Photo Shoot Highlights Glacier Shrinkage

by jordan | August 20, 2007 at 08:09 am

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Greenpeace has enlisted the aid of avant-garde photographer Spencer Tunick to create a new print campaign to increase awareness of the impact of climate change. Tunick's work revolves around congregations of naked volunteers, usually in urban environments. Shot guerilla style, he tends to get a big look out of a relatively short shooting period.

Nearly 600 volunteers stripped before the camera on a melting Swiss glacier high in the Alps on Saturday as part of a publicity campaign to expose the impact of climate change.

The eco-conscious volunteers turned up under blue skies near the foot of the Aletsch glacier, a protected UNESCO World Heritage site.

Environmental group Greenpeace commissioned the photo shoot from world renowned photographer Spencer Tunick.

"Their numbers are close to 600," Nicolas de Roten of Greenpeace Switzerland told AFP. "It's relatively chilly but that doesn't seem to be disturbing them."

The campaign is aimed at drawing attention to melting Alpine glaciers, one clear sign of global warming and of man-made climate change, according to the group.

Greenpeace says the human body is as fragile as glaciers like the Aletsch in southern Switzerland and the world's environment. The glacier itself is now shrinking by about 100 metres (110 yards) a year.

"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," Tunick said.