However for the Great Wall of China, a lot of it was built on steep mountaintops anyway, which already acted as major environmental barriers for any would be migrating wildlife and fauna. Where the wall wasn’t perched on top of mountains, it was running through a desert. And deserts, are well, deserted.

“Increased sulphur dioxide emissions meant that one-third of China’s territory was affected by acid rain, posing a major threat to soil and food safety,” said Sheng according to the Xinhua News Agency. China has some of the world’s most polluted cities and waterways.

Acid rain is endemic across southeast China, where the highest concentration of people, power plants, and factories are located, and it is considered a serious problem in approximately one third of the country. Amid China’s many environmental problems, acid rain has received little international attention.

Acid rain is responsible for severe environmental destruction across the world and occurs most commonly in the North Eastern United States, Eastern Europe and increasingly in parts of China and India.

Walking in acid rain, or even swimming in a lake affected by acid rain, is no more dangerous to humans than walking in normal rain or swimming in non-acidic lakes….Human Health

• Sulfur Dioxide.
• Nitrogen Oxides.
• Particulate Matter (PM)
• Asthma.

While acid rain cannot harm humans directly, the sulfur dioxide that creates it can cause health problems. Specifically, sulfur dioxide particles in the air can encourage chronic lung problems, like asthma and bronchitis.

Acid Rain Harms Forests Acid rain can be extremely harmful to forests. Acid rain that seeps into the ground can dissolve nutrients, such as magnesium and calcium, that trees need to be healthy. Acid rain also causes aluminum to be released into the soil, which makes it difficult for trees to take up water.

A great way to reduce acid rain is to produce energy without using fossil fuels. Instead, people can use renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. Renewable energy sources help reduce acid rain because they produce much less pollution.

Acid rain is caused by a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air. These substances can rise very high into the atmosphere, where they mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to form more acidic pollutants, known as acid rain.

Can acid rain kill you? While acid rain can be incredibly detrimental for the environment and will kill many plants and animals over a long enough exposure, it won’t directly hurt or kill you.

NEW YORK (AP) _ The pollutants that cause acid rain may be indirectly responsible for elevated rates of colon cancer in parts of the United States, researchers said Tuesday.

China

Acid rain includes all types of precipitation with acidic content with a pH value of less than 7. Acid rain is referred to as an international problem because the emission of pollutants does not equally deposit in that country. Many countries emit a very small amount of pollutants and deposition can be greater.

While the long-term effects of acid rain are still being studied, it is well documented that effects include harm to freshwater ecosystems and widespread decline in forest health, including damage to more than 70 percent of the red spruce forests in parts of New England.

United States and Canada are the countries which are mostly affected by acid rain because of high number of factories, power plants and large number of automotive plants. Europe, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway and Finland are affected because of British and European factories.