# *WARNING - Nude fotos* Naked people pose on Swiss glacier



## Makalakumu (Aug 19, 2007)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20337165/?GT1=10252



> BETTMERALP, Switzerland - Hundreds of naked people formed a living sculpture on Switzerlands Aletsch glacier Saturday, hoping to raise awareness about climate change.
> 
> The photo shoot by Spencer Tunick, the New York artist famous for his pictures of nude gatherings in public settings worldwide, was designed to draw attention to the effects of global warming on Switzerlands shrinking glaciers.
> 
> The melting of the glaciers is an indisputable sign of global climate change, said the environmental group Greenpeace, which co-organized the event.


 
So, what do you think about this statement?


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## Kacey (Aug 19, 2007)

I think that they run the risk of having people dismiss their concerns because of the method they used to call attention to it; many people will call their actions grandstanding and/or exhibitionism and place less, rather than more, importance on their message.


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## Obliquity (Aug 19, 2007)

I think it was more about their desires to pose naked in public.


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## MA-Caver (Aug 19, 2007)

Kacey said:


> I think that they run the risk of having people dismiss their concerns because of the method they used to call attention to it; many people will call their actions grandstanding and/or *exhibitionism *and place less, rather than more, importance on their message.


 Well Kacey you're right about *ONE* thing... :lol: 
But seriously you may be right about it. But then just calling attention to it allows for someone to hear the message even if most people turn away, the seed is planted in the mind and awareness levels are raised to a degree (alibet small). 
Most people are aware that there is a concern for global warming but that's all there is... an awareness. It's like being aware that you're being shadowed while walking down a dark street by someone but not doing anything about it except continuing to walk down that dark street. Mebbe nothing will happen, mebbe something will. But it's there in your mind and you'll know to be better prepared in the future. 

Nah, that's a bit much... it's just a photo of a bunch of nekkid people laying on ice. 

Do they have a enlargement ?


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## Blindside (Aug 19, 2007)

MA-Caver said:


> Do they have a enlargement ?


 
Well, I betcha they have shrinkage.


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## Sukerkin (Aug 19, 2007)

MA-Caver said:


> Do they have a enlargement ?


 

To descend into smut for a moment ... surely that would depend on how pretty some of the lady participants were?  :lol:

Then again, they are on a glacier, a place not known for it's warm and balmy atmosphere (or maybe that should read 'barmy'? ).

I have to say that despite the convincing evidence presented very well in such pieces as 'An Inconvenient Truth', I have an ambivalent attitude to this current bandwagon of environmental hooplaa.

Yes, CO2 levels are zooming upwards at an almost stratospheric rate (Yeah! Climatology pun attack !) but it is being forgotten that we have seen an unbroken trend of cooling of the planet for several hundred million years.  Temperatures now (in this era) are as low as they have ever been and the glaciation has undergone regular cycles for the past million years or so.  A fascinating fact to quote to some of the more extreme environmentalists is that the previous cycles of glaciation retreated so fast that the removal of ice from it's farthest advance to 'modern' levels took place in the span of a human lifetime.

Chaotic fluctuation is the norm rather than the exception and from the climate records so far studied the past 8000 years have been the most stable ever seen.

It is only sensible to limit our impact on environmental change, that goes without saying and it is now evident that we *can* have an impact, ludicrous as that used to sound.  But pointing to CO2 as the 'demon' we need to slay then all will be well is ridiculous.

Axial tilt and orbital variation have monumentally more impact.  We can reduce our carbon footprint as much as we like and it's a drop in the ocean in comparison.


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## jks9199 (Aug 19, 2007)

Yes, climate change is occurring.  No, we don't know the mechanism; the climate has changed more than once long before man was running machinery, etc.  But that also doesn't mean we shouldn't worry about limiting our impact.

With that out of the way -- I think this group loses their message through their medium.  Just like the group of women in 2001 who decided to express their dislike of President Bush's election by stripping and spelling "NO BUSH" with their bodies in Central Park.  

(And, I, for one, can't get past the inherent contradiction in their message their!  Unless...  Well, I think any further explanation would have to go to the After Dark section!)


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## Ceicei (Aug 19, 2007)

On the other hand, warm bodies on ice is going to warm the ice further...


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## Steel Tiger (Aug 20, 2007)

Sukerkin said:


> Yes, CO2 levels are zooming upwards at an almost stratospheric rate (Yeah! Climatology pun attack !) but it is being forgotten that we have seen an unbroken trend of cooling of the planet for several hundred million years. Temperatures now (in this era) are as low as they have ever been and the glaciation has undergone regular cycles for the past million years or so. A fascinating fact to quote to some of the more extreme environmentalists is that the previous cycles of glaciation retreated so fast that the removal of ice from it's farthest advance to 'modern' levels took place in the span of a human lifetime.
> 
> Chaotic fluctuation is the norm rather than the exception and from the climate records so far studied the past 8000 years have been the most stable ever seen.


 
It is interesting to look at current global warming in relation to all the other similar events throughout the planet's history. From an evolutionary point of view, movement toward glaciation appears to happen slowly enough for some species to evolve along with the change, even homo (take a look at _homo neanderthalensis_). However, movement toward interglacial maximum periods, like now, seem to happen very quickly (less than 100 years perhaps). 

What does this mean? Well, I would suggest that periods of global warming are rapid changes in climate regardless of the factors involved (such as pollution and excessive CO2 production). Of course, if we want to survive this warming period we need to control our resource use and make what we do more efficient.


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## Cirdan (Aug 20, 2007)

More pictures here. Check out that tattooed guy :uhyeah:

http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2007/08/20/509361.html?i=1


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## MarkBarlow (Aug 20, 2007)

They get naked and lay down on a glacier and it's art.  My cousin does the same thing in the parking lot of the Flora-Bama Bar and he's drunk&disorderly and indecent.  I guess timing is everything.


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## TimoS (Aug 20, 2007)

MarkBarlow said:


> They get naked and lay down on a glacier and it's art.  My cousin does the same thing in the parking lot of the Flora-Bama Bar and he's drunk&disorderly and indecent.  I guess timing is everything.



Not if he had a (famous) artist filming it


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## CoryKS (Aug 20, 2007)

upnorthkyosa said:


> So, what do you think about this statement?


 
Shallow and twee.  And body heat isn't likely to help the glaciers either.


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## MA-Caver (Aug 20, 2007)

Blindside said:


> Well, I betcha they have shrinkage.


 Well, yeah okay... but only HALF of those... (men)


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## MA-Caver (Aug 20, 2007)

Cirdan said:


> More pictures here. Check out that tattooed guy :uhyeah:
> 
> http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2007/08/20/509361.html?i=1


Wher--- That's not a tattoo ya git! It's a Tan Line! sheesh!  
(j/k)


On the global warming thing... I was watching discovery, history...one of those channels and got to thinking... hey, wait a tic... suppose this warming trend (or cooling trend ... or whatever trend it is) is a natural occurrance of the planet's life cycle? Oh sure we're polluting the atmosphere to no end but part of me is thinking... we've had ice-ages before... maybe the planet is SUPPOSED to be this hot or is supposed to get to a certain temperature and we haven't gotten there yet? 
According to one study if man were to disappear totally from the earth, the atmosphere would clear up in less than 5 years or something like that. So maybe it's time to stop wearing sack-cloth and ashes and that big ole' sign around our necks saying "The End Is Near" (or is it Nigh??) Whatever!


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## morph4me (Aug 20, 2007)

MA-Caver said:


> According to one study if man were to disappear totally from the earth, the atmosphere would clear up in less than 5 years or something like that. So maybe it's time to stop wearing sack-cloth and ashes and that big ole' sign around our necks saying "The End Is Near" (or is it Nigh??) Whatever!


 
Uh yeah, but that's just a theory and there'd be nobody around to see if it was correct or not. I think it's a little premature to get out the sack cloth. I prefer a wait and see approach at this point. I'll hang around and see how things work out for the next 50 - 70 years :uhyeah:


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## CoryKS (Aug 20, 2007)

MA-Caver said:


> On the global warming thing... I was watching discovery, history...one of those channels and got to thinking... hey, wait a tic... suppose this warming trend (or cooling trend ... or whatever trend it is) is a natural occurrance of the planet's life cycle? Oh sure we're polluting the atmosphere to no end but part of me is thinking... we've had ice-ages before... maybe the planet is SUPPOSED to be this hot or is supposed to get to a certain temperature and we haven't gotten there yet?
> According to one study if man were to disappear totally from the earth, the atmosphere would clear up in less than 5 years or something like that. So maybe it's time to stop wearing sack-cloth and ashes and that big ole' sign around our necks saying "The End Is Near" (or is it Nigh??) Whatever!


 
It doesn't matter... some people are so intent on donning the ol' hair shirt that even if 'global warming' went away tomorrow there would be something else to beat us up over.  Church-ladyism is not restricted to church-going folks, it seems.


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## Blindside (Aug 20, 2007)

This reminds me of a Samuel Clemens Quote:
"Clothes make the man, naked people have little or no influence in society."


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## LuzRD (Aug 20, 2007)

hmmm,
i cant help but wonder if anyone has ever gotten frostbite on thier bum before.


 thats all i have, sorry


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## Phoenix44 (Aug 20, 2007)

So Michaelangelo's nudes are art but Spencer Tunick's aren't?  Tunick's been doing this work with nudes for decades, all over the world.  He hands out fliers inviting people to participate at a particular time and place.  He always gets a great turnout. They undress and position themselves very quickly, he takes the photos, and they disband. Sometimes he just walks up to ordinary people in the street and asks them if they'd pose nude.  I'm hardly an exhibitionist, but I'd do it.  I love his work.

Despite the fact that the photo was distributed by Greenpeace, it's likely that the people in the photos aren't even a "group," just the usual Tunick volunteers.

But, yeah, they're probably melting the ice...or freezing their arses.


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## Mr. E (Aug 24, 2007)

Kacey said:


> I think that they run the risk of having people dismiss their concerns because of the method they used to call attention to it; many people will call their actions grandstanding and/or exhibitionism and place less, rather than more, importance on their message.



I have to agree.

Instead of reasoned debate, they use naked people to stir interest. It does not really strike me as the best way to go about something like this.

And did anyone notice that the men seem to outnumber the women by about three to one? I wonder if the motivation for most of these guys has less to do with saving the planet and more with being around naked females for a few hours.


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## Makalakumu (Aug 24, 2007)

Mr. E said:


> And did anyone notice that the men seem to outnumber the women by about three to one? I wonder if the motivation for most of these guys has less to do with saving the planet and more with being around naked females for a few hours.


 
Nah.  Just think of it as killing two birds with one stone...


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## CoryKS (Aug 24, 2007)

upnorthkyosa said:


> Nah. Just think of it as killing two birds with one stone...


 
Or three birds with one stoner.


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## Big Don (Sep 3, 2007)

Obliquity said:


> I think it was more about their desires to pose naked in public.


Did you notice that its always the ugly that pose naked in public? The beautiful get photographed in studios...


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## jazkiljok (Sep 3, 2007)

Phoenix44 said:


> So Michaelangelo's nudes are art but Spencer Tunick's aren't?  Tunick's been doing this work with nudes for decades, all over the world.  He hands out fliers inviting people to participate at a particular time and place.  He always gets a great turnout. They undress and position themselves very quickly, he takes the photos, and they disband. Sometimes he just walks up to ordinary people in the street and asks them if they'd pose nude.  I'm hardly an exhibitionist, but I'd do it.  I love his work.
> 
> Despite the fact that the photo was distributed by Greenpeace, it's likely that the people in the photos aren't even a "group," just the usual Tunick volunteers.
> 
> But, yeah, they're probably melting the ice...or freezing their arses.



yes, Tunicks' work is well known-mainly for the spectacles he creates in arranging for these shots- he's gone from subversive guerrilla shoots (no permission for the location, secretly arranged etc) to accepted and supported artist.

these are first and foremost works of art-- any cause or message related is really secondary.

like it or hate it- that's art baby.


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## qi-tah (Sep 4, 2007)

Phoenix44 said:


> So Michaelangelo's nudes are art but Spencer Tunick's aren't? Tunick's been doing this work with nudes for decades, all over the world. He hands out fliers inviting people to participate at a particular time and place. He always gets a great turnout. They undress and position themselves very quickly, he takes the photos, and they disband. Sometimes he just walks up to ordinary people in the street and asks them if they'd pose nude. I'm hardly an exhibitionist, but I'd do it. I love his work.


 
Yeah, me too! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 I was all ready to go down to Melbourne for a morning crowd photo shoot a couple of years ago when Tunick was in town, but when the morning came it was just too damn cold and i just crawled further underneath the doona instead. I saw the photos afterward, how well they turned out and felt a real pang of regret that i hadn't been more stoic. I don't actually see his photos as exhibitionism, more an affirmation of our shared humanity. After all, we all come naked into the world - notions of innocence or shame, sameness and difference come later.

As for the perils of climate change, i would like to believe that the majority of indipendent scientists that work in this field are wrong, i really would. But somehow i doubt it. Interestingly enough, there was a news item on the telly today showing how cartographers are currently having to redraw the world's maps to reflect the damage we have done already thru irrigation and the like. For instance, the Aral sea (Between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) is now just a series of interconnected lakes, and has lost 75% of it's water since 1960. In China, the Yellow River no longer has the flows to regularly reach the coast. And here in Australia, the health of the mighty Murray River was recently described by a farmer as "so bad, if it was a dog i'd shoot it".
Worrying trends... even if there is a only a 5% chance of the worst case scenarios of climate change taking place, don't we owe it to our kids to do everything in our power to prevent that from happening? Sackcloth and ashes will do nothing, investing in alternative energy sources, eating locally grown foods where possible, reducing consumption, lobbying our reps for action such as binding emissions targets and a carbon tax, sustainable building codes etc etc, are practical steps we can all take. Who knows? You could even save money on yr power bill! 

Sorry if i've ranted on a bit, but i really do think there is a pressing need to act on climate change ASAP.


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