Question

Think about the important ways in which acid rain causes damage,such as forest erosion, property damage, reduced visibility, and adverse health outcomes. Which ofthese costs are highly localized and which are born more broadly by society? Explain.

Answer 1

There are different ways that acid rain can create damage to people and society at large. The first way is the adverse health conditions to people in those areas where the acid rain takes place. Since, the acid rain is the result of excessive pollution that is rich in sulfur and Nitric oxide, it contaminates air and water to some extent. As a result, the life expectancy of individuals also comes down. The second way is the reduced level of visibility, causing suffocation and elevated problems of respiratory issues. Since, Acid rain takes place in the form of smog also, it creates huge problem in traffic due to less visibility and chances of accidents also increase due to the acid rain. The third important way is the damage to the environment, ecosystem and rising temperature of earth among the others. It can cause rise in sea level and many coastal cities can be merged into sea in coming few years.

In all these damages, the health related problems are most localized in nature as people mostly suffer from it  in those areas where the acid rain takes place. It happens because the impact is most severe in the areas where the acid rain takes place. Though the whole society suffers due to the damage to the environment, poor quality of soil and rising temperature of earth. It happens as damage done by rising sea level is felt everywhere in the world.