Taiwanese artist uses 3D illustrations to raise global warming awareness of polar cities

Local artist uses 3D illustrations to raise global warming awareness

TAIWAN NEWS, an English language daily newspaper in Taiwan
www.etaiwannews.com

http://cna.com.tw/CNAeng/EnglishTopNews/TopNewsDetail.aspx?TopNewsSerialnum=1115&strTopNewsDate=20080518&strTopNewsID=200805180014



Central News Agency

by Rachel Chan, CNA reporter


TAIPEI - With the impact of global warming unfolding before our eyes, more human beings could end up living in polar regions as they might be the last places on the planet with tolerable temperatures.

A Taiwanese artist and an American expat in Taiwan have teamed up to create three-dimensional illustrations portraying the idea of a possible future world - "polar cities" or " sustainable polar retreats" (SPRs) - to call the public's attention to the issue.

After two months of pondering over the SPR idea, Deng Cheng-hong, a visual designer living in Chiayi, southern Taiwan, put American expatriate Dan Bloom's imagination into a series of three-dimensional illustrations using computer software.

One 26-year-old in Tahiti blogged onto the polar cities Web site set up by Bloom, saying that he was so touched by the pictures that he wants to work harder to stop global warming, starting now.

Deng, who professes to be "the first person in the world" to create these images on what the future might look like, said that as global warming is an "inconvenient truth" that humans are forced to face, he hopes his illustrations can serve as a wake up call.

"I hope this will give people a clearer idea of what polar cities could be likeand get them to do something about global warming," said Deng.

Working with Deng, Bloom has been blogging about the concept of polar cities for a long time. He said the idea of polar cities is a possible adaptation strategy for survivors of global warming in the far distant future - perhaps the year 2500, according to him.

Bloom said his "crazy idea" was inspired by acclaimed British scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock, who has done pioneering work on global warming issues.

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