Acid rain is a result of air pollution. When any type of fuel is burnt, lots of different chemicals are produced. The smoke that comes from a fire or the fumes that come out of a car exhaust don't just contain the sooty grey particles that you can see - they also contains lots of invisible gases that can be even more harmful to our environment.

https://ypte.org.uk/factsheets/acid-rain/what-is-acid-rain

Power stations, factories and cars all burn fuels and therefore they all produce polluting gases. Some of these gases (especially nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide) react with the tiny droplets of water in clouds to form sulphuric and nitric acids. The rain from these clouds then falls as very weak acid - which is why it is known as "acid rain". The release of sulphur dioxide can also occur naturally when a volcano erupts.

Acid rain was considered a major problem in the 1980s and while steps to reduce sulphur emissions have been successful we are still feeling the effects today, and there is still work to be done.

The diagram shows how acid rain is formed.

The gases that are emitted by cars, vehicles, and factories are released into the atmosphere.

They dissolve in rainwater, causing acid rains and acid snow. Acid rains affect the water and land plants and animals, and also affect human life to a great extent.

Summarized:
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/acid-rain-solutions.html

Air pollution was once seen as a local issue. One early answer to industrial air pollution was to build very tall chimneys. Unfortunately all this does is push the polluting gases up into the clouds allowing emissions to float away on the wind. The wind carries the pollution many hundreds of miles away where it eventually falls as acid rain.



In 2011 France, Germany and UK altogether produced over a million tons of sulphur emissions (Environment Canada). Compare this to the fact that in 1994 Germany and UK produced over a million tons of emissions each. Governments have taken serious steps to reduce the amount of sulphur and nitrogen emissions, but they are still a problem.

Ships are major contributors to sulphur emissions as the sulphur content of their heavy fuel oil is very high (5% compared to the EU maximum allowed in car fuels of 0.001%). The shipping industry is taking steps to reduce emissions as estimates predict that if nothing is done soon then the sulphur emissions of the industry would exceed all those from land-based sources by 2020.

Acid rain or acid deposition occurs in two ways:
Wet Deposition - This type of deposition occurs when any form of condensation removes acids from the environment, leading to acidic deposition on the earth's surface.
Dry Deposition - This type of deposition occurs when polluted particles and gases begin to stick to the surface of the earth through smoke and dust, in the absence of precipitation.
Wet deposition is more dangerous than dry deposition, as it washes all the pollutants, and carries it to the lakes and rivers.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/acid-rain-solutions.html

Every type of material will become eroded sooner or later by the effects of the climate. Water, wind, ice and snow all help in the erosion process but unfortunately, acid rain can help to make this natural process even quicker. Statues, buildings, vehicles, pipes and cables can all suffer. The worst affected are things made from limestone or sandstone as these types of rock are particularly susceptible and can be affected by air pollution in gaseous form as well as by acid rain.

It is in aquatic habitats that the effects of acid rain are most obvious. Acid rain runs off the land and ends up in streams, lakes and marshes - the rain also falls directly on these areas.

As the acidity of a lake increases, the water becomes clearer and the numbers of fish and other water animals decline. Some species of plant and animal are better able to survive in acidic water than others. Freshwater shrimps, snails, mussels are the most quickly affected by acidification followed by fish such as minnows, salmon and roach. The roe and fry (eggs and young) of the fish are the worst affected as the acidity of the water can prevent eggs from hatching properly, can cause deformity in young fish which also struggle to take in oxygen.

The acidity of the water does not just affect species directly, it also causes toxic substances such as aluminium to be released into the water from the soil, harming fish and other aquatic animals.

Lakes, rivers and marshes each have their own fragile ecosystem with many different species of plants and animals all depending on each other to survive. If a species of fish disappears, the animals which feed on it will gradually disappear too. If the extinct fish used to feed on a particular species of large insect, that insect population will start to grow, which in turn will affect the smaller insects or plankton on which the larger insect feeds.normal. Episodic acidification can cause sudden shifts in water chemistry. This may lead to high concentrations of substances such as aluminum, which may be toxic to fish.

Branches from a tree in Germany’s Black Forest show needle loss and yellowed boughs caused by acid rain.

Acid rain can effect trees in several different ways, it may:

dissolve and wash away the nutrients and minerals in the soil which help the trees to grow such as potassium, calcium and magnesium
cause the release of harmful substances such as aluminium into the soil and waterways which further affects wildlife.
wear away the waxy protective coating of leaves, damaging themand preventing them from being able to photosynthesise properly.

Acid rain can be carried great distances in the atmosphere, not just between countries but also from continent to continent. The acid can also take the form of snow, mists and dry dusts. The dry dust can cause respiratory illnesses in animals and humans such as asthma. The rain sometimes falls many miles from the source of pollution but wherever it falls it can have a serious effect on soil, trees, buildings and water.

By HRC INNES

Acid rain pouring the temperature is soaring our earth is starting to look used and
Abused and boring from mankind ignoring.
The vital signs of the sea envelop me. Polar caps melting our vast sun blistered plains sweltering. We are on the brink this I dare not say I think.
I look up into the sky so so high and the thought of Mother Nature dieing that I am
Potentially implying. Our governments have been lying and big business happily
Buying from mankind’s selfish and greedy environment mining. I am sorry there is no
Silver lining.

Man must stop yawning
For the earth is warning
Armageddon is forming
My anger is swarming
Our children’s children will be in mourning
For this is global warming.

© All Rights reserved
Hugh R.C.INNES
10/09/2006

Governments around the world have placed restrictions on sulphur-emitting processes, making it illegal to cause high emissions. The large combustion plants that produce our energy need to meet IED requirements by 2016.

The 1999 Gothenburg Protocol set limits on emissions and came into force in 2010.

The National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) website states that, between 1970 and 2012 emissions from industrial combustion sources have fallen by 96%.


The International Marine Organisation (IMO) works to limit the sulphur content of shipping fuel used with Emission Control Areas (ECAs), with a cap of 0.1% coming into effect from January 2015.

Although the amount of sulphur dioxide that is being released has been cut considerably, more needs to be done about nitrogen oxide from motor vehicles and agricultural fertilizers. When nitrogen oxide mixes with rain it forms nitric acid which drains important plant nutrients from the soil and releases minerals such as aluminium into water courses.

Too much nitrogen in our waterways can lead to eutrophication. This is when algal blooms or just a few dominant plant species take over and block all the light for underwater plants. When the algae dies and starts to decompose, tiny decomposing organisms use up all the oxygen, leaving none for other aquatic creatures.

Unfortunately international agreements failed to include shipping which uses sulphur rich fuels that are now banned on land, so emissions from the North sea could still reach countries such as Norway. However, in July 2011 the European Commission proposed to reduce sulphur emissions from the fast-growing maritime and shipping industry by 90% by limiting the legal sulphur content allowed in fuels in certain areas such as the Channel and Baltic Sea.

Use alternative energy sources
There are other sources of electricity besides fossil fuels. They include nuclear power, hydropower, wind energy, geothermal energy, and solar energy. Nuclear and hydropower are used most widely in the United States, while wind, solar, and geothermal energy have not yet been harnessed on a large enough scale to make them economically-feasible alternatives.

There are also alternative energies, such as natural gas, batteries, and fuel cells, available to power automobiles.

All sources of energy have environmental costs as well as benefits. Some types of energy are more expensive to produce than others, which means that not all Americans can afford all of them. Nuclear power, hydropower, and coal are the cheapest formsof energy today, but advancements in technologies and regulatory developments may change this in the future. All of these factors must be weighed when deciding which energy source to use today and which to invest in for tomorrow.

“It is imperative that youth from all parts of the world participate
actively in all relevant levels of decision-making processes because it
affects their lives today and has implications for their futures. In addition
to their intellectual contribution and their ability to mobilize support,
they bring unique perspectives that need to be taken into
account.”12


Strengthening the participation of youth in environmental protection is partly
a matter of increasing opportunities in governmental organizations, established
NGOs and restoration projects; partly a matter of youth themselves devising new
forms of action, as the preceding examples of innovative activism make clear; and
partly a question of more effective environmental education and media presentation
of environmental issues.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/ch05.pdf