One hardcore enviro-group literally adopted a "mind-bomb" shock value approach last year, which didn't exactly win friends or influence people:Climate change used to make headlines. But these days the issue appears to have largely fallen off the radar.
Environmentalists and scientists are concerned about the massive drop in public interest in the topic over the last year. Now they are looking for new strategies to turn the tide. They're searching for so-called "mind bombs" -- highly emotional images that reduce a complex problem down to one core message.
In the wake of that, er, bomb of a campaign, some Lefty environmentalists are ironically now faced with the prospect of embracing a most consumeristic principle to peddle their planetary apocalyptic message: Sex sells.
Perhaps advertising's most potent weapon can be harnessed for climate protection campaigns as well. One initial experiment showed an attractive female researcher posing in a bathing suit in front of Arctic ice. "Climate change is sexy," was also the motto of several working groups at the Global Media Forum in Bonn.
India has even managed to turn a sex symbol into an icon for climate protection. The Ice Shiva Lingam, an enormous ice stalagmite in the Amarnath caves of northern India, is revered as a fertility symbol. Major news outlets in the country have begun reporting on global warming since the frozen phallic symbol began to melt.
That'll get 'em hot.
(Click through to watch a slideshow of green "mind bomb" images these activists have culled -- content warning).