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Acid Rain's Ecological Effects, and Beyond:

Introduction:

Acid rain is one of several symptoms of industrial society's addiction to fossil fuels. The fossil fuels include coal, oil and natural gas. Besides acid precipitation, their effects include: global warming, which is a result of CO2 emissions, nutrient pollution from NOx emissions, particulate pollution, ground-level ozone pollution (smog), massive oil spills, and the contamination of ground water and soil from petrochemical leaks and spills. Acid rain itself is caused by the release of various compounds which cause changes in the pH of soils and water bodies. This article will first discuss the causes and consequences of acid precipitation generally, before discussing the history of coal use and how it can be eliminated, and replaced with cleaner, more sustainable alternatives.

Causes and Consequences of Acid Precipitation:

pH is the scale measuring the difference between alkaline (base) and acidic chemical compounds. It is measured on a scale between 0 and 14, where anything over 7 is alkaline, anything under 7 is acidic, and 7 itself is neutral. The scale is logarithmic, like the Richter scale which measures seismic disturbances. This means that a reading of 5 is 10 times as acidic as a reading of 6, for example, while a reading of 4 is 100 times as acidic as 6. Natural rain water itself is slightly acidic, having a reading of 5.6, which is normally diluted by more neutral fresh water in rivers and lakes (Dunn 1999).

There are two compounds which are of greatest concern in the formation of acid precipitation. The first is sulfur dioxide (SO2), which is primarily associated with the burning of coal. Nitrogen Oxides (NOx: NO, NO2, NO3) are also problematic, however, and they are produced by the burning of fossil fuels generally, and indeed by all combustion. Coal is once again the greatest offender, followed by gasoline, and then natural gas (Dunn 1999). Nitrogen oxides are also added to the environment through the use of artificial fertilizers in the agricultural sector, and through concentrated sewage.

Acid rain once became so bad in Europe that it was beginning to damage ancient monuments and buildings made of stone and brick. The phasing out of coal in many areas, largely through the elimination of subsidies to coal, is beginning to alleviate this problem.

The biggest concerns ecologically are that acid rain can change the acidity of rivers and lakes, as well as of soils. The first major event which brought

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