It is no wonder that some in the business world view the bear with trepidation.

The massive and powerful furry creature that lumbers across the Arctic ice may accomplish what 20 years of environmental activism has not done: force the issue that global warming already is having an effect and there is a price for both action and inaction.

This ”puts a face on it, a polar bear face,” said Bob Corell, director of the global change program at the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment.

Scientists long have talked of the visible damage that global warming has done to sea coral, for example, but it has escaped the notice of the average person.

The polar bear is different.

“This animal is big, it’s charismatic and it’s powerful. It’s beautiful and it generates sympathy. If it blinks out, you’ll notice,” said Steven E. Sanderson, president of the Wildlife Conservation Society. It manages the Bronx Zoo and three other New York City zoos, the home for three polar bears.

“They are very popular personalities,” he said. One of them, Gus, is now more than 20 years old at the Central Park Zoo, and once was declared one of New York City’s most important personalities.

The face of a polar bear says so much. Especially the mouth piece of the polar bear.