Never has mom’s warning about playing in the rain making you sick more true than today. While pollution levels throughout the world have been rising at exponential levels due to rapid development and use of fossil fuels for energy, in China, its much worse.
Coal Combustion in China
China is a country with coal as its main energy source. The raw coal still accounts for 75 percent of the total energy consumption, although various kinds of energy such as oil, natural gas, hydropower and nuclear power have been developed in recent decades. In the structure of coal consumption, the civil use of coal in China occupies a higher proportion than otherwise common in developed countries, amounting to about 30 or 40 times of those in Japan and US. Moreover, coal contains a high rate of sulphur and ashes.
Even just getting a few drops of acid rain on your head, with a weakened immune system, you can get sick very easily (since the air you breathe- or even the food you eat- is also very polluted as it is). Acid rain negatively affects surface waters and aquatic animals, forests, automotive coatings, materials, and visibility.
Watch Al Gore’s AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH if you have not done so. It will truly be the most terrifying documentary you will watch.