Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
When I was a kid, acid rain was a hot topic. Now, I never hear about it. So we wondered, why doesn’t acid rain make the headlines anymore?
We had Harrison Katz and Ashley Junger from our Possibly Team look into this. Welcome, Harrison and Ashley!
Harrison Katz: Hi, Megan!
Ashley Junger: Hello!
Megan Hall: So, what exactly happened to acid rain?
Harrison Katz: Well, before we dive into the history of acid rain, it’s helpful to know what it actually is!
Ashley Junger: To find out, we talked to Meredith Hastings, the Deputy Director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.
Harrison Katz: She says, acid rain is created when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are released into the atmosphere.
Meredith Hastings: Nitrogen oxides are released from cars, fossil fuel combustion, forest fires, and so on. And those nitrogen oxides can become nitric acid in the atmosphere. Similarly, sulfur dioxide, which is primarily released through coal burning, gets turned into sulfuric acid.
Harrison Katz: Nitric acid and Sulfuric acid, as the names suggest, are very acidic. When they mix with water in the atmosphere, they create acid rain.
Ashley Junger: And while it may not seem like a few acid molecules would change much, acid rain is actually more than ten times as acidic as normal rain.
Megan Hall: That can’t be good! What impact does that have on the environment?
Harrison Katz: One of the largest victims? Forests. Acid rain drains important nutrients like magnesium and calcium out of the soil, which makes it harder for trees and other plants to grow.
Ashley Junger: Acid rain also frees up aluminum in the ground, and aluminum in high enough doses is toxic to plants and animals.
Harrison Katz: To make things worse, on their own, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can cause a lot of respiratory diseases in humans, including asthma, pneumonia, and lung damage.
Megan Hall: So, why don’t we talk about acid rain anymore?
Ashley Junger: Meredith Hastings says it’s mostly because it’s not a problem anymore, thanks to the Clean Air Act.
Meredith Hastings: In the United States, Acid Rain became a big problem in the 1980s. As a result, they passed the Clean Air Act. Acid Rain has dramatically decreased, particularly in the northeast United States, because of the Clean Air Act reducing emissions from coal combustion and vehicles.
Megan Hall: So, acid rain doesn’t exist anymore?
Harrison Katz: Well, The Clean Air Act led to the creation of over a hundred rain monitoring stations around the US.
Ashley Junger: And according to data from those stations, acid rain does still happen, just not nearly as much.
Meredith Hastings: The maps are really dramatic if you look at how much the rain has gotten more basic, and less acidic. It’s largely a success story. Has the problem completely gone away? No. But it’s really dramatically decreased.
Harrison Katz: Other data suggests that most of the remaining acid rain is caused by nitrates used in fertilizer for farming.
Ashley Junger: While we haven’t completely fixed the problem, the Clean Air Act has really helped. In fact, it’s saved money. A report from 2011 says the Act is responsible for 22 trillion dollars in health care savings.
Harrison Katz: That makes it one of the most cost effective pieces of legislation in history.
Megan Hall: So it pays to clean up pollution?
Harrison Katz: It usually does!
Megan Hall: Thanks, Harrison and Ashley!
That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
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Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.
“Thanks to the EPA this isn’t acid rain” by Adam Fagen licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. The original image was slightly cropped.
“Acid Rain Kills” by John Flannery licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
“Acid Rain not chocolate” by Bosumu.Images licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
“stop acid rain 1989” by Time’s Up Environmental Organization licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
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