I bet you never thought you'd see a Polar Bear in downtown Sydney! If you head down to Circular Quay this weekend you might just catch a glimpse if you're quick. However global warming will pretty much ensure that it will be harder and harder to see a wild polar bear – a threatened species – in their native Arctic. And it's exactly this fact that has inspired the London-based artist Mark Coreth, to try to raise awareness of the importance of climate change action, through his magnificent and dramatic, life-sized, ice sculptures.

Trafalga Square in London, Copenhagen and Toronto have all hosted these beauties and now it's Sydney's turn, auspiciously timed to coincide with World Environment Day. The Sydney Ice Bear will be carved on site in front of Customs House from a huge block of ice. Then as the sculpture melts it will gradually reveal the bronze skeleton hidden inside!

"Ice Bear sends a strong message – it's a performance work as well as a visual work. People can be involved, touching it while it melts," said Mark Coreth.

Given Sydney's unpredictable weather it's hard to know just how long the ice portion of the sculpture will linger, but for a gold coin $2 donation, the public is invited to 'touch' the bear, helping it melt, an apt metaphor for the impact of human induced climate change. "This is the first time that Ice Bear has left the northern hemisphere and we're very excited to be coming to Sydney. The Ice Bear message has expanded far wider and further than I could have imagined, " Mark Coreth said.

"I conceived Ice Bear when I visited the High Arctic with Inuit guides in 2007. It is where I saw my first polar bear in the wild and understood the plight of this critically endangered species," the 52 year old artist based in London said.

Coreth and his ice sculpting team of Duncan Hamilton and Kenji Ogawa will carve a life-sized polar bear from a nine tonne block of ice. It will take the ice sculptors around six hours to sculpt the polar bear.

The sculpture will be lit up at night as part of Sydney's Vivid Festival and there are exhibitions and events planned over the weekend, culminating on Sunday – World Environment Day – in a musical performance by legendary singer/songwriter Katie Noonan. Speakers from WWF, 1 Million Women and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) will also reinforce the message of the need to take personal action on climate change now.

In addition, a lucky Sydney Ice Bear supporter will win the trip of a lifetime to the European Arctic to explore the realm of the polar bear for themselves. Expedition cruise company Aurora Expeditions has provided the prize, the Spitsbergen Odyssey, a cruise for two valued at more than $20,000 including airfares, airport transfers, ship accommodation and shore excursions in July 2012. Enter at Customs House Square or online at www.facebook.com/sydneyicebear.

Written by Suze Chalmers

All images supplied