A few months ago we blogged about hosting Ice Bear Project sculptor Mark Coreth in Churchill and how his life-sized ice sculptures of polar bears that symbolize the fragility of the Arctic were featured at the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen.
The Ice Bear project continues to be an important message and must be heard by everyone. PBI Species Expert Andrew Derocher has informed us that a new study coming out shortly in Biological Conservation will continue to illustrate major threats to polar bear reproduction (particularly in the Churchill population) if the sea ice trends and warming of the planet continue.
Mark’s latest Ice Bear sculpture was on display in Montreal this past weekend. Here are some images from this event.
The Ice Bear Project is not-for-profit arts organization led by animal sculptor Mark Coreth. Mark creates life-sized ice sculptures of polar bears and displays them in major cities worldwide to symbolize the fragility of the Arctic.
The most recent Ice Bear Project is currently featured for the next few weeks in Copenhagen. The Ice Bear gives the people of Copenhagen and the delegates of the UN Climate Conference the opportunity to experience an element of the Arctic, a region that is being affected by climate change faster and more severely than almost anywhere else on the planet.
What is really cool about the Copenhagen Ice Bear sculpture is that it is 1.8 metres high – exactly the same height as the average thickness of the floating sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. As the Ice Bear stands in Copenhagen and continues to melt from the warm temperatures and from people touching the ice (essentially showing how important human influence is on the environment), an inner skeleton shows. This is a very powerful message.
Frontiers North supported the project by providing Mark in-kind opportunities to experience Churchill’s wild polar bears this November. We coordinated with PBI for Mark to join a PBI VIP Buggy day, on which he was able to spend time on our Tundra Buggy One. As well, we sent out Mark on a private Tundra Buggy Adventure / Luggage Run with Simon Gee, FNA Churchill Logistics Coordinator, who captured this image of Mark on the Buggy.
The video below is a live stream of the Ice Bear sculpture in Copenhagen! This is also featured on the home pages of our Tundra Buggy and Frontiers North websites.
