How To Prevent Acid Rain Essay

Every day, factories, power plants, and even your cars emit dangerous chemicals into our atmosphere. When these chemicals mix with the moisture in our air, acid rain is produced. Acid rain falls onto lakes, rivers, fields, and forests destroying them. Acid rain is a serious environmental concern, however, it can be prevented.

Acid rain is made of many forms of precipitation, with higher levels of nitric and sulfuric acids ("Acid Rain Facts"). One source of acid rain is naturally occurring, such as when a volcano erupts. Other types of acid rain are caused by man-made activities. One example of this is car exhaust. Car exhaust causes the production of nitrogen oxides "in the air" ("Acid Rain: Do you need"). These gases cause airborne sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as well as nitric acid (HNO3) to be produced and dissolved into water vapor in the air ("Acid Rain Facts"). Burning fossil fuels and coal burning in power plants and factories is another way that acid rain is created. When pollution is released into the air, it can fall in the form of rain or snow, creating acid rain ("Acid Rain").

Acid rain has terrible effects on many aspects of life, including the environment, plants, and animals.

Acid rain contaminates and poisons many areas. Even though most environments are affected by acid rain, some places can handle certain amounts of acid rain. Some bases/soils have a greater pH than 7, so when acid rain combines with the soil, it tensions out the acidity. Some areas, however that include Rocky Mountains as well as the Northeastern and Southeastern U.S, limestone is not naturally available. Due to that, acid rain is much more harmful to the environment. Many animals like fish and frogs have a difficult time adapting to their environments and a hard time reproducing in areas contaminated with acid rain. Not just animals are affected, but trees are also hurt. One type of tree that can be affected by acid rain and acid fog is the Evergreen tree ("Acid Rain: Do you

need").
Solutions to acid rain are necessary to preserve and protect many forms of life. One way to decrease acid rain is to burn less fossil fuels. Another way to stop acid rain is to conserve on energy. One more way is to drive less cars and consider using public transportation. Some ways of public transportation include buses or subways ("Acid Rain Facts").
Protecting our environment from acid rain is a very big task. Even larger a task is to prevent acid rain from developing in the atmosphere. The Environmental Protection Agency and/ or the government can set policies to limit the amount of fossil fuels that companies and factories burn. Conserving energy can be done by turning off the lights when you leave a room, turning off devices when you are not using them, minimizing the amount of time you leave the car running, and using energy efficient technology. This can include energy saving light bulbs, motion detectors, and energy efficient appliances. Finally, carpooling, using public transportation, biking, or walking, are all ways to decrease the amount of time you spend driving your car. Electric cars are also a good alternative, however they are currently expensive at this time.
Acid rain is a serious environmental problem that may have damaging effects that are not reversible. It takes many different forms of precipitation and affects many different forms of life including plants and animals. As humans, we can take steps to reduce the amount of fossil fuels, conserve more energy, and decrease car exhaust which all contribute to creating this devastating phenomenon.