To Get Noticed, Get Naked (Part 1)

The Berkeley tree-lovers really will do anything to save a local oak grove from being replaced by a UC-Berkeley athletic center--including nude photography. The move, marked by a photo shoot of the roughly 100 bodies lying (as far as we can tell) face down and butts up just feet from still-living trees, was meant to draw attention to the planned destruction. University police monitored the shoot, informing a photographer that nudity violates campus rules, but no one was arrested. A Berkeley freshman who participated in the photo shoot told the Daily Californian, "I wasn't sure how it was going to feel, but it felt miraculous. People are willing to be naked and vulnerable for these trees."

Past attempts to draw attention to the trees include living in them, camping near them, and holding hands while walking in circle formations around them.

Why has this case (and the trees) remained up in the air? A late January court ruling decided the university had not fully accounted for the fact that the stadium addition is being built near an earthquake-prone fault line, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

If you don't mind nudity, here's a YouTube clip of the photo shoot.