Posing Naked to Save French Organic Wines

A friend of mine sent me this article which I found pretty

amusing / interesting so I'm sharing it with you!

This past weekend 713 hardy French men and women stripped down to send a message about climate change. They posed nude in French vineyards to warn the world about the impact of global warming on the French wine industry.

In Burgundy, the heart of the French vineyards, on a sunny day (luckily), Spencer Tunick posed the happy participants in four different poses; one with women alone, one with men alone and two more in different vineyards. Organised with Greenpeace, it's all part of the campaign to urge political leaders to take action in the lead up to theU.N.'s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.

Tunick has been organising these mass nude art pieces for more than 15 years and all over the world. In 2007 he worked with Greenpeace to do one in -10 degree weather, with six hundred dedicated Swiss posing nude on a melting glacier (the Aletsch) in Switzerland. This was done to draw attention to global warming and the shrinking glaciers, which are predicted to disappear by 2080.

The recent French "sit-in" is meant to highlight the impact of climate change on French wine. The climate in the wine-growing regions is changing. Warmer temperatures mean that the harvest is taking place earlier. According to a recent Greenpeace report, "Wines end up having higher sugar levels and alcohol content while retaining less acids - which means they are unbalanced with an overripe flavour and heavier texture."

These changes put France's wine producing reputation at risk. Great wines get their taste and body from their terroir. This, combined with age-old skills produces amazing wine. Given current emission levels, an increase in temperatures of 4 to 6°C between now and 2100 is predicted. Such changes in the climate would leave the vineyards increasingly vulnerable.

In an open letter to President Obama, President Merkel and other heads of state, Greenpeace writes:

"We're not asking you to take your clothes off in Copenhagen - but we do expect you to be there - to sign a fair, ambitious and binding deal to save the future of our planet. A half-decent climate treaty simply won't do."