Glacial Shrinkage: Taking one for the Environment

by Neil Woodburn on

What do glaciers and shrinkage have in common?

Two things when you combine glaciers with global warming and naked bodies.

Photographer Spencer Tunick, who has been making quite a name for himself by taking pictures of mass nudes, has recently turned his lens towards a good cause: global warming.

The photographer, who never seems to have a problem drumming up nude models, enlisted the help of 600 people who hiked to Switzerland’s Aletsch glacier this morning, took off all their clothes, and posed for the largest mass nude shot ever taken on a glacier (I’m taking a wild guess on this one).

The event was to draw attention to the plight of Europe’s rapidly decreasing glaciers, most of which are expected to disappear by 2080 if warming trends continue. The Aletsch glacier itself has receded 377 feet in the last two years and has become the poster child of global warming within Europe. 600 naked people frolicking on its slopes probably haven’t helped in keeping temperatures low, but has at least raised some awareness about the issue amongst those searching for porn on the internet.

Swiss City Turns Financial District into Sweet Living Room

by Dave Luna on


DeputyDog shares these photos of an outdoor “living room” in Switzerland. Yes, you read that right; This is outside. The city of St. Gallen laid out plush, red carpet among the stodgy buildings of their financial district. The installation is called “Stadtlounge” which translates from German to English as “city lounge.” I love how the fabric pours out over the streets and rises in gorgeous curves to form ultra-chic couches.

If you’d like to learn more — and you can read German — check out the official Stadtlounge site. If you can’t read German, or if you’re just lazy, sneak a peek at more city lounge photos after the jump…

[via Reddit]


You know, I’d love to see someone treat this public living room as his own by walking around in boxers or passing out on a couch while an episode of Family Guy blares in the background.


This is what happens when you don’t pay your parking tickets. I kid. There’s not really a car under there, but that would be a great way for the city to get a point across.


Seeing all of this lounge furniture makes me think that martini-drinking hipsters will soon take over St. Gallen’s financial district.

Sunscreen for Glaciers to Combat Global Warming

by Iva Skoch on

Last month, Germany spread sheets of reflective plastic foil over its largest glacier, Zugspitze, high in the Alps, south of Munich. A staggering 97,000 square feet of tarps were laid on the ski areas of the mountain, in an attempt to slow the melting of the glaciers there. Apparently, the Swiss have attempted a similar feat in Andermatt.

But, many are now saying that the “sun-screen” may be just a tiny band-aid over a gaping wound. The Swiss have said that the glaciers in their part of the Alps have lost 4% of their mass this year past alone, and predict that 20% will be gone in ten years, and as much as 70% within 30 years.

Now, it they could only figure out a way of making the tarps out of photo-voltaic cells to generate clean electricity too….

Stuck in an Airport: The Best Ones

by Jamie Rhein on

When I flew back from Taiwan on my way to Albuquerque, N.M., I had a scheduled eight-hour (or more) layover in Minneapolis, Minn. The best part was the convenience of the rented luggage cart. Pick up was right where the bags came off the conveyor belt. Drop off was at the gate of my connecting flight. In between my landing and takeoff, I spent a good deal of the time sleeping with my feet propped up on my carry-ons piled on the cart. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.

There are airports that crank it up a notch or two to create great layover spots. These are the places recently named as the best of the best for places to be stuck for a while in Forbes Traveler. Click on each link to find out what’s the reason. If you happen to be somewhere bored of waiting, take photos. That’s what nashsnazzy did. I like the black and white.

Cow Tourism

by Neil Woodburn on

I once briefly fell in love with a girl while traveling because she had stolen a cow bell right off a cow in Switzerland. She showed it to me one night in a youth hostel and told me how she had to carefully approach a cow grazing in an Alpine meadow, win it over with affection, and then gently remove its bell and run off before some farmer came after her with a pitchfork.

For whatever reason, I just never met girls like this back home in Los Angeles.

What I didn’t realize at the time is that these bells can cost up to $1000. Thanks to a recent article by Rick Steves, ‘Cow Culture’ in Switzerland’s Berner Oberland, I now know a little bit more about Swiss cows and have lost some respect for the mystery bell thief I once fell for.

Having grown up in a big city, I’ve always been one of those fools who gawks at heifers and takes photographs with them in the background as though they were Michael Jordon or some other celebrity (see photo above, taken with a friend in Ireland).

Steves takes his Cow Tourism a step further. The travel writer recently embedded himself amongst local Swiss farmers high atop the Alps in Berner Oberland where, despite the financial hardships involved, the farmers continue to practice this age-old craft. Visiting them and their cows is like taking a step back in time; I highly recommend it.