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  • The animation Farewell, created by a Taiwanese student, Chu-Ling Hsu, was awarded a Special Mention at the International Festival of Animated Films AniFest in 2009.

  • This short film features the very last polar bear on Earth saying farewell on a melting iceberg before it drowns.

  • Hsu indicated that global warming had become quite serious.

  • She hoped that her film could help focus public attention on environmental protection.

  • Just as this animated film shows, polar bears are at risk of extinction.

  • They not only have been over-hunted and badly affected by water and air pollution, but now are also being threatened by global warming.

  • Because of global warming, a large amount of Arctic ice is melting away, and the northern seal population is falling.

  • Polar bears are thus rapidly decreasing in number since they have fewer places to live in and less food to eat.

  • So fast are they dying that they could disappear forever within decades.

  • Actually, polar bears are not the only victims of global warming since it is a worldwide problem.

  • Compared to other natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons, global warming affects our planet at a rather gradual pace.

  • Slow as it is, global warming may eventually destroy our planet.

  • This deadly warming is caused by the huge amounts of carbon dioxide discharged into the atmosphere by the burning of fuels.

  • This carbon dioxide absorbs the sun’s heat and keeps it from escaping into space, thus warming the Earth.

  • As the planet warms up, tons of ice surrounding the North Pole and the South Pole have begun to melt, causing worldwide sea level to rise.

  • Small islands and low coastal areas could soon be underwater, and residents of several big cities such as London, Shanghai, and Taipei are likely to have nowhere to live by the end of the 21st century

  • Global warming can also cause severe climate change and kill thousands of people at a time.

  • Many probably still remember how Hurricane Katrina in 2005 left tens of thousands of Americans homeless.

  • Back in 2003, more than thirty thousand people lost their lives when a heat wave struck Europe.

  • And now, more and more land that was once fertile has become barren, since the deserts near the equator are expanding.

  • Because of global warming, humans might soon face famine, just as many polar bears have already experienced.

  • When polar bears are starving due to a lack of food, it is said that they will kill and eat each other.

  • Imagine this horrible scene.

  • If we want to save them, both people and governments should take immediate action to deal with global warming before it is too late.

  • We need to seize every opportunity to reduce global warming, or food shortages are just one of the great tragedies that we will experience one day.

  • By then, it might just be our turn to say farewell to our Earth.

The animation Farewell, created by a Taiwanese student, Chu-Ling Hsu, was awarded a Special Mention at the International Festival of Animated Films AniFest in 2009.

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