drinking water suffer population declines. Crops are damaged by acid rain. This is most
noticeable in poor nations where people can’t afford to fix the problems with fertilizers or
other technology. Buildings and monuments are damaged by acid precipitation (Figure
22.10). These include the U.S. Capital and many buildings in Europe, such as Westminster
Abbey.
Figure 22.10: Acid rain damages cultural monuments like buildings and statues. ( 6 )Carbonate rocks can neutralize acids and so some regions do not suffer the effects of acid rain
nearly as much. The Midwestern United States is protected by the limestone rocks through-
out the area, which are made up of calcium carbonate. One reason that the northeastern
United States is so vulnerable to acid rain damage is that the rocks are not carbonates.
Because pollutants can travel so far, much of the acid rain that falls hurts states or nations
other than ones where the pollutants were released. All the rain that falls in Sweden is acidic
and fish in lakes all over the country are dying. The pollutants come from the United King-
dom and Western Europe, which are now working to decrease their emissions. Canada also
suffers from acid rain that originates in the United States, a problem that is also improving.
Southeast Asia is experiencing more acid rain between nations as the region industrializes.
Ozone Depletion
At this point you might be asking yourself, “Is ozone bad or is ozone good?” There is no
simpleanswertothatquestion: Itdependsonwheretheozoneislocated. Inthetroposphere,
ozone is a pollutant. Higher up, in the stratosphere, ozone screens out high energy ultraviolet
radiation and thus makes Earth habitable. This protective ozone is found in the ozone layer.
Theozonelayerisbeingattackedbyhuman-madechemicalsthatbreakozonemoleculesapart
in the stratosphere. The most common of these chemicals are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs),