Essay draft 1

In the modern world today, due to the economic boost, the overall income of the people has increased as compared to the past. This means the purchasing power of the people has risen and people demand for more luxury goods such as cars. In order to meet the surging demand for international trades of cars, businessmen established numerous factories at the relatively lower waged countries such as China and India to produce cars. These factories were mostly operating with fossil fuel energy system which caused extensively releasing of harmful gases. As a result, acid rains were more frequent than in the past, especially in USA and Canada. Furthermore, the dramatic increase in number of cars running on the road also contributes greatly to the acid rains. However, these problems are not irreversible. It might be hard to eliminate them totally but with different sectors of the people making effort to cooperate, these problems can be kept at the lowest level possible.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, machinery had became the main stream of production. As the pace of production increased greatly, many countries experienced overwhelming economic boost. The purchasing power of the people was much higher than those times in the past. Hence, people wanted to own more luxury goods such as cars. According to Federal Highway Administration(2003), the number of cars regretted has increased nearly every year since 1960 to 2004. In order to produce these cars to meet the market demand,  more metal production took place. This means there was a dramatic increasing in burning of fossil fuels for the production which resulted in increasing number of sulfuric gases been released. According to NASA Earth Observatory(2011), "since the industrial revolution, emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides to the atmosphere have increased." In addition, the increase in the number of cars owned means more cars are running on the road and according to NASA Earth Observatory(2011), the "transportation sector" is a major contributor to the acid rains as well. This is due to the fact that most cars are still functioning with fuel energy system.

With the rising awareness of the adverse impact of acid rains, both people and nations are trying to solve the problem. There are a few possible approaches that would be helpful. Firstly, to tackle the major source of acid rain, the factories can change their operating system and research on technology in neutralizing the gases emitted. With a more environmental friendly energy system such as solar, hydra and wind energy system, it would definitely reduce the gas emission. However, these systems are not suitable to the factories that are not geographically located at the suitable location. Thus, for these factories that are hard to switch their energy system, one possible solution is to equip the waste emission sector with appropriate technology to neutralize them. For example, the sulfur dioxide could be filtered with alkaline gases before releasing it to the atmosphere to minimize it's effect. Secondly, the people can also help by changing the life styles. With the people concerning about environment, if more people travel by bicycle or public transports, it would mean that number of cars on road will decrease and hence releasing less harmful gases such as sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides. Despite life styles are hard to be changed, it is still progressing slowly. Lastly, the nation can help by Ensuring the factories operate legally such that they follow strictly by the Law on Waste Management. The government can provide subsidies or tax relieves to encourage factories to research and switch to a more environmentally friendly system. The state can also construct "bicycle stations" similar to the Mass Rapid Transit(MRT). This makes travelling by bicycle more convenient but to establish the system will take time and effort.

In conclusion, we cannot deny the fact that acid rains have increased due to international trades of cars but undoubtedly, it could be mitigated. Just like what the statistics in Cap and Trade(n.d.) shows, "SO2 emissions from Acid Rain Program sources have fallen from 17.3 million tons in 1980 to about 7.6 million tons in 2008, a decrease in emissions of 56 percent." There might be limitations to the solutions but with every sector making an effort, acid rains could be kept at the lowest level. 

Reference:

Cap and Trade(n.d.).Quick Facts about Cap and Trade. Retrieved October 13,2013,from http://www.epa.gov/captrade/

Federal Highway Administration.(2003). Highway Statistics 2003. Retrieved October 13,2013,from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0905125.html

NASA Earth Observatory.(2011). Glossary-acid rain. Retrieved October 13,2013,from http://web.archive.org/web/2011121375357/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Glossary/?mode=all