Would you show your private parts if I asked you to do it for the environment?

Me neither.

Still, for some indefinite reason, stripping rallies are one of the most popular way to protest against all the bad things.

In August 2007 about 600 volunteers stripped naked on glacier when the installation artist Spencer Tunick asked them to do so. Everybody were happy despite the fact that you can easily get cold when standing without clothes on glacier.

“I want to give a sign to politicians in Switzerland”, one of the male volunteers told on a Greenpeace video shot at the event.

Last month about 700 people stripped in French vineyards in a rally organized again by Spencer Tunick.

“This is another fun, eye-catching attempt by Greenpeace to influence climate action in Copenhagen. Hopefully, it will help to make a difference”, Eco wordly reported.

Yet another example: The World naked bike ride gathered last year around 2,000 participants to ride bike nude in several UK cities. The mission was to protest oil dependency.

Taking your clothes off for a cause is not new. Actually, as Karen Jackson of Sydney Morning Hearld pointed out, nudity as a way of protesting has been used several times in Africa. So it’s not just about Western exhibitionism..

Maybe one of the biggest motivation is to do something you haven’t done before. I haven’t tried it but I believe getting your clothes off in front of hundreds of unknown people must be quite exciting.

Also media is always very happy of these demonstrations. Nudity makes news as it’s seen as something forbidden in our culture. As we wear clothes in our everyday life, taking them off turns the situation sexual, exciting and startling.

I actually believe that all the people taking part in the nude protests realize their participation does not matter at all. Despite the media attention, climate change won’t be stopped by showing your boobs. Nudity doesn’t change political decicions.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.

I don’t get it: they’re dreaming of new coal plants and emission trading while they could dream of environment-friendly technology they could sell all over the world.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.

It was like a step of an ant when you changed your lightbulbs to less consuming ones but the day when our leaders will have an agreement at COP15, and future summits, will shape history.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.

The debate about whether the planet is warming or not is like two neighbours arguing about if it’s too early to call 911 when the house is already full of smoke.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.

Not only does climate change shape our environment but it expands the gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Let’s take Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. There are extremely poor and extremely rich people there, like in any country, without social security system. However, in Jakarta, the poor people are sinking..

The city has been built on the coast. The factories need water (and so do the rich) so they’ve mounted wells that pull water out of the underground lakes and water streams.

When a stream becomes dry, the ground declines. As an effect sea water drowns homes of the poor living just by the sea.

Jakarta is actually digging its own grave. As the sea level rises all the time, there will be time when even the rich can’t keep their socks dry. The city keeps sinking and the water rising and finally there will be no Jakarta anymore.

México City has similar destiny. The city sinks over 10 cm per year.

The story of these cities prove that the climate change is not only about carbon dioxide in the athmosphere. The local phenomenons matter as much.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.

I just had a wonderful vacation in Kenya. However, I couldn’t avoid the climate change even there. I arrived in Nairobi on October 9th, in one of the opening weeks of the East African monsoon.

What we saw with my friends was just opposite. The elderly people told us that there hasn’t been such dryness in Kenya for several decades.

What’s wrong?

El Nino may be the big criminal here. As the phenomenon warms or cools surface waters of the tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean, it shapes the environment of Africa too.

One of the effects is that it gets unforeseen dry in Kenya. The gnus should migrate but they can’t. All the big mammals should have calfs but they don’t have enough food for the offspring.

Fortunately at the end of our two week vacation rain clouds begin to accumulate in the horizon. The long-waited rains had arrived.

In the photo here you can see a grave of an elephant.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.

Everyone knows what it’s like to love chocolate.

First you buy a bar. Then you promise yourself that you’ll only have one piece. Within 15 minutes you have to make another promise not to take more than three pieces. Eventually you’ve eaten the whole bar.

This is how it goes with the climate change too. Modern technology has developed some ways to prevent us polluting. Those are like chocolate bars for us. They only make us consume more.

The first solution is nuclear power. It doesn’t generate carbon dioxide so our politicians here in Finland think that we can build three more stations (having eight in total) just to have enough electricity. After we’ve built those three more stations we’ll probably build few more so that we don’t have to think about reducing consuming.

The second solution is incineration. It’s quite handy way to get rid of most of the waste we leave behind. However, here in Finland we’re planning to build so many incinerators that we have reached overcapacity. An incinerator is a long-time investment. You can effectively use it for 20-30 years. Overcapacity means you actually need MORE and MORE waste to keep the incinerators in use. That doesn’t sound very clever, does it?

The third solution is storing carbon dioxide below ground. The scientists estimate that it’s a safe way to get rid of most of the carbon dioxide we produce. But what then? Do we begin to consume more and more when we have finally found a way how we can forget the harmful greenhouse gases?

The climate change would be already stopped if man could say no to temptations. Unfortunately, we can’t yet resist even a chocolate bar.

Kirjoitus on osa Th!nk about it -projektia. The blog entry is part of the Th!nk about it project.