Phase 4 (DB) Pt. 2 Environmental Science

Phase 3 Environmental Science Pt.2 Instructions (I will also upload my paper)

Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 100-word reply about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:

Respond to peers that researched topics different from yours.

How were the sources of your peers’ pollution different or similar to yours?

How are the solutions different or similar?

Had you heard of your peers’ water issue prior to this course?

***Please split the responses as you did before. Thanks***

Post by Janna Wilson:

First, let’s discuss what Acid rain is.  “Acid rain” is a mixture of wet and dry deposition from the atmosphere containing higher than normal amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids. The precursors, or chemical forerunners, of acid rain formation result from both natural sources, such as volcanoes and decaying vegetation, and man-made sources, primarily emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) resulting from fossil fuel combustion.  Due to the Industrial burning of fossil fuels and coal.  Waste gases that contain nitrogen oxides and sulfur and when mixed crossed with atmospheric water, it creates Acid Rain.

Acid Rain causes more direct damage to organisms than it does to people, however, long term It can cause health issues, particularly in the lungs for humans.  Examples of that could be asthma and bronchitis.  Acid rain can kill off trees, fish and other living organisms quickly.  It can also reek havoc for ecosystems.   Fish and plants adapt to their environment and the PH levels to which they have become accustomed too.  When acid rain contaminates their water, they can no longer survive.

Since the 1970s, various laws have reduced the emissions of sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides from power plants including The Clean Air Act of 1970 and The Canadian-United States Agreement of 1991(Boumis, R. Demand Media 2008).   Acid rain has decreased significantly since the 1970s and this is due in part to the above mentioned Acts and the fact that we have abided by them.

Things that we can single handedly do is, for starters, we can buy vehicles with low emissions.  Using alternate energy sources such as solar energy is a great way to help.  But just like most things, it is not always as cost efficient to do so.  Solar Power is a great alternate.  I am personally beginning to see several houses in my neighborhood install solap panels on the roof’s of their homes.  Any little thing can help.  from using batteries instead of plugging in.  The best thing you can do is educate yourself.  once you are educated, the more aware you are . And just like anything else, every little bit helps.

www.epa/gov

www.science.opposingviews.com

Post by Danielle Davis:

Select 1 Topic:

-Acid Rain

Discuss the following in regard to your chosen topic:

Definition and explanation of your selected pollution topic.

Acid Rain – refers to a mixture of wet and dry deposition from the atmosphere containing high amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids. Wet deposition is a result of acidic rain, fog, or snow.  Anything in liquid form that has acidic compounds.  Dry deposition is acidic compounds found in dust or smoke that stick to things like trees or people.

Causes and sources of this pollution.

There are natural causes such as volcanoes, chemical forerunners, and decaying vegetation. And there are man made sources such as people burning and using fossil fuels.  All these sources react with the atmosphere like water and oxygen and create acid compounds.

Impacts from the pollution issue both on the natural environment and ecosystems and on human populations.

Impacts the natural environment by killing trees and other plants that take in acid rain, also when it gets into the rivers and ponds it ends up killing the fish and other animals that live in the pond will die and have a hard time reproducing.  Impacts for the human population consist of  crops getting destroyed that we grew to provide for food.  The animals we raise getting sick and dying for food and the water we drink getting acidic compounds in them and messing with the pH levels.

Recommended solutions to mitigate the problem.

The natural causes such as volcanoes, decay of vegetation, and chemical forerunners we have no control over but the biggest and more production of acidic rain is man made things.  Therefore we can cut back or find cleaner ways instead of burning as much fossil fuels.  There are cleaner ways but there just not as effective or fast as burning fossil fuels and can be more expensive.  But if the human population could just calm down and not be so demanding for power right there right now we could save our natural resources and our planet from destructive things such as acid rain.

References:

EPA. (2012). What is Acid Rain. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/what/

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