Causes
There are so many causes of acid rain. Acid rain is produced after the emission of Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere and vehicles are the main source of these emissions (Abingdon,2020). So, emissions from vehicles are one of the biggest causes of acid rain. Some of the causes of acid rain are as follows:
- Forest fires: Forest fires
release a lot of pollutants, one major from t
hem
is the nitrogen oxide which leads to the acid rain. There are so
many natural disasters that happen in the world which lead to forest
fires, and some forests are fired by humans. One of the major
incidents of forest fire is from Australia, in south Wales, Victoria
and Queensland in 2019-2020, there were major forest fires. Apart
from this, there is also a practice of slash and burning, in which
forests are cleared by burning the forests and in this process,
trees are cut down and then burned, in which carbon dioxide, Sulphur
dioxide and nitrogen oxide are released into the atmosphere, which
results in the formation of the acid rain. - Urbanization: Population is increasing day by day and people are moving towards the urban areas at a fast pace. And this is leading to the acid rain indirectly. With the growing population, they need electricity and transportation to survive on the earth. So, the demand for energy, industrial activities and transportation has been increased which leads to the higher emissions of Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Increased demand of energy is leading to the higher consumption of fossil fuels in the industries, which we know produces the Sulphur dioxide leading to acid rain. People living in the urban areas use transportation for moving from one place to another contributing to the air pollution, which contains nitrogen oxide, that is the one of the main elements of acid rain (Catherine 1998).
- Burning of Fossil fuels: The formation of the acid rain is directly related to the burning of fossil fuels (Guide to Global Hazards, 2003). Coal, oil and natural gas, which are fossil fuels, their combustion is leading to acid rain. Sources of burning fossil fuels are as follows:
- Power plants: Coal is the cheapest source of vast energy and most of the industries prefer this source, and it is used in the vast amount in the industries as it has fueled the industrial growth in the world. But the side effect of this is that it produces air pollution which contains Sulphur dioxide, a main source of acid rain. Hence, coal is contributing to the acid rain.
- Vehicles: Vehicles such as
cars, trucks, buses and airplanes emit nitrogen
oxides when the
fuels are burning inside the engines of the vehicles, and they are
adding up to the acid rain cycle. In the urban areas there are more
vehicles compared to the rural areas, and the amount of nitrogen
oxide is more in the rural areas.