26. The Greenhouse Effect and Its Consequences 温室效应及其后果
①The greenhouse effect causes trouble by raising the temperature of the planet.The actual rise is not very much,but the Earth's ecosystem is very weak,and small changes can have large effects.
②It has been believed that this rise of one degree will happen by the year 2025.This could probably damage the North American corn belt,which produces much of the world's grain,leading to much higher food prices,and even less food for the Third World than they already have.However,it would also mean that some countries which are further north would be able to grow crops they had never been able to before,although there is less land as you move north from the corn belt.
③The other serious worry is that rising sea levels from the melting of the polar ice could severely flood many countries.A rise in sea levels of one meter,which many experts are predicting by the year 2100(and some as soon as 2030),would flood 15 percent of Egypt,and 12 percent of Bangladesh.The Maldives in the Indian Ocean would almost completely disappear.Most of the countries which would suffer most from a rise in sea levels are the poor island states,so the islands in the Caribbean,South Pacific,Mediterranean and Indian Ocean have formed the Alliance of Small Island States,AOSIS,so they have a louder voice in international politics and can make the richer developed world listen to their problems.
