Benefits+of+Conservation

    **Conservation will stop Global Warming and will in turn prevent the following...**

__**Fires and Droughts**__: Hot and dry climates will intensify making grass much more susceptible to wildfires. "The 2006 wildland fire season set new records in both the number of reported fires as well as acres burned. Close to 100,000 fires were reported and nearly 10 million acres burned, 125 percent above the 10-year average" (NRDC, 2007).

__**Spread of Tropical Diseases**__: With the temperature of the planet rising, so will the threat of tropical diseases. Most major tropical diseases, like Malaria, are carried by misquotoes living in those areas. As the climates get warmer and warmer they could survive in former temperate areas. "Malaria has been detected in new higher-elevation areas in Indonesia." (NRDC, 2007).

__**Heat Waves**__: "In 2003, extreme heat waves claimed an estimated 35,000 lives in Europe" (NRDC, 2007). Now, five years later, in 2008 these heat waves will get worse. There was a heat wave in 2006 in the USA it took 225 people with it. The only way to prevent massive death is to constantly stay hydrated because the earth is not going to wait for you to get used to the heat.

__**Natural Disasters**__: The infamous Hurricane Katrina that tore apart New Orleans in August 2005 was possilble by the warming waters. Hurricanes feed on heated water because it provides more energy. A recent current example of the intensfying storms is the cyclone in Myanmar. In Myanmar "well over 60,000 people feared dead after a monster cyclone swamped low-lying portions of Myanmar's fertile southwestern coastline" (US News and World Report, May 19 2008). Hurricane and tornado seasons have been increasingly more devastating year after year.

  Although not really a natural disaster the ice of the Arctic is melting by around 10% every decade. "Scientists at the U.S. Center for Atmospheric Research predict that if the current rate of global warming continues, the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer by 2040" (NRDC, 2007). Areas at low sea level are very vulnerable to be flooded out. Wetlands would be completely lost if even a small fraction of the Arctic ice melts. "Greenland holds 10 percent of the total global ice mass; if it melts, sea levels could increase by up to 21 feet" (NRDC, 2007).  Home  · Technology and Resources  ·  Societies and Resources