Sudarshan Patnaik

Photo via the BBC

World renowned Indian sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik is already well known for his work with Santa Claus--last year, he entered the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the largest ever 'sand Santa'. This year, he's using his talent and bolstered profile to highlight the growing challenges climate change is bringing to India--and to do so, he built over 100 Santas out of 1,000 tons of sand in the tourist town of Puri. And he broke another world record in the process: most Santas made of sand on a single beach ever. Photos after the jump.


According to the BBC,

The exhibition, which was opened by two foreign tourists last week, seeks to spread awareness about global warming. Mr Patnaik has also sculpted Christmas trees with the message "Save the Earth from Global Warming", to encourage people to give trees as gifts. Hundreds of tourists and locals have been visiting the beach to see the unique display.