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N-wrecked
N-wrecked The way that humans have messed with the Earth’s carbon cycle rightly figures as planetary eco-problem No.1 in public debate, but the way we’ve messed with its nitrogen cycle probably ought to get more attention than it does. In the former case, farming often gets a bit too much of the blame in my […]
Dutch Nitrogen Scientist Questions the Basis of Government Climate Mandates
Dutch farmers are protesting against what they see as harsh measures to cut down nitrogen emissions. (PMVfoto/Shutterstock) Dutch Nitrogen Scientist Questions the Basis of Government Climate Mandates ‘We now treat farmers as polluters … which is a very strange perspective’ Jaap Hanekamp is skeptical of the received wisdom in science. He won’t stop asking a […]
Dutch Farmers Livid Over EU’s ‘Green’ Nitrogen Rule Block Border Between Holland And Germany
Dutch Farmers Livid Over EU’s ‘Green’ Nitrogen Rule Block Border Between Holland And Germany Thousands of tractor-driving Dutch protesters came out this week to continue demonstrations against the government’s radical plan to cut nitrogen emissions by 30% – 70% as part of their ‘green’ agenda. Farmers from the world’s 5th largest exporter of food are demanding that the […]
Dead Zones: Industrial Agriculture versus Ocean Life
Dead Zones: Industrial Agriculture versus Ocean Life Worldwide, there are now over a thousand coastal areas where fish can’t breathe. The nitrogen that makes crops grow is also destroying offshore ecosystems. “Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on […]
Assange, Nitrogen, Pensions, Solomon
Assange, Nitrogen, Pensions, Solomon I’m getting pissed off about multiple things right now, too many to make them all separate essays. Let’s give it a combined shot: In Holland, the talk of the town is nitrogen emissions. I’d never seen it raised as that kind of problem, but there you go. The government last week […]
Nitrogen glut: Too much of a good thing is deadly for the biosphere
Nitrogen glut: Too much of a good thing is deadly for the biosphere Abbreviations in this articleCBD UN Convention on Biological Diversity.CO2 carbon dioxide.N nitrogen.N2 dinitrogen (inert nitrogen gas). N2O nitrous oxide.NH3 ammonia.NO, NO2, NOx nitrous oxides.NO3 nitrate.Nr reactive nitrogen.O3 ozone.P phosphorous.PM particulate matter Part Two of Ian Angus’s examination of the disruption of the global nitrogen cycle by an economic system that values profits more than life itself. […]
Beware of the N-bomb
Beware of the N-bomb There are good, and frightening, reasons to closely follow the changes in the nitrogen cycle. We should not be surprised if the effects and costs of disturbing it turn out to be as dramatic as those for the carbon cycle. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions from nitrogen fertilizers are around 3% […]
Nitrogen Crisis: A neglected threat to Earth’s life support systems
Nitrogen Crisis: A neglected threat to Earth’s life support systems Planetary Boundaries. Nitrogen and biodiversity are farther out of safe limits than any others (Rockstrom et. al, Nature, 2009) Part One of a discussion of the disruption of the global nitrogen cycle by an economic system that values profits more than life itself. Continuing our series […]
More vegetables, less meat for all our sakes
More vegetables, less meat for all our sakes Spanish market: Vegetable-rich diets make for a healthier planet. Image: By ja ma on Unsplash Researchers are clear: the healthy diet for a healthy planet is more vegetables, less meat. What matters is the food that’s served, and the way it’s produced too. LONDON, 17 January, 2019 […]
Ohio’s watershed moment: How to fix Lake Erie algae
THE GREEN MONSTER Ohio’s watershed moment: How to fix Lake Erie algae The western tail of Lake Erie brims with life. Warm, shallow waters along the Ohio-Michigan border teem with bass, bluegill, and walleye, sustaining a billion-dollar fishing industry. Millions of people from Cleveland to Detroit draw their drinking water from this nook of the […]
How to Make Instant Garden Beds
HOW TO MAKE INSTANT GARDEN BEDS A common problem when just starting a garden is dealing with the fact that we’ve not had time to condition the soil, fostering it into something heaving with fertility. Or, maybe we just aren’t that far into gardening yet anyway and don’t know what to do. Basically, it seems […]
Fixes for Nutrient Deficient Soil
FIXES FOR NUTRIENT DEFICIENT SOIL Basic understanding of plant health comes from the soil they grow in. Their nutrition is vital to their health and overall sustainability, so it’s essential for plants to get all of the macronutrients necessary to thrive. However, there are times we still struggle with a plant mysteriously dying off long […]
Betting the Earth on a Game of Wrap-Cut-Smash
Betting the Earth on a Game of Wrap-Cut-Smash Photo by Kevin Gill | CC BY 2.0 The Earth is having to deal with continuous, largely unchecked emissions of greenhouse gases, along with soil degradation, mass extinction of species, destruction of ecosystems, and disruption of nitrogen, phosphorous, and water cycles. Meanwhile, efforts to head off the […]
How Do You Use Urine?
HOW DO YOU USE URINE? Composting toilets are a great thing. They take what has become a problem in modern systems—human excrement—and make it into something useful: rich compost. Despite simple and effective ways of making composting toilets, humanure does still bring about some controversy with those who are worried about pathogens. Confident composters won’t […]
Phosphate: All hopes rest on Morocco Walan et al., 2014
Phosphate: All hopes rest on Morocco Walan et al., 2014 Walan, P., Davidsson, S., Johansson, S., Höök, M. (2014) Phosphate rock production and depletion: Regional disaggregated modeling and global implications. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 93(0): 178-187 [ My summary of paper: If you look around for what share Morocco has of phosphate reserves, you’ll see figures […]
