Warning of world phosphate shortage

[jpak]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23360117-27703,00.html

THE exponential growth in global food production has not only sent the price of fertilisers skyrocketing, but could lead to a world shortage of phosphate within decades.

Beyond a temporary market spike driven by richer developing countries and increased supply of biofuels, researchers are warning that the world could face dwindling supplies of phosphate by 2040 unless steps are taken to use it more efficiently and recover it from human waste.

But unlike oil, which can be managed by substituting other sources of energy, there is no substitute for the critical role of phosphate in plant development and production.

Mineral phosphorous fertilisers come from mined phosphate rock found in places such as Christmas Island, Nauru and Morocco, which is the world's biggest exporter of the resource.

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[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Phosphate, helium, petroleum, ozone in the atmosphere... we are running out of everything n/t

[jpak]

2. We're not efficiently recycling phosphorus from animal and human waste

a lot of US phosphorus from the human food web ends up in the ocean instead of back on the farm...

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. True

What do you suggest by way of recycling?

[jpak]

4. sewage sludge recycling, on-farm biogas reactor sediment recycling - not easy (or cheap) but doable

n/t

[izquierdista]

5. What do you mean, not cheap?

The Vietnamese seem to be able to do biogas affordably: http://www.mekarn.org/procbiod/chinh.htm

The keep the sludge recycling pretty effectively, too.

[Dead_Parrot]

9. Sludge recycling is a piece of... err...

Stick it on a spreader and drive over the fields. It's not cool-and-funky green, but it is what animals do.

[DCKit]

6. The WHO said we should switch to composting toilets...

to prevent killing the oceans. Same result in keeping the phosphorous available.

[Nihil]

7. I wonder at what point it will be worth trying to reclaim ...

... all the phosphates & nitrates that the farmers are pouring into
the Gulf (of Mexico)?

:shrug:

Still, hopefully the rising prices will "encourage" them to use the
resources a little more wisely in the meantime.

[Dead_Parrot]

8. We have lakes of piss going to waste...

And fields of waste, for want of piss.

When I were a lad, we 'ad muckspeaders, me'ing the twain, tha' kno'. Aye, 'appy days.

(do we have an "old fart from northern England" smiley? No? Bugger.)

[Nihil]

10. Lakes of liquid gold ...

... and mountains of ... well, something other than gold ...

To be fair, there is a distinctly (or should it be distinktly?) different
smell to human waste than to animal waste ... when muck-spreading time
comes round here, you can always tell which farmers have been getting
deliveries from Southern Water and which from the cattle farms ...

> do we have an "old fart from northern England" smiley?

Nah lad, else I'd probably use it too! :hi:

[Dead_Parrot]

11. I've been meaning to ask...

... where are you? I'm from the Lakes originally (also been working in Larndon, init ma son?)(before heading south to NZ, yeah right! sweet as.)...

[Nihil]

12. Darn Sarf now

From South West Lancashire originally (St.Helens) then down
to Hertfordshire (Hatfield/St.Albans/Letchworth) for 6 years
or so then down further to North Hampshire.

Commute to London each day. Fun ... especially in the summer.
There again, I used to drive hundreds of miles per week in a
previous job and I much prefer getting dropped off, having
a nice doze on the train then a short walk to the office!
(Mind you, the 3+ mile walk back from the station is a bugger
in the rain if Mrs.N is somewhere else with the car ...)

I don't really envy people who have emigrated to NZ ...
all of that scenery, opportunity and a sensible government ...
:think:
OK, I *do* envy you and congratulate you on your choice but, as
there's zero chance of me doing the same, I'd better keep working
to make the best I can here!

:hi:

Not enough garden to grow anything significant so mainly sticking
to fruit & herbs with a few veg for a change. Usually in a slight
wind-shadow which is handy ... unless you want a wind-turbine
so that idea's out.

Have insulated the house pretty well now; am using CFLs & LEDs
nearly everywhere and am now saving to go for a solar thermal
setup but this is going to take a while as I have a suspicion
that our fridge, freezer and boiler will need replacing before
too long (they've lasted well but are getting a bit long in
the tooth - like 'no spare parts available' sort of age) and there
are little things like university fees queueing up on the driveway ...

All that and not a composting toilet in sight (he says desperately
trying to get back on topic!)

:toast:

[Dogmudgeon]

13. I'm surprised you would even mention this issue

It tends to detract from the Godzilla reputation that nuclear energy has been saddled with. I've gotten considerable flack here for pointing out that seawater and soil are radioactive enough that it can be easily detected by fairly crude means -- and that coal is much worse.

Most of the phosphate that is mined from geological strata is radioactive at a rate considerably higher than that of the normal radioactivity of soil. Phosphate workers in the UK and in Florida face some pretty intense health risks. The situation among Florida's phosphate workers is compounded by the high level of naturally-occurring (toxic) fluoride compounds that also form in these strata.

A few years ago, almost 1/6th of the world's uranium was being "mined" from a few phosphate quarries in Louisiana. Extracting the radionucleides from mineral phosphate would at least reduce the risks to those who work with it, as well as provide a source of energy. Instead, we eat food grown in soil with artificially increased levels of radioactive material, most of which is washed into the seas by runoff, anyway. That's a multiple slow-mo ecological disaster. It also explains to some extent why I am not terrified by infrequent and minute releases of radioiodine from reactors, or even the massive belch of radiocesium and radioiodine from Chernobyl. It has always seemed to be akin to heavy smokers who worry about getting cancer from the dye in maraschino cherries when they may eat a single one each year with the Easter ham. (My mom used to worry about that -- she cooks ham with pineapple slices and maraschino cherries. But she gave up smoking about ten years ago, so she now allows herself TWO cherries per year. On the other hand, I eat a lot of vegetables; perhaps I should worry.)

Recovering phosphorous from human waste will at best be a stopgap measure. Most of the loss is coming from the continent-wide hemorrhaging of soil nutrients into the oceans from the tremendous increase in runoff caused by industrial agriculture. Changes in climate will accelerate these losses before the inevitable human die-off ends mass-scale agriculture.

Each of these "ecology management" problems are considerably more damaging than any kind of energy shortfall we may experience. Windmills, nukes, and enormous (cadmium-based) solar arrays covering 3/4ths of Arizona will eventually only serve to keep the lights on at the morgues.

--p!