Acid rain is acidic precipitation, and is a serious threat to the environment: for both humans and other organisms alike. It’s caused by an excess of sulfur and nitrogen in the air; emissions of these chemicals can come from natural resources: such as volcanoes and decaying vegetation. Likewise, man-made sources can also affect how much nitrogen and sulfur is being released into the air--sources like the burning of fossil fuels and car exhausts: In the United States alone, over half of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels. When the sulfur and nitrogen coming from these sources reach the atmosphere, they turn into sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides--a dangerous combination that reacts to the oxygen and water in the air to form the acidic compounds: sulfuric and nitric acid. Subsequently, the acidic compounds precipitate down to earth as what we know as acid rain: (Price, Acid Rain). Because it severely damages the environment and harms human health, acid rain is a very important topic. Personally, this makes acid rain a major issue, for it is threatening the Earth, and I think the Earth is worth preserving. My goal is to get the Dayton community concerned; although Dayton isn’t currently being affected by acid …show more content…
Specifically, Adironback Park in New York has experienced critcal acid rain. Utility plant pollution from the highly industrial Midwest states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania, is carried Northeast via wind patterns. As the winds rise over the Adirondack Mountains, the moisture they contain cools and condenses into clouds. The moisture, saturated with heavy amounts of nitric and sulfuric acid, precipitates onto the Adirondack Mountains, damaging the vegetation: (White, The Adirondack Park). The rain there is two-hundred times more acidic than rainwater, making five-hundred lakes and ponds in that area