Judgment of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Raghubir Singh Garia Vs State of Uttarakhand & Others dated 22/04/2025. The matter related to illegal mining of soap stone in village Papon, District Bageshwar, Uttarakhand. The complainant, a resident of the village said that illegal mining of soap stone …
FOR the past 10 years, a large number of moose are dying in southwest Sweden. The cause for this is acid rain. Acidification and the declining numbers of this warm-blooded animal are being linked because of a complex chain of events, arising from the occurrence of the former. According to …
A RECENT government decision which will -force power companies in the UK to bring down emissions of sulphur dioxide drastically,- could help large areas of land affected by acid rain to make a recovery. The two main electric power stations, National Power and PowerGen, have been asked to, bring down …
IN JAPAN, elementary school magazines have been selling particularly well recently due to the mini easy-to-use acid rain measuring kits attached to the inside of the magazines' back cover. A chemical is placed in a small plastic container. When acid rain falls on it, the color changes, and from this …
Tibet, nomenclatured "the roof of the world", still seems to maintain its pristine glory. According to a regional environmental survey published in capital Lhasa, the area, free of man-made radioactive contamination and acid rain, is the least polluted in the world. Even though industrial and energy projects have been completed …
A recent study conducted by ocean scientists from Florida State University, USA, provides evidence of the greater role of atmospheric nitrogen, rather than of ground sources, in controlling the nitrogen levels of rivers (Environmental Science & Technology, Vol 28, No 2). It was widely believed that ground sources such as …
A Texas-based company, Energy Biosystems Corporation, has recently patented a recombinant gene that it "hopes will help eliminate acid rain". By manipulating the DNA of soil bacteria of the genus Rhodococcus, scientists have created an organism that "eats and metabolises" the acid rain-causing sulphur present in fossil fuels. The "newly …
A RECENT UN accord on acid rain committed its 26 signatory nations to drastic cuts in sulphur dioxide emissions -- largely responsible for the phenomenon that wreaks havoc with humans, crops, lakes and forests. The cuts, scheduled for up to 2005 AD, range from 30 per cent for Canada to …
THE errant ways of humans have the most unexpected effects on ecosystems. Ecologists J Graveland and his colleagues at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology say that air pollution and the subsequent acid rain have had enormous impact on the reproduction of a common European bird -- the great tit (Nature, …
THERE has been a reduction in the emissions of the oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, but the observed decrease in the acidic content of precipitation is less than expected. According to a recent study, the decrease hasn't come about because of the decline in the atmospheric concentration and deposition of …
ACID rain is playing havoc with buildings and wildlife in half of Great Britain. Scottish heather, and salmon and trout stocks in Wales, have suffered damage due to acid rain, caused mainly by sulphur dioxide emissions from coal burned in power stations. According to estimates prepared for the British department …
EMISSIONS of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides play a key role in the formation of acid rain and consequently, the acidification of soils. Production of nitrogen oxides leads to ozone build-up in the troposphere -- the layer of the atmosphere closest to the earth -- and, in turn, affects the …
A clean and green way to reduce acid rain has been developed by Chang Yul Cha of the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The process cuts sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from coal-fired smokestacks using char and microwaves (Science, Vol 257 No 5076). The gases are absorbed as they pass …
The climate over parts of Turkey was severely affected in 1991-92 by heavy smoke billowing from Kuwaiti oil-wells set ablaze in the Gulf War. Hunay Evliya, a chemistry professor in the southern Turkish town of Adana, said the smoke led to black rain and the winter was the coldest recorded …
THE first deal to trade pollution permits has been signed in USA. This fortnight, two American power plants have agreed to buy from the other the right to emit sulphur dioxide. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will buy the right to emit 10,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide, the main cause …
