Acid Rain - What can we do to help?

Reduce emissions:

• Burning fossil fuels is still one of the cheapest ways to produce electricity so people are now researching new ways to burn fuel which don't produce so much pollution.
• Governments need to spend more money on pollution control even if it does mean an increase in the price of electricity.
• Sulphur can also be 'washed' out of smoke by spraying a mixture of water and powdered limestone into the smokestack.
• Cars are now fitted with catalytic converters which remove three dangerous chemicals from exhaust gases.

Find alternative sources of energy:

• Governments need to invest in researching different ways to produce energy.
• Two other sources that are currently used are hydroelectric and nuclear power. These are 'clean' as far as acid rain goes but what other impact do they have on our environment?
• Other sources could be solar energy or windmills but how reliable would these be in places where it is not very windy or sunny?
• All energy sources have different benefits and costs and all theses have to be weighed up before any government decides which of them it is going to use.

Conserving resources:

• Greater subsidies of public transport by the government to encourage people to use public transport rather than always travelling by car.
• Every individual can make an effort to save energy by switching off lights when they are not being used and using energy-saving appliances - when less electricity is being used, pollution from power plants decreases.
• Walking, cycling and sharing cars all reduce the pollution from vehicles.

For further information on acid rain and what you can do about it visit:

Campaign for Better Transport