Ice Bear bearing up, just!

Ice Bear day 3. Photograph: Carolyn Pettigrew

World Environment Day at Circular Quay was all about getting up close and personal, as in hands on with a majestic and ultimately mournful defrosting ice bear. It was both a privilege and quintisentially chilling to momentarily witness the melting of the ice sculpture and ongoing revelation of its tarnished metal skeleton.

The kids who touched the ice may have little comprehension of the plight of bears affected by the ice melt in the Arctic Circle. But for their parents and onlookers, the scale of the installation and sheer simplicity of the process - the inevitable process of ice succumbing to heat - created an indelible experience. 

Bravo Mark Coreth and his Ice Bear Project.