5/8/2023 0 Comments Polytool nitrogenAt 47kg of nitrogen per person each year, Australia is far ahead of the US, which came in with 28kg of nitrogen per person.Ī high-animal-protein diet appears to be driving Australia’s big nitrogen footprint. Research by University of Melbourne PhD candidate Emma Liang shows Australia has a large nitrogen footprint. One way to understand our nitrogen use is to look at our nitrogen footprint – the amount of nitrogen pollution released to the environment from food, housing, transportation and goods and services. Reactive nitrogen causes wide-ranging damage, and will cause more damage if nitrogen losses are not reined in.įaced with a growing population and changing climate, we need more than ever to optimise the use of nitrogen and minimise the losses. These losses have been increasing over the decades as nitrogen fertiliser use increases. Yet some 50% of applied nitrogen is lost to the environment in water run-off from fields, animal waste and gas emissions from soil microbe metabolism. In fact, nitrogen from fertiliser now accounts for more than half the protein in the human diet. Wheat with and without nitrogen fertiliser. As carbon dioxide levels continue to rise in the atmosphere, some plants such as grains will also likely demand more nitrogen. The use of nitrogen fertiliser has risen from 11 million tonnes in 1961 to 108 million tonnes in 2014. Fertilisers are usually made from ammonia, a form of nitrogen that the plants prefer.Ī century after the development of the Haber-Bosch process gave us a way to manufacture nitrogen fertiliser, our demand for it has yet to level off. Nitrogen gas (N₂) makes up 78% of the air, but it cannot be used by plants. Plant growth depends on it animals and people get it from eating plants or other animals. Nitrogen is an essential building block for amino acids, proteins and DNA. The solution to the nitrogen challenge will need to come from a combination of technological innovation, policy and consumer action. The reduced production from the lost nitrogen can represent as much as 25% of the household income. This impact is most acute for smallholder farmers in developing countries, for whom nitrogen fertiliser is often the biggest cost of farming. Lost nitrogen harms farmers too, as it represents reduced potential crop growth or wasted fertiliser. The estimated A$8.2 billion damage bill to the Great Barrier Reef is a reminder that our choices on land have big impacts on land, water and the air downstream. Nitrogen from fertiliser, effluent from livestock and human sewage boost the growth of algae and cause water pollution.
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