Acid rain is a huge contributor to the destruction of the environment. Acid rain happens because sulfur and nitrogen are put into the air because of the burning of coal. It is very harmful to the environment and is very potent to our water supply making it to acidic to drink. The Ph levels are lower than normal in water because of acid rain, which is harmful to animals that live in water. Acid rain is also harmful to plant life and forests and the animals who inhabit there. Governments have put laws into place that will hopefully decrease the sulfur emissions. China has set a goal of 20% reduction of acid rain by 2010. The lowest amount of Ph measured in China and New York was about 4. There is not much being done to solve the acid rain issue. The government has tried to put rules in place and reduce the amount of acid rain in the environment. The government is also conducting tests of Streams Rivers, and other bodies of water to see how acidic they are. What really needs to happen is for the general public to start caring and helping fix the environment. We need to cut down on burning coal and cutting down our car usage. The government needs to start campaigning and encouraging people to help the environment.
3) Why is no one taking the acid rain problem more seriously? If it is so detrimental the environment why is it not a top priority? Why is there not more literature out there for the public to read?
The acid rain problem is taken seriously otherwise there would not have been money available for research and development of new technologies. It is a complex issue. There are a lot of paper and literature out there to read about the acid rain and there was a large campaign in the 70's and 80's. There are 100s to 1000s of people working on the acid rain problem world wide. It was greatly affecting the NE-USA and Northern Europe, because the ecosystems were more sensitive to acidification. There are over 50% reduction in sulfur emissions in the USA and Europe in the last 30-40 years due to better technology. There is only baout 17% reduction in nitrogen-oxide emissions due to the large car and other transportation emissions. As we know that it is not enough because acid rain is still a problem. Other countries need to do their part in reduction of sulfur-, nitrogen- and carbon-dioxide emissions because Earth is a system and all subsystems are related and interact. If pollution happen over one continent the other continents are also affected. Now, we know that acid rain is a problem in China as well, but due to political and economic reasons nothing was done about the problem until now. More research, education and public awareness can help.
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