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Hey there! Welcome to Life Noggin.
大家好！欢迎来到脑洞大开的生命奇想。
Conservation is something we're hearing a lot about these days, because Earth has finite resources and we're kind of using them up really fast.
我们现在听到很多关于保护资源的讨论，因为地球资源有限，我们很快就会把它们用光了。
But what if we didn't conserve? What would happen if the Earth ran out of food and water?
但是如果我们不保护资源呢？如果地球上的食物和水都用光了会发生什么？
So, the good news is Earth isn't going to run out of water anytime soon.
所以，还好地球水资源不会很快耗尽。
The water we have doesn't exactly do a disappearing act, it just changes state, evaporating into the atmosphere then raining or snowing back down.
我们现有的水并没有完全消失，它只是改变了状态，蒸发到大气中然后通过下雨或者下雪回到地上。
The problem is, most of that water -- about 77 percent -- is salt water. And the fresh water we need is mostly frozen at the poles.
问题是，大部分水——大约77%——是盐水。我们所需要的淡水大多储存在极地冰川里。
But some exists in rivers and streams, which is good for us! And those sources get replenished from rainfall, which is even better.
但也有一些存在于河流和溪流中，这对我们是件好事！而且这些水资源可以通过降水补给，这就更好了。
But as populations grow and more people rely on these sources, we have to start literally digging into other resources, namely underground aquifers.
但是随着人口的增长，越来越多的人依赖这些资源，我们必须开始挖掘其他水源，即地下蓄水层。
These subterranean wells carry us through droughts so we don't have to curb our habits.
这些地下井帮我们熬过了干旱，因而不必改变用水习惯。
But new climate data are showing that we're draining the largest water reserves in Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas faster than they're replenished by rain.
但新的气候数据显示，非洲、欧亚大陆和美洲最大的水资源储备正消耗殆尽，速度远远超过雨水补充的速度。
So much of the groundwater we use is lost to evaporation or ends up in the oceans meaning it doesn't get reused, and that's leaving billions of people without clean water.
我们所使用的大部分地下水都蒸发掉了，或者流入海洋，这意味着它不能被再利用，这就使得数十亿人失去了清洁的水。
Not only is there less water, but these dwindling resources don't exactly abide by geographic boundaries.
不仅水资源越来越少，资源不断减少也在各国蔓延。
So nations are fighting for control over limited resources, and it's sparking wars.
因此，各国都在争夺有限资源的控制权，这引发了战争。
The conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan began as a local dispute over access to clean water between African farmers and Arab pastoralist communities.
苏丹达尔富尔地区的冲突始于当地非洲农民和阿拉伯牧民之间清洁用水的争夺。
Then it escalated into an all-out war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced a million since 2003.
随后，这场战争升级为一场全面战争，自2003年以来，这场战争已造成数十万人丧生，100万人流离失所。
Yemen is also seeing increased riots over access to water. In both cases water will solve the conflict but that magical peace-bringing water doesn't exactly exist.
也门用水争端也越来越多。在这两种情况下，水都能解决冲突，但神奇的和平之水并不存在。
So who is the biggest user of water, and the people feeling these shortages the most? That would be farmers, the people who also bring us food.
那么谁用水最多呢？水资源短缺对谁影响最大呢？那就是农民，也就是那些给我们带来食物的人。
As water becomes more scarce the price will go up, which will in turn drive up food prices.
水变得越来越少，价格也会上涨，这反过来又会推高食品价格。
And when we're in the same position with groups fighting for access to a vital but limited commodity, we're going to see food wars the same way we're seeing water wars.
当我们也同样为获取一个重要但有限的商品开战时，粮食战争就会像今天我们看到的水战争一样出现。
And war has a nasty habit of destroying land, meaning we can destroy all our crops in the process, leaving us with nothing at all to share once there's peace.
战争一定会破坏土地，这意味着我们可能在这个过程中摧毁所有的庄稼，和平终于到来的时候，已经没有东西可以分享。
But don't worry too much. Scientists are already thinking about protecting us from ourselves with seed vaults.
但是不要太担心。科学家们已经开始考虑启用种子库。
There are vaults all over the world that stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity of food, and the global backup is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.
世界各地都有仓库，可以储藏种子来保存粮食的基因多样性，为全球提供后援的是挪威的斯瓦尔巴德全球种子库。
This will not only give us diverse food, but it will give us a way to preserve our ecosystem so we can grow the crops that sustain us.
这不仅会给我们提供多样化的食物，也是一个保护生态系统的方法，这样我们就能种植农作物养活自己。
Because without some forethought into preserving our ecosystem, well, we could go the way of the dinosaurs.
因为如果没有预先考虑保护我们的生态系统，我们就可能重蹈恐龙的覆辙。
The Earth will be fine; our planet is pretty resilient. Us and the environment that sustains us? Not so much.
地球会好好的；我们的星球很强大的。我们和赖以生存的环境呢？却并非如此。
So unless we want a future of wars over the snacks on your desk right now, we should probably start taking conservation initiatives very seriously.
所以，只要不想未来会爆发战争争夺现在桌上的零食，我们现在就应该开始重视保护措施。
Let us know in the comments section below what we should talk about next. This video was written by space historian Amy Shira Teitel.
请在评论部分告诉我们接下来应该讨论什么。这段视频由太空历史学家艾米·希拉·泰特尔撰写。
On the topic of water, she just made a video about releasing water into space!
关于水的话题，她刚刚做了一个关于向太空放水的视频！
Check it out. Project Highwater is perhaps one of the least known programs in the early Apollo era, because it didn't really do all that much.
看一下吧！在早期的阿波罗时代，Highwater项目可能是最不为人所知的项目之一，因为它并没有做那么多宣传。
It really was exactly what the name is: water that went high above the earth.
顾名思义，就是把水喷到地球上空。
As always, My name is Bloko, this has been Life Noggin. Don't forget to keep on thinking.
我是宝高，这里是脑洞大开的生命奇想。思考不要停！
