Two decades ago, few people had heard of acid rain. Then it became a major
political issue. But what is acid rain? Where does it come from? And, more
important, what can we do to minimise its effects?
Acid rain is not a recent discovery. A hundred years ago, Britain’s first air
pollution inspector, Robert Angus Smith, coined the phrase to describe the
polluted rain in his home town of Manchester. He realised that the air in the
city was not only filthy but also acidic, and that it was attacking
vegetation, stone and iron.
The finding, and the phrase,…
