set up a Solar Generation group on your university campus. Vote for candidates that are willing to take on the coal and oil industry. Stand in front of a bulldozer to stop the build of a new coal-fired plant. Change the way you use energy. Install solar panels.
Or you can come up with your own audacious means to raise the alarm.
You may not need to get naked, but you do need to roll up your sleeves.
Download wallpaper - click on your prefered size to download (unless you are offended by nudity) - image will open in new window. 1440 x 900 wallpaper
1024 x 768 wallpaper
Hugg this story.
Digg this story
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