By Kate R.
Posted on Dec. 10, 2009. Listed in:
Officials attending the COP15 summit in Copenhagen will see a life size ice sculpture of a Polar Bear on display as they go to and from meetings and conferences.
The magnificent sculpture was created by sculptor Mark Coreth. Inside the ice, a bronze skeleton is buried. All around the sculpture are plaques educating passers by about the issues facing the Arctic region and these animals, as well as information on global warming.
The plight of Polar bears has become synonymous with the climate change debate as melting arctic sea ice is threatening its survival. The life-sized ‘bear in the square’ will melt over the length of the Climate Conference, leaving only the bronze skeleton, a pool of water, and hopefully a powerful message about the impacts of climate change on the world’s people and biodiversity.
Animal sculptor, Mark Coreth, who was inspired to create the Ice Bear during a recent expedition to the Baffin Island sea-ice, explains: “The whole Arctic area is under huge threat. I want to create a sculpture that will clearly show the problems ahead. If we carve a polar bear in ice and let it melt in Nytorv, then everyone can come and touch it, and in doing so they will melt it. That act will be hugely symbolic of the way humanity has the power to affect the balance of nature. The ice bear represents the arctic, and our planet, in the beautiful form of a polar bear.”
Many people corporations and groups have become involved in the Ice bear project, including British Actor Stephen Fry and WWF, Panasonic and Nokia.
Fry said: “Polar bears and their habitat should be meltingly beautiful, not melting away. A forlorn bear on a shrinking iceberg may seem like an exaggeration of a complex problem but actually it stands as a symbol of how habitats are shrinking the world over and none more urgently so than the beautiful and fragile arctic."
Below are a series of photos showing the beautiful sculpture as it slowly begins to melt away.
If you would like to learn more about the project, check out their website . There is also a live stream of the sculpture so you can watch its disintegration over the course of the week.
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