How can the Clean Air Act of 1970 help prevent Global Warming and Acid Rain?

Question

Doing a research paper about the Clean Air Act of 1970, and I need some information on how it and other legislation can help prevent global warming and acid rain. any help pertaining to this would be much appreciated

Answer 1

Firstly, acid rain and global warming are two related but different things. The clean air act and other similar bits of legislation around the world were designed to address the impact of pollution (mainly car exhaust and coal fires) causing problems across borders. In this respect they have been significantly successful. So much so that nowadays the majority of acid rain originates in the two countries who have developed the most since the 70's - India and China - and thus had no need for legislation at the time.

Acid Rain is related to global warming via the phenomenon of Global Dimming. The particulate pollution that accompanied acid rain pollutants are collectively known as Aerosols. Aerosols are, on balance, a cooling influence on global climate, as they foster the formation of clouds with smaller droplets which reflect more sunlight than normal clouds.

In the 70's and 80's the impact of global dimming exceeded that of CO2 warming and the earth actually cooled a little. In addition, local effects from the US and Europe are thought to have changed rainfall patterns in sub-saharan Africa, causing the extreme and prolonged droughts. You may remember, or have been told about, Live Aid, which was a reaction to seeing millions of Africans starving to death as a result.

The clean air acts have significantly cleaned up the northern hemisphere (possibly not in Russia, as yet) and places like Ethiopia and the Sudan are starting to get more normal rainfall patterns.

However, by removing the cooling influence of aerosols, the warming influence of CO2 and other greenhouse gases was able to make itself felt more keenly. The rate of warming has accelerated. None of the clean air acts regard greenhouse gases as pollutants, particularly. CFCs and HFCs were banned to protect the Ozone layer, which is another issue, also not directly related to the first two. Moves to classify CO2 as a pollutant under the clean skies act in the US have been blocked by the current anti-environment regime in the Whitehouse. So emissions of these pollutants have risen almost unchecked.

What is important and relevant to global warming is the facts that:
a) acid rain and global dimming are clear examples of human adverse influence on the global climate.
b) national laws and international agreements to address the issues of acid rain and the ozone layer degradation have had a beneficial effect and serve as models for future agreements on other global issues, such as global warming.
c) Our success in one area has lead to a worsening of the situation in the other.
d) China and India may be giving us more time by burning coal in dirty power stations, and if they clean up their particulate pollution before they develop CO2 reduction methods, we could be in even worse trouble.

Answer 2

Hi. Look around you. Has not fixed the problem in 37 years. Global warming (or more correctly Climate Change - CC) is not something we can reverse or prevent at this point. Instead we must plan for the effects.

Answer 3

acid rain occurs when SO2 (which arises from the smoke emitted by vehicles) reacts with water to form sulfurous acid H2SO3 which harms buildings,plants and our natural surroundings.this smoke contains some CO2 that causes global warming.this act works to convert fuel oriented vehicles to CNG,which reduces pollution and various other steps are also undertaken

Answer 4

Don't look for a law that is that old to do something that they didn't understand .