3 years ago there was rainfall in the Atacama Desert in Peru. it wiped out all of the micro organisms living there. Every spring, the rain is supposed to bloom life in the desert but that year, most of the microbial life was killed. Acid rain killed these organisms and brough nitrates. These nitrate deposits also may have came from decades ago, just stored up in the ground.

This article provides data from an area that most articles won’t write about. A Desert isn’t usually a place where one would think that acid rain affects it. It makes the reader feel poorly about the fact that these organisms are no longer part of the ecosystem. It cited scientists from reliable studies. It also made it very clear that acid rain is a problem everywhere.

The article states that 30-40 years ago the world used to worry about acid rain more than climate change. The UK produced most of Europe’s sulfur in the atmosphere and got pushed west by winds.  Now UK scientists are hyper aware of climate change because they knew what forest damage and decreasing fish populations (due to acid rain) looked like. The 1999 Gothenburg Protocol plays a special role in preventing air pollution. Europe is hopeful that around 80,000 premature births can be prevented each year.

The article dives deep into the history of acid rain in Europe. It explains why some scientists in Europe may be more conscious about climate change than scientists from other areas. It shows how the UK was a very impactful country in sulfur emission. It also shows how the US was similar to the UK when their sulfur emissions were affecting Canada. Lastly it shows how there have been efforts to reduce fossil fuel and sulfur emission.

Sulfur emissions in Europe have decreased, causing lower levels of sulfate and aluminum. 10 scientists from different countries were assigned to record data from the soil in 171 forests across Europe. In the 1980’s, acid rain was one of the major issues in Europe at the time. The acid rain was damaging the continents forests, rivers, and lakes and there was much political controversy over this issue. According to scientists there has been a decrease in nitrogen levels in the soils across Europe even though soil pollution is still a very large issue.

This article describes an event of controversy that affect the world previously. It describes a way that the world has further improved. It gives the reader some hope while still keeping them hungry to change the world. The experiment involved was executed almost perfectly. It shows how acid rain directly affects something so overlooked like soil, and shows just how important it is to our future.

The article first defines acid rain as any form of precipitation that has acid components and doesn’t necessarily need to be wet or be a liquid. The term acid rain was used in 1872 by Scottish chemist Robert Angus Smith. It didn’t then become a public know issue until the 1960’s and 70’s in Western Europe and eastern North America. Some causes of acid rain are man made pollutants, volcanoes, and asteroids. Scientists also believe that 4 billion years ago the Earth had 10,000 times more carbon dioxide than we have today. Acid rain washes away the protective film on leaves of trees, changes composition of soil and water, and can deteriorate limestone buildings and monuments.

This article is short and simple. It gives a clear explanation of acid rain and organizes the article very well. The causes are clear examples and even gives some theories to get the reader asking questions. The effects are explained very well and the examples are very applicable. The last portion where solutions were given, was very to follow and gies the reader a start to helping the problem.

A UC Davis study had found that 20-32% of nitrogenous gasses in California are emitted from farms and agriculture. In the article, nitrogenous gasses are called NOx. The original study was performed in Northern California, near Sacramento, but NOx gasses have been found all over the state. NOx gasses are linked to respiratory disease, asthma, cancer, birth defects, cardiovascular diseases, ozone depletion, and acid rain. The article states that farmers and the agricultural industry need to start taking into consideration how much NOx they are emitting.

This article focuses in on one component of acid rain, which is nitrogen gas. Nitrogenous gasses are some of the most influential parts of acid rain and climate change. This article describes exactly how experiments were run in order to find certain levels of NOx gas in all of California. It also does a good job at expanding on a previous study. This article asks questions and tries to make a solution to the problem at hand.

Due to the eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea, scientists have been warning residents about potential acid rain. Kilauea emits sulfur dioxide (SO2), and forms into liquid droplets in the atmosphere, causing acid rain. Acid rain has been the driving force for US and European governments to reduce SO2 (sulfur dioxide) and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) release. Data shows that acid rain isn’t as much of a pressing matter as we think it is. The article states that many natural damages that have been thought to be due to acid rain have actually been due to other unrelated occurrences.

This article shows a good example of a counter argument to most articles about acid rain. It challenges popular thought and makes the reader rethink their beliefs. Personally, I believe that this article is wrong because rates of acid rain occuring are increasing way more rapidly than they usually do. It is still a pressing matter that we need to pay attention to.

The rapid Industrial Revolution is the main cause of most acid rain in our ecosystems today. Once regulations were placed, sulfur and nitrogen levels started to decrease which lowered the acidity of ecosystems and specifically freshwater lakes. Researchers have focused on high-elevation lakes in the northeast U.S., specifically New England. Over 30 years, these researchers have been focusing on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and seeing how it affects the surrounding environment. In these high-elevation lakes, DOC levels showed an increase (when sulfate decreases) and decrease (when sulfate increases), over the 30 year period.

This article shows the current day effects of acid rain on local areas. It’s a perfect representation of a “current event”. In my opinion, it is amazing that researchers are seeing progress and that there are sure signs of eliminating the problem of acid rain.

Acid rain is still a pressing problem in many parts of the world, specifically India and other parts of Asia. The Clean Air act of 1970 cut the emission of sulfur and nitrogen, and certain amendments in 1990 reduced sulfur dioxide by large amounts. These laws and regulations caused a large and significant decrease in acid rain. However, due to acid rain, many soils in different parts of the world which have lost most calcium ions, are taking longer to recover.

This article shows the lasting effects of acid rain on countries. It also shows how those effects can be changed and how we can see improvement when laws and regulations are made. I believe that all governments need to be more involved in environmental matters or at least there needs to be more regulation on what we take out of and put into our earth.

During the explosions of Hawaii’s volcano Mt. Kilauea, the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory warned Hawaii residents of heavy ash fall and large explosions. Officials also warned residents of possible acid rain due to high levels of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. These high levels were due to high emissions of lava and toxic gas into the air. If there is wind moving these gases away from the island, then the gas, ash, and smoke doesn’t have time to settle so therefore chances of acid rain go down.

This article shows the real life consequences of acid rain due to sulfur dioxide emission. Granted, these emissions are due to natural occurrences rather than human-made occurrences, but it does show the dangers of too much sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. This article does a good job of keeping the reader aware of the danger of sulfur dioxide and acid rain.

Acid rain damages many rice crops which occur very frequently in Asia. Rice crops that have been affected by acid rain can be fixed by rinsing them with clean water but it is often hard to tell when the crops have been damaged. Dr. Wang Xin of Nankai University in Tianjin, China has proposed a cheap way of finding out when exactly the crops have been damaged. The way that it works is crops naturally secrete molecules of carbohydrates, amino acids, and fatty acids that feed bacteria in the soil. Acid rain affects the secretion of these molecules, meaning more acidity equals less molecules and less molecules means less bacteria. If one were to watch the bacteria activity it would be pretty easy to figure out that acid rain has affected the rice crops.

This article does an amazing job at applying acid rain to real life situations. It addresses a problem and then proposes a solution that can be easily applied to real life. It describes how acid rain specifically affects these crops and what that does to bacteria. It proves that the solution can be quick and cheap.