The Story of P

“P” is for phosphorus, the stuff of life, and “p” is for “peak phosphorus” by 2030, ecologists say, unless — presto! — pee can be turned into gold through modern-day alchemy. Unremarked and unregulated by the United Nations and other high-level assemblies, the world’s supply of phosphate rock, the dominant source of phosphorus for fertilizer, is being rapidly — and wastefully — drawn down. By most estimates, the best deposits will be gone in 50 to 100 years. Worse, phosphorus production could peak in just two decades, according to new research from Australia and Sweden. That’s when demand could outstrip supply, playing out a familiar scenario of scarcity, price shocks, riots, starvation and war.

more information here

Worldwide five times more phosphorus is being mined than is being consumed. Stated another way, 15 million tons of phosphorus is mined yearly to grow food, but 80 percent never reaches the dinner table: It is lost to inefficiency and waste.

Without phosphorus, the world cannot grow food. Yet only three countries control 73 percent of the world’s remaining known reserves of phosphate rock. While there are substitutes for oil; there is no substitute for phosphorus.

Nice and disturbing info.

Do you know wich are these 3 countries?

thks

Originally posted by herbert.amaral
Nice and disturbing info.

Do you know wich are these 3 countries?

thks

China has the largest reserves — 27 percent of the total — but has clamped down on exports with a steep tariff. Morocco is occupying the Western Sahara and its reserves and is exporting them to the U.S, even as the U.N. condemns the trade.

Africa is now both the largest exporter of phosphate rock and the continent with the worst food shortages.

Originally posted by iforget

“P” is for phosphorus, the stuff of life, and “p” is for “peak phosphorus” by 2030, ecologists say, unless — presto! — pee can be turned into gold through modern-day alchemy. Unremarked and unregulated by the United Nations and other high-level assemblies, the world’s supply of phosphate rock, the dominant source of phosphorus for fertilizer, is being rapidly — and wastefully — drawn down. By most estimates, the best deposits will be gone in 50 to 100 years. Worse, phosphorus production could peak in just two decades, according to new research from Australia and Sweden. That’s when demand could outstrip supply, playing out a familiar scenario of scarcity, price shocks, riots, starvation and war.

more information here

Worldwide five times more phosphorus is being mined than is being consumed. Stated another way, 15 million tons of phosphorus is mined yearly to grow food, but 80 percent never reaches the dinner table: It is lost to inefficiency and waste.

Without phosphorus, the world cannot grow food. Yet only three countries control 73 percent of the world’s remaining known reserves of phosphate rock. While there are substitutes for oil; there is no substitute for phosphorus.

Really?
Makes me wonder how we've been getting along since the Sumerians started the ball rolling.

More scare-mongering by the media methinks...

Possibly though if you ask me this is largely ignored by the media.

It is far from an insurmountable problem. Phosphorus is not destroyed in its use and only needs to be recycled. There are some steps that need to be taken in order to insure a future supply of phosphorus. When it comes to your food supply it is far better to act proactively than retroactively.