Acid Rain Should Acid Rain Be Made

Acid Rain Should Acid Rain Be Made a Political Issue? After studying several researches on how acid rain can cause economic losses, I chose a thesis proposal. I collected information from researches conducted in different countries and analyzed data using Microsoft Excel. Acid rain is a problem that does not respect political barriers, thus, making it a global issue. The world's population is currently around 7 billion and is still dramatically increasing. This increase is accompanied with an increase in land usage, deforestation and industrialization, contributing to environmental pollution.

A major environmental hazard is sulphur dioxide. Urban areas are major contributors to this particularly harmful pollutant. It is released as a result of poorly controlled combustion, which maybe from factories, coal power plants or even from domestic use of sulphur containing fuel. Volcanoes are the natural cause of increased sulphur content in the environment. (Acid Rain, 2011) Sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions and its presence in air causes acid rain.

Wind can carry these chemicals for miles, which are eventually converted to sulphuric acid and nitric acid when dissolved in water. Wet deposition occurs when these chemicals fall in rain, hail or snow, however, detrimental effects to one's health and the ecosystem at large can occur with these chemicals in any state of matter. (Acid Rain, 2011) The comparatively more humid coastal areas are at a greater risk of acid rain's more detrimental affects. Deforested lands have thin surface soils, greater run off and lesser buffering capacity.

Deforestation occurring side by side with industrialization is also another contributing factor to the intensity of acid rain. Countries with lesser forested areas are also at a higher risk of acid rain. Asia is major contributor of sulphur dioxide in the air. This isn't surprising since eighty percent of Asia's energy consumption is derived from fossil fuels, particularly coal. Global emissions of sulphur dioxide peaked in 1970s, with a decrease until the year 2000.

(Shah et al., 2000) The recent increase has been attributed to Asia (mainly the developing countries) and international shipping. Below is a representation of the contribution to sulphur dioxide emission by ten countries, in micrograms per cubic meter. (Acid Rain, 2011) (Smith, S.J., et al., 2010) The question that naturally arises is that, is acid rain an ethical issue? And should it be made a political one or not? After analyzing several researches, I have come to conclude that yes, acid rain should become a political concern.

The problem arises because acid rain does not respect political boundaries, leading to widespread damage on land and human health. The Journal of American Medical Association has found an association between sulphur dioxide levels in the atmosphere and elevated mortality rates. Acid rain has also proven to indirectly affect humans by affecting the ecosystem. When human lives are in danger, an ethical problem tends to arise. With two major wars since the year 2000 and volcanic eruptions, global levels of sulphur dioxide have risen.

Laws need to be passed and this increase needs to be bought into check. With an increasing degree of poverty in Africa and in most parts of Asia, this matter has brought little concern to the issue in these countries. Researches show that if current trends in Asia continue, its emissions may equal that of North America and the whole of Europe combined.

(Shah et al., 2000) An international regulating body, like the WHO, needs to be formed which should maintain updated statistics on the matter and should motivate countries to a lot a portion of the country's budget to increase forestation and decrease sulphur dioxide concentration from the environment. In a study conducted by the WHO, Iran, India, Pakistan and the capital of Mongolia rank the worst globally for air pollution, while those in the U.S. And Canada are among the best.

WHO has set guideline values for Sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide at 24-hour and 10 minute mean. According to studies, exposure to sulphur dioxide levels at 500 (micrograms per cubic meter) should not be exceeded beyond ten minutes, as it can lead to pulmonary manifestations, especially in people with a preexisting pulmonary disease. (WHO, 2011) Pollution levels have worsened in China too in the past decade. A pollution inspection report found that 25.5 million tons of sulphur dioxides were spewed out, mainly from the coal burning factories.

The increased sulphur emission has led to acid rain which is double the safe limit. Some areas in the territory receive 100% acid rain. This has been posing a great threat to China's health safety and food quality. In a report, acid rain could cause China an economic loss of sixty billion dollars. (State Environmental Protection Administration, 2002) Other areas affected by acid rain are Southeastern Canada, Northeastern United States, Central Europe and some parts of Asia, specially China and India.

In India, the Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world, is constantly being eroded with acid rain. Acid rain, increasing in concentration with time, has been reported in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil, Nadu and the Andaman Islands. (Shah et al., 2000) A greater incidence of health problem could be attributable to this, but lack of research on this matter fail to reveal an association.

Initially, a problem of mainly urban dwellers, tall chimneys have allowed a more diffuse spread of these toxic gasses, hence, rural areas are also experiencing an increase in sulphur dioxide levels. Acid rain is a global issue. Sulphur dioxide emitted in one region can travel miles and precipitate in a neighboring country. Also, the level of toxicity in rivers created by it flows downstream to adjacent areas, killing fish and other life forms dependant on.

Norway and Sweden suffer from acid rain due to the air pollution generated from the industries to their south and southwest. Similarly, Canada, too, experiences the same problem because of the industries located in the United States. Areas in Quebec also fall prey to the damaging effects caused.