We like nothing more here at MiC than when the medium is the message.

Walking home through fenced-in downtown Toronto yesterday, MiC came across a clever art installation that doubles as a message about global warming.

Created by the World Wildlife Fund, the installation is a life-sized polar bear sculpture covered in 10 tonnes of ice. Underneath the ice is a 500-kg bronze skeletal frame, which is revealed as the bear melts. Through a posted description, people are encouraged to touch the bear, but to note that each time a warm human hand touches it, a little bit more of the bear melts, symbolizing human impact on the environment.

A visit to the WWF Canada site this morning revealed that Ice Bear sculptures have also appeared in Denmark during the UN Climate Change Conference in 2009 and in London, England. It will remain on display in Toronto on Front St. (near Scott St.) today and tomorrow.