Why don't we ever hear anything about acid rain anymore I thought that was going to destroy the planet?

Question

I looked up acid rain on Wiki and Iseem to remember in the 80's it was the big environmental threat.

Answer 1

The industry I work in has already done a great deal about it although I hear over in the Northeast they still have a long way to go. Not so good in China and India, but acid rain seems to be a local effect, about 1000 miles downwind.
Looking over the answers here I see the environmentalists and scientists have an unexpected problem. What if the boy who cried wolf really was seeing the pack sneaking through the trees, but the arrival of the villagers always scared them away, until the day they decided it wasn't important? I know some of you here have put together some cogent arguments that it is all part of a natural cycle, but that's sort of like being in a Mexican bus rushing down the mountainside and having the driver say, don't worry, I do this every day. I'm looking for a particular reference book I have. When I find it there is another way to calculate the effect. When I find it I'll put the analysis out here as a question for you to try to poke holes in. Until then, want to play Russian roulette for money?

Answer 2

Every ten years, some Dooms Day Scientist comes up with a new prediction, the media hypes it, and the schools will even teach it as fact.

In the late 1960's, Nuclear Power Plants were poisioning the world and the ones under construction were moth balled, about half of the ones operating were closed down. Building Dams on the rivers were the safe and enviromental friendly way to get the power to warm our homes and run our factories.

In the 1970's, scientist said there wouldn't be drop of oil left on the planet within 10 years, it would all be used up and all our machines and power plants would stop working and we would go back to the horse and buggy days.

In the 1980's, there was acid rain from the burning all the oil that failed to run out. The world was going to end with everyone having an elevated ph.

In the 1990's, scientist predicted at the stroke of midnight Jan. 1, 2000. everyones computer would stop working, power stations would shut down, food would stop being delivered, the world would end, and we would all go back to the stone age.

In 2,000, someone decided that Daming the Rivers for energy was bad for the enviroment, and it is safer to have Nuclear Power Plants to provide us energy. I wish these guys were around in the 1960's, they could have saved us billions of dollars spent destroying Nuclear Plants and building Dams.

And now someone has decided the current warming phase of the Ice Age / Green House cycle is going to be the doom of the planet.

Maybe you can see why I am a little skeptical of the latest Dooms Day Prediction?

Answer 3

It wasn't a world threatening type of thing. The main concern was the destruction of wildlife habitat and the erosion of buildings and infrastructure.

It's alreasy done just about all it's going to do to lakes, and while the damage to stone buildings and bridges is ongoing, there aren't as many as there used to be. And we don't build for the long term anymore anyway.

Answer 4

Most of the SO2 was from steel mills. Acid gas scrubbers have reduced the amount of acid gases significantly. It is still a problem but it is being addressed thanks to activist.

Answer 5

What are you talking about?! Acid rain has ALREADY destoyed the planet! That happened right after global COOLING destroyed the planet, which happened right after the oil crisis destroyed the planed and a little before the meat and protein crisis destroyed the planet. Somewhere in there overpopulation destroyed the planet a couple of times. Now its global WARMING that is destroying the planet. This place is taking a beating!

Answer 6

We no longer hear anything about acid rain anymore because no one ever talks about environmental programs that are successful. The Acid Rain program has resulted in reductions of sulfur dioxide of more than 6.3 million tons from 1990 levels, and reductions in nitrogen oxides of 3.3 million tons from 1990 levels. Acid deposition has been reduced by 35% in the Northeast and 33% in the Midwest. The Clean Air Markets Division of U.S. EPA is responsible for oversight of this program and yearly progress reports are available on their website http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/progress/progress-reports.html .

Answer 7

Acid rain legislation in the 1990s helped to limit atmospheric sulfur. The legislation was based on the science of Stephen Schwartz at Brookhaven National Lab. He is a very interesting guy. In fact, this year Schwartz published a peer-reviewed paper on climate sensitivity to rising atmospheric CO2 and his estimate was 1/3 of the most recent estimate by the IPCC. Most scientists that have read his paper have been convinced AGW will not be catastrophic. Interestingly, Schwartz himself is still concerned about AGW but admits he now thinks "we have more time."

Answer 8

you don't hear about it because it was the old scare tactic. We needed a bigger scare so we moved on to global warming. Just wait, it will be something else that is the threat soon. In the 70's it was global ice age.

Answer 9

It's going to make a come back because of all the coal fired powered plants that are now being constructed around the world.

Answer 10

George H.W. Bush signed the acid rain rules in the late 80's, which required reductions of acid rain pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide at coal-fired power plants. The acid rain rules required a cap-and trade program that allowed facilities to trade emission credits with one another, very similar to our stock market. A similar cap-and-trade program will likely be instituted when global warming legislation is passed to trade carbon credits.