Thirty years ago, the big environmental story was acid rain. Lakes and streams were becoming crystal clear dead zones; statues were deteriorating. The local public radio station gave regular pH counts of the rainfall. There was a lot of official hand-wringing.

New England practically went to war with Ohio over their smokestack emissions.

And then, as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared. I was just looking at the New York Times index of stories, and only four articles in that paper have even mentioned acid rain since 2007.

Problem solved?

Not by a long shot.

It’s still with us, continuing to cause serious damage to our forests, acidifying our oceans, and other nefarious mischief, like eroding the headstones in our older cemeteries.

Why the silence?