Article Title: Global Population and the Nitrogen Cycle
Author: Vaclav Smil
In the 20th century, we've almost quadrupled our population. To support this, we've had to grow more food. A lot of factors contributed to our population growth, but the most prominent one was the synthesis of ammonia. Together, Carl Bosch's and Fritz Haber's work developed a process to synthesize ammonia. This availability of ammonia and nitrogen-rich fertilizers has sustained food production. Although we need this ammonia to support our population, it's been damaging the environment. When fertilizer nitrogen gets into water, it causes eutrophication. Algae rapidly grows, and its decomposition reduces the oxygen level in the water. This can lead to an extinction of fish and crustacean animals.
After I read this article, I was shocked because I always thought that nitrogen was good for the environment as it helped food production. While it did do that, it did do some damaging to the environment, and we need to stop it before it gets out of control. If we can find a more efficient, eco-friendly substitute for ammonia synthesis. Also, like the article said, the best hope to reduce nitrogen use is by finding more efficient ways to fertilize crops. I think it would be beneficial if we use human/animals waste as fertilizer instead of dumping it into the ocean.
Author: Vaclav Smil
- During the 20th century, humanity has almost quadrupled it's population
- A lot of factors contributed to this, but it wouldn't have been possible at all without the synthesis ammonia
- Availability of ammonia and other nitrogen-rich fertilizers helped food production
- Producers of nitrogen fertilizer are to thank for abundance of food
- Most nitrogen is stored in the atmosphere, with only a small fraction of it in a fixed form that can be used by animals, plants, and humans
- Nitrogen makes DNA and RNA, proteins, etc.
- The most important nitrogen-fixing bacteria are Rhizobium and cyanobacteria
- Crop residues and human/animal waste contain a small amount of nitrogen; when there's a lack of nitrogen, farmers use those as subsitutes
- Nitrogen fixing bacteria living in the roots of some plants help enrich the field with nitrogen
- Scientists in the 19th century found that potassium and phosphorus were limiting agricultural yields less frequently and shortages of these two elements were much easier to fix
- Carl Bosch started to develop the process of ammonia synthesis in 1899 at BASF, but Fritz Haber from Germany was the one who devised a way to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen
- Bosch's work led to the first commercial ammonia factory in Oppau, Germany in 1913
- Global ammonia production remained less than 5 million tons until the 1940s
- Synthetic fertilizers provide 40% of nitrogen taken up by plants
- Massive production of reactive nitrogen has consequences on the environment, including local health issues, global changes, contamination of ground and surface waters, etc.
- Fertilizer nitrogen that gets into ponds, lakes, etc. often causes eutrophication (the enrichment of waters by a previously scarce nutrient); causing an excess of algae to grow, whose decomposition reduces availability of oxygen and reduces fish/crustacean species
- Eutrophication has affected Long Island Sound, the San Francisco Bay, even the Great Barrier Reef
- Excess acidification can lead to increased loss of trace nutrients
- Nitrous oxide combined with oxygen contributes to the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere; in the troposphere it promotes excessive greenhouse warming
In the 20th century, we've almost quadrupled our population. To support this, we've had to grow more food. A lot of factors contributed to our population growth, but the most prominent one was the synthesis of ammonia. Together, Carl Bosch's and Fritz Haber's work developed a process to synthesize ammonia. This availability of ammonia and nitrogen-rich fertilizers has sustained food production. Although we need this ammonia to support our population, it's been damaging the environment. When fertilizer nitrogen gets into water, it causes eutrophication. Algae rapidly grows, and its decomposition reduces the oxygen level in the water. This can lead to an extinction of fish and crustacean animals.
After I read this article, I was shocked because I always thought that nitrogen was good for the environment as it helped food production. While it did do that, it did do some damaging to the environment, and we need to stop it before it gets out of control. If we can find a more efficient, eco-friendly substitute for ammonia synthesis. Also, like the article said, the best hope to reduce nitrogen use is by finding more efficient ways to fertilize crops. I think it would be beneficial if we use human/animals waste as fertilizer instead of dumping it into the ocean.