How Do Air Pollution and Acid Rain Affect Vines, Grapes and Wine Quality, and Ultimately Our Health?
Specific pollutants or classes of pollutants are well known to have damaging effects on the environment, such as ozone (triatomic oxygen) depletion and global warming, and on our health when contaminants are beyond “acceptable” levels. Vineyards are typically situated in areas with low levels of pollution and are therefore not of major concern. This doesn’t mean that pollution should be ignored; however, there has been limited research on the impact of pollution on vineyards. It is a very complex area of research. Let’s examine the chemistry of pollutants and their impact on vine-growing specifically. The Earth’s atmosphere comprises a number of gases, mainly diatomic nitrogen and oxygen as well as carbon dioxide, and water vapor. And every second of every day, pollutants from car emissions, landfills and industrial processes are released into the atmosphere and react with its constituents. The major pollutants are sulfur oxides, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, chlorofluorocarbons (CF
