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NNadir

(36,196 posts)
1. Some years back I spent some time studying this fascinating case.
Fri Feb 28, 2025, 10:40 AM
Feb 2025

It's one of those microcosmic situations that has profound macrocosmic implications.

It is also of interest from the pespective of the important issue of phosphate flows.

There really never was a "green revolution" in energy, despite the persistent public fantasy that one exists. There was, however a real "green revolution" in agriculture in the 1950s and beyond connected with the use of fertilizers. It is an industrial practice to fix nitrogen as ammonia, albeit requiring energy to make hydrogen. (Roughly 3% of the world's energy supply goes into making hydrogen for this purpose.) Phosphorus rock ores however are subject to depletion however and any effort to create a circular system around it will surely prove expensive and very energy dependent.

We all know future generations are in deep shit. This is just one, but very often overlooked despite its seriousness, reason why.

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