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Writer Ross Pomeroy said that it was discovered 35 years ago that the waters of Lake Colden in the Adirondack Mountains of New York were too acidic for fish to live, making these picturesque bodies of water one of the main victims of acid rain.
Red spruce trees in New England also showed signs of stress from rain leaching vital calcium into the soil, severely stunting tree growth. Today; Lake Colden’s trout are back and spruce trees are thriving, tangible signs that decades-long efforts to mitigate acid rain are working.
The writer explained in his article published on the “Big Think” website that after the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that cause acid rain decreased significantly in Europe and North America, it is easy to look at the panicked news of the 1980s and 1990s and wonder whether acid rain is actually “An inconvenience rather than a disaster,” emeritus biochemistry professor William Revell wrote for the Irish Times, and given how we approach the problem we may never know the answer conclusively.
The writer pointed out that scientists in the United States and Scandinavian countries discovered acid rain in the 1960s and chose to collect evidence for years before sounding the alarm in the 1970s and 1980s. American ecologist Gene Likens and his colleagues found that although rainwater was often slightly acidic with a pH of 5.6 By 1980, the average pH of rain in the United States was 4.6, about 10 times more acidic, and it was getting worse.
The problem was most severe in areas downwind of coal power plants (the main sources of SO2 emissions); The pH of rainstorms sometimes drops to 3 or less, like grapefruit juice or soda. These types of rain have weathered buildings, decomposed nutrients that trees need to survive, and released aluminum into the soil.
The writer confirmed that scientists across the Atlantic Ocean in Sweden have warned that half of the country’s lakes and rivers will reach critical acidity by the early mid-twenty-first century, which could cause the death of large numbers of fish if measures are not taken to stop acid rain.
Whether these scenarios constitute “noise,” “nuisance,” or “disaster” may depend on one’s thinking toward scientific and environmental predictions, but there is no doubt that acid rain has been a growing problem for which humans are responsible.
The writer stated that for this reason, and after years of public debate; US lawmakers created a bipartisan trade program, which capped sulfur dioxide emissions in the energy industry at a significantly lower level than in 1980, allowed companies to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions in the energy industry, and also set limits on sulfur dioxide emissions. Nitrogen oxide.
The free market program has been a huge success; National average annual ambient sulfur dioxide concentrations in the United States declined by a whopping 93% between 1980 and 2018.
The writer explained that although the acid rain cloud has almost disappeared from most parts of Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan, it represents an increasing problem in places such as India and China. As coal power continues to be widely used, urban areas in Latin America and Africa are also seeing increasing acidity of rainfall.
The author concluded the report by saying that for these places, reducing the harmful emissions that fuel acid rain is a goal synonymous with reducing all air pollution; Four million people die prematurely due to outdoor air pollution globally.
Making the air more breathable and making rain less acidic benefits everyone, regardless of whether acid rain is an exaggerated problem or a real problem.
