What happened to acid rain? How the environmental movement won — and could again
CBSN
Depleted ecosystems, dwindling forests, contaminated drinking water and toxic soil. All due to what Canada's Environment Minister John Roberts called in 1980 "the most serious environmental threat to face the North American continent."
The cause? Acid rain. But flash forward to today, and the presence of sulfuric and nitric acids in precipitation throughout the continent has decreased tremendously, thanks to reductions in the emissions that cause them. Since 1990, carbon monoxide in the air has decreased by 74%, nitrogen dioxide by 57% and sulfur dioxide by 89%, according to the latest data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
So how did scientists and policymakers turn what once was classified by officials as a "serious environmental problem" with "transboundary implications" into a story of success in the modern-day climate fight?
