That's One Way to Highlight Shrinkage

Some 600 nudes pose on receding Swiss glacier

Giving climate-change awareness an infusion of sex appeal and highlighting the issue of glacial melt, Greenpeace teamed up with photographer Spencer Tunick over the weekend to bring together 600 volunteers for a nude photo shoot on Switzerland's Aletsch Glacier. "People posing on the glacier, it's like they show their vulnerability, free of any protection," said Marcus Allerman of Greenpeace. "It's actually what happens with our nature, it's free of any protection and it's kind of sick, the glacier is like bleeding out or sweating." The glacier, part of a United Nations World Heritage site, shrunk by about 377 feet between 2005 and 2006. Greenpeace stressed that most Swiss glaciers will disappear by 2080 if climate change continues at its current pace. Organizers were happy that so many volunteers braved the 50-degree temperatures and were especially relieved that Al Gore wasn't mentioned in connection with the event.