By Jason Folker Your walking alone in the woods one day and you realize it is about to rain soon. So you hurry as you try to make it back to your car before the rain comes, but as you are running you hear the little thumps on the leaves in the trees above you. Then you feel a sharp burning sensation on your arm. You look down and see a hole burning in your arm. You run faster but only feel more and more pain as little spots of burnt flesh start to cover your body. You trip on a dead tree landing on several large rocks breaking your leg. You scream for help but no one can hear you. The pain is unbearable, and you know now that you are going to die. To turn with you last ounce or strength to look at the your killer. You scream your last words “Why Acid Rain! Why?”

Is this a realistic picture of what acid rain is? Of course not. Acid rain doesn’t literally mean that acid, strong enough to burn skin upon touch, is falling as rain instead of water. So does that mean that acid rain is not a killer? To understand that answer to that question we must first define what acid rain is.

“Acid Rain” is a broad term used to describe several ways

Another example brought out in Effects on Lakes and Aquatic Ecosystems tells of a study done on a lake in 1976. Where scientists monitored the ph and aquatic ecosystem of a lake known as Lake 223. They observed a decrease in ph and a number of crustaceans died out due to problems in reproduction. They noticed dying out of smaller fish first, then larger fish, starting around 5.6 ph, then in 1983 the lake reached a ph of 5 and the few surviving fish in the lake were thin and deformed also being unable to reproduce. (Effect)

However, this is not the only thing that can be done about acid rain. Much more has to be done in order to repair and prevent further damage to our environment. This is were the little people (us) can give our part to the fight. We must make more awareness of the problem and as citizens, to reduce sulfur and nitrogen emission we must reduce the use of fossil fuels. Car pools, public transportation, or walking can reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.

“The overall goal of the Acid Rain Program is to achieve significant environmental and public health benefits through reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NO), the primary causes of acid rain. To achieve this goal at the lowest cost to society, the program employs both traditional and innovative, market-based approaches for controlling air pollution. In addition, the program encourages energy efficiency and pollution prevention. (EPA)

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