New concern about acid rain
Picture: Acid rains destroys trees like these every year due to fossil fuels in the atmosphere.
Summary:
Acid rain, which is caused by dangerous chemicals released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, is very harmful to the environment. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the amount of acid rain being released in precipitation. This can be extremely damaging to trees and soil, which absorb these harmful substances and potentially stunt the growth of these plants. Acid rain also sucks out and kills the nurtients that many plants need for growth from topsoil on the ground. It can also cause calcium deficiency in treesm, which makes the susceptible and weak during the winter months. A California University discovered that trees get one of their most-necessary nurtients, essential metal elements, from the topsoil surrounding them. They also were alarmed to notice that these nutients were extremely low in numbers compared to the demand needed to support all of the trees. When acid rain further destroys these supplies, the trees are in extreme danger of malnutrition and death. Humans greatly impact the output of fossil fuels into the atmosphere, which is the primary cause for acid rain. If we can stop exerting so many toxic chemicals into our air, we may be able to stop this destruction of nature.
Opinion/Reflection:
I aways knew that acid rain was a negative effect of pollution from fossil fuels, but I had no idea that it was getting worse. The fact that not only are the trees getting directly destroyed, but their resources are as well is extremely concerning. Not only are these trees in danger of dying from acid rain corroding thhem, but now they are also in danger of losing their source of nurtients and life support. If something like this was happening to animals, everyone would know about it and would be finding ways to stop it. Because it's happening to plants, though, nobody seems to realize how big of a deal it is.
Questions:
1) What are some ways we can prevent this from happening in short term/long term periods?
2) Can you think of any ways we can currently protect these trees from being damaged?
3) What are some other animals/plants that are harmed by acid rain?
Opinion/Reflection
ReplyDeleteI never knew that acid rain had such an effect of plants and trees! I was also never aware of the actual definition of acid rain. I have heard about it on the news but never really knew what caused it. It excited me to finally know! The picture at the top scares me-I wonder if that could happen to any forests! If so, acid rain is causing yet another problem! As this issue rises, I feel like authorities and people should be informed about this. After all, it could become a serious problem and end up taking human lives!
Question #2
First of all, the burning of fossil fuels needs to be cut down enormously in order for the trees to be able to grow back. There is always this simple option- grow more trees! If these trees are being completely killed, then we should chop them down and use them (might a well) and grow some more! I’m not really sure how fossil fuel burning can be cut down, perhaps by humans becoming more resourceful and start reusing things! We can’t put a giant blanket on all the trees in the world, but we can stopo acid rain from pouring onto their tops!
Opinino/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteTwo things came to my mind after reading this. First, I never knew that there was more then one kind of rain! These blogs make me feel stupid but they are teaching me so much. Second, of course something horrible is happening to the planet because of humans again. Come on humans, we need to get this stuff under control! Reading about this acid rain is actually really scary. I always thought about rain as a annoying thing for humans but a great thing for plants and our environment. I never would have thought that there is rain that is actually harming it. I have to agree with Perie that the picture is scary. If I was walking somewhere and saw a forest looking like that, my jaw would most likely stay open for quite a while. We don't truly understand how important trees are to our survival because we never were without them, it is something we find to be given to us (we tend to think it wont ever go away). But when you look at that picture you can see that we actually do need to protect our trees just like we need to protect every resource we have in order to survive.
More Questions:
1. What does acid rain look like and what makes it different then regular rain?
2. Other then humans burning fossil fuels, how else is acid rain made?
3. Where are some places with forests like shown in the picture? Can anything/is anything being done to help and restore them.
4. Can acid rain directly affect living things other then plants? How?
Here is just another reason for us NOT to burn so much fossil fuels! It is destroying very improtant things! Trees are obviously a huge importance in our lives because of the many things it give back to us. Trees give us shade, oxygen, and shelter. Without trees, we would not be here. We always hear not to burn so much fossil fuels because it is destorying our plant. So why do we keep doing it? There are so many other options other then buring fossil fuels and hurting the earth.
ReplyDelete"What are some ways we can prevent this from happening in short term/long term periods?"
There are many prevention methods. The first and obvious one is to stop burning so many fossil fuels. This is not only making an impact on trees, but many other things. Also, since we have already destroyed so many trees, we should start to build more trees. These trees should be kept under watch by an envirmonetal agency. This will make sure the trees are getting enough nutrients and staying alive.
Reflection
ReplyDeleteI never knew for sure if acid rain really existed! That's really disgusting/odd that there is literal acid rain destroying our forests. Not only are humans cutting down trees, but we're burning fossil fuels that are causing acid rain! It really concerns me learning about all the things humans are doing that negatively affects our environment. If we don't take a stand now, our forests, along with the trees, plants, and soil will be completely destroyed. Of course I completely agree with both Rachel and Perie when I comment on the picture Navy included, which is crazy! Those trees are completely destroyed, If trees were like this in our area, I'm sure more people would be more active in environmental help.
Question
"1) What are some ways we can prevent this from happening in short term/long term periods?"
Being the cause of these environmental issues, in short term there could be a law of how much fossil fuels that can be burnt. Long term though is a different story. As we learn more about acid rain and all of the attributing factors, we must educate others! The only way to make an issue seem important to others is to make it viral, instead of 'Kony 2012', let's think 'Acid Rain 2012', make it famous!