new region.The Environmental Media Services Organization has found that the greenhouse effect “could drive global temperatures up as much as 6 degrees by the year 2100 - an increase in heat comparable to the 10 degree warming that ended the last ice age” (www.ems.org/climate/sub2_html). If a ten-degree warming was the factor that ended the ice age, imagine what another warming by about that same amount could do. Scientists believe that a warming of only 6 degrees would cause glaciers to melt at a high rate. This would cause an increase in the level of the oceans. According to the article “Turning up the Heat: How Global Warming Threatens Life in the Sea,” coastal cities and islands would be in danger of flooding if the ocean levels rose: “Only a 1-cm rise in sea level can erode a full 1 meter of beach” (Berntson and Mathews-Amos www.worldwildelife.org/news/pups/wwf_ocean.htm). Sea ice would also be susceptible to melting, which would raise the water level even more. Global warming will not just make sea levels rise; it will also affect sea life. Corals “are intolerant of temperatures just a few degrees warmer than usual” (ibid.). Rounds 4Small increases in the temperature can kill corals. There have been problems with corals dying in the past few years because of increased water temperatures. Other marine life may migrate northward or southward because the waters are warmer. The warm water would make them think that they were in their natural habitat, when they were actually migrating toward the poles. Food would be scarce in their new habitat.Another impact of global warming will be that some diseases are likely to be spread more easily. Mosquitoes are a major carrier of tropical diseases. They are commonly known for carrying malaria, cholera, and dengue fever. Malaria outbreaks are usually confined to “where the minimum winter temperature reaches no lower than 16 ...
