Acid Rain

Acid Rain

Acid rain is a great problem in our world. It causes fish and plants to die in our waters. It causes harm to our own race as well because we eat these fish, drink this water and, eat these plants.

About 20 years ago scientists first believed that acid rain was due to entirely air pollution. They were partially right. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England, pollution had been affecting all the trees, soil and rivers in Europe and North America. The use of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, are largely to be blamed for almost half of the emissions of sulfur dioxide in the world. However, there is another cause. The other cause is naturally occurring sulfur dioxide. Natural sources which release this gas are volcanoes, sea spray, rotting vegetation and plankton.

The EPA {Environmental Protection Agency} has an acid rain program. This program is working to significantly reduce utilities’ emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, the pollutants responsible for acid deposition.

Across Europe there is a project going on in the schools, whose main goal is to educate young people about the changing nature of acid rain and the response of environmental systems to these changes, called “Acid Rain 2000”. Schools are being invited to join the project from across continental Europe as well as the UK. Already the project has participants in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland and Denmark.

People can get more involved with wanting to solve this problem by becoming more aware of acid rain and spreading awareness as well. Awareness should start in the schools. Students should be given the right perspective about acidic rain. Some people are under the impression that acidic lakes are grimy and gross, when really they have a captivating beauty. Granted the reason the lakes are so clear and beautiful are for the wrong reasons, people should know what to look out for. Students should be taught to conserve fossil fuels at a very young age, for the fossil fuels will be gone one day. When conserving the fossil fuels, the students will also be limiting the amount of sulfur emitted into the air, which in turn lessens the amount of acidity in the rain.