Environmental Health News Week 2: Fertilizer in California

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According to research done by the University of California, Davis, the Central Valley in California is responsible for producing 41% of our state's nitrogen oxide emissions. Nitrogen oxide can be harmful  to our health, and to the environment. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that the greenhouse gas can be related to asthma and heart disease. Not only is it harmful to us, but also to the environment. The EPA also states that "one pound of nitrous oxide—a common component of nitrogen oxide—has 300 times more climate warming impact than a pound of carbon dioxide."

 The high emissions of nitrogen oxide is due to heavy use of nitrogen-based fertilizers. According to the article, about half of the fertilizers placed on the crops are absorbed by the plants. 

 The fact that the overuse of fertilizers is creating air pollution and potential health risks for those in rural communities is troublesome. While it may be necessary to produce more food, is it really worth it to cause such harm to our health and the planet? Solutions proposed by the researchers at UC Davis suggest slow-release fertilizers instead. This would allow for reduction of nitrogen oxide emission. 

 http://www.ehn.org/energy-money-and-technology-from-the-lens-of-the-superorganism-post-carbon-institute-2530300700.html

Comments

  1. Ashley SubramaniJanuary 31, 2018 at 5:45 PM

    As our population continues to grow at a rapid pace, more food is necessary. However, the need for food cannot out weigh all the harm that is occurring to our well being and to the planet. The plants are absorbing at least half of the fertilizer making the crops not worth producing at such a rapid level and speed. Just curious to know if there are fertilizers that are non nitrogen based and if so why they are not in use.

    -Ashley Subramani

    ReplyDelete
  2. RaeMay 9, 2018 at 12:27 AM

    The incident in Texas that caused an explosion from the use of fertilizers almost decimated a town. I think there are other alternatives that could be used to grow food, like the use of aquaphonics.

    ReplyDelete

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