One in nine people are malnourished around the world right now. The only reason we are able to feed humanity right now is because of nitrogen fertilizer.

The first food crisis. In 1898, William Crooks, president for the British Association for the Advancement of Science, called for chemistry researchers to find solutions to aid in the manufacture of N fertilizers to help solve the coming food crisis.

The solution soon came from German scientist Fritz Haber, who discovered in 1909 that the chemical reaction of N and hydrogen-produced ammonia — the main component in nitrogen-based fertilizers.

But nitrogenous gases also play an important role in global climate change. Nitrous oxide is a particularly potent greenhouse gas as it is over 300 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

The use of nitrogen fertilizer has risen from 11 million tonnes in 1961 to 108 million tonnes in 2014. As carbon dioxide levels continue to rise in the atmosphere, some plants such as grains will also likely demand more nitrogen. nitrogen from fertilizer now accounts for more than half the protein in the human diet. 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.

These losses have been increasing over the decades as nitrogen fertilizer use increases. Reactive nitrogen causes wide-ranging damage, and will cause more damage if nitrogen losses are not reined in.

Excerpts from: http://theconversation.com/nitrogen-pollution-the-forgotten-element-of-climate-change-69348

You point out precisely one of the reasons we are on a collision course with disaster. People want babies. People want automobiles. People want….

But our global resources will no longer support what people want. And the U.S. the number one waster of resources, is going backwards. The idiot in D.C. wants to bring back coal!