PHOSPHORUS SHORTAGE THREATENS WORLD FOOD.

The post-World War II ‘Green Revolution’ fed countless people thanks to fertilizers and pesticide But there was a downside that the world transitioned to the use of phosphorus to bolster crop yields so quickly that we polluted our freshwater ecosystems and created a situation where we’ve become too dependent on this “nonrenewable” chemical.  Around sixty percent of the phosphorus we excrete comes out in our pee, which explains that we need to reclaim the chemical from our urine to solve our problems or else it will just end up in our lakes—causing even more issues. Worse yet, the world has recently come to a point where most of its reserves of phosphorus have been depleted, and phosphorus isn’t a very recyclable chemical. When it washes from soil into waterways, it essentially disappears forever, adding that we could be heading towards disaster if “demand eclipses supply.” Disappearing stocks combined with the current global shortages has left researchers extremely worried that we could be racing towards a world without phosphorus.