Introduction

Burning of fossil fuels, especially coal, produces sulphur dioxides and nitrogen oxides which rise into the atmosphere and react chemically with water vapour to form sulphuric acid and nitric acid. These return to earth as acid precipitation.

In Canada, acid rain is particularly bad in Central and Eastern Canada where much industry is located and the prevailing winds from the southwest bring up pollutants from the industrial heartland of the United States. Recall that one of our Major Geography Themes is that pollution knows no borders.

Acid Rain impacts all four spheres - the atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere.



Examples of the Effects of Acid Rain
- eats away at buildings and statues
- leaches away valuable minerals in the soil
- increases toxic materials taken up by plant roots
- contributes to the discharge of aluminum, mercury, and zinc from surrounding watersheds into lakes and rivers
- aluminum and low pH are toxic to rainbow trout
- loss of aquatic species in lakes results in a break in the food chain
- wet desert: lack of vegetation and fish due to the effects of acid rain on an aquatic environment
- acid shock: occurs in the Spring when snow and ice melt releasing stored acid deposits. This occurs at the same time as amphibians (i.e. frogs, toads, salamanders) are being born.

Potential Solutions
- stop using the sky as a garbage dump
eg use scrubbers in coal burning plants
- incorporate, to a larger extent, the concept of global citizenship
eg US Clean Air Act updated in 1990
eg Canada & US Clean Air Treaty (Dec. 2000)