Pollution Reduces Rain Vital to Crops

The article, “Pollution Reduces Rain Vital to Crops" written by Live Science, discusses the impact of air pollution in China. Air pollution has caused China to lose 23% of light rainfall in the past half century. This is because the substances in the polluted air cause tinier drops of rain. It is difficult for raindrops to form into rain clouds. As a result, rain shortage is an on going problem in China and producing crops in China is becoming more onerous.

Moreover, northern China is having larger amounts of droughts and lesser amounts of rain. "...this work suggests that reducing air pollution might help ease the drought in north China," offers Yun Qian, leader at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest Nation Laboratory. Air pollution is causing rain shortage because it contains gas particles, water, and aerosols. Aerosols in the polluted air contribute to China’s rain shortage. “No matter how we define light rain, we can see a very significant decrease of light rain over almost every station," Yun Qian states. To support Qian's point, southern China's rain days decreased by 21%, and northern China's rain days have decreased by 25% from 1956 to 2005.

Overall, this subject is very depressing and proves to humans how we are constantly mistreating our earth. I was drawn to this article because I am very concerned about the earth. We need to take pride in our environment and keep it as healthy and clean as possible. Everyone should do their part. As some people say, one person truly can make a difference; however, if everyone works together, we can accomplish more. Many things can be done to help our planet. For example, everyone can pick up litter; turn off lights, walk to school, etc. In conclusion, everyone needs to do their part for a better, cleaner earth.

Date of Article: August 16, 2009
If you would like to know more click this link: http://www.livescience.com/environment/090816-rain-pollution-china.html