The varied and widespread symptoms of nitrogen pollution are grassland changes, acidic soils, stressed biodiversity, marine pollution, algal blooms and dying fish. Even areas of China far away from the source of pollution are feeling these symptoms as surplus nitrogen cascades through its habitats.
The China Agricultural University researchers studied the increased nitrogen uptake in plants that received no nitrogen fertilizer to drive home their point that "all these changes can be linked to a common driving factor, strong economic growth."
The study calls for Chinese authorities to reduce ammonia emissions from agricultural sources and curb nitrous oxide pollution from industry and traffic. "The tricky thing about nitrogen is it's related to food production. So there is no question that we need to have nitrogen added to crops. It's inevitable that there will be some leakage of nitrogen from the croplands. But you have to have it to grow food for 7 billion people," Davidson said.
"We know a lot about how to reduce emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes and agricultural runoff," he added, explaining that it's not a question of how to do it but that it requires personal, political and economic incentives.
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500
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6 Comments
Add CommentGreat photo BTW: looks almost like a post nuclear winter or after a super-volcano eruption.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYep... China is the poster child for industrialization run amok... and among the robust, persistent GW greehouse effect of NO ...versus the micro-particulate-matter lung/health risks... versus acid rain and runoff with algae blooms and fish kills... versus wider global repercussions... it's hard to choose which poison is the most noxious.
What is so absurd and frustrating is relatively simple means are available to restrain this pollution on a continental scale! They've done a relatively good job curbing their prior rampant reproduction and population growth with it's attendant poverty/malnutrition/uneducation/poor healthcare... so get to work on industrial/agricultural waste control.
Anyone who buys anything made in China (an Apple I-pad for example) and then complains about Chinese industrial pollution is nothing but a hypocrite.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, excuuuuuse me, I guess I'm your run of the mill hypocrite.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'll tell you one thing though; I would be willing to pay significantly more money to buy an I-Pad if it were made in the USA or anywhere else that the environmental cost would be lower.
Would you? If so, how much more?
Understood, but it is notable to mention that more brands than Apple are manufactured under the Foxconn roof: Acer, HP, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, Sony, Toshiba, and Visio.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problem is, people aren't even given a choice to buy American with a lot of products, especially electronics. However, Apple says they're bringing some iMac production back to the USA, so there's some good news there, and car manufacturing in the States is growing big time, too.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe REAL problem is that we've moved to a throwaway culture, having to get a new wardrobe for every season and meant to feel like a Luddite if your electronic gadgets are more than 18 months old. When you constantly cycle through new stuff like this, item purchase cost becomes more important than long-term quality. The advantages of American manufacturing get overwhelmed by the low costs China and other developing countries can offer because their workers are willing to accept a much lower standard of living than we are (and they don't give a flyin' flip about their environment as per the article, or they don't give another flyin' flip about toxic chemicals in their products, etc.).
A lot of the pollution we see in China is actually due to the demand for cheap goods in developed countries, chiefly the USA. If you want to help put a stop to it, or stop their horrendous human rights record, or stop their support for North Korea, avoid the "Made in China" label as much as you can. If there are no alternatives to Chinese-made goods, think about whether you really need the item or not. Finally, let the companies you do business with (or could potentially do business with) know that you want them to minimize their sales of Chinese made goods as much as possible.
Yeah, I say this typing on a computer that was made in China, but American-made iMacs might just get me to switch to Apple...
outsidethebox is right - if the Chinese are making products for us in Europe and North America, then we share responsibility for any environmental damage they cause. And it's not as if we don't cause environmental damage ourselves now, or as if we haven't caused horrendous damage in the past.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFarmers can use 'catchment-sensitive farming' techniques to avoid putting nitrates into watercourses, and to avoid putting nitrous oxide into the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. That includes using the minimum nitrogen fertiliser necessary and applying it only when the crop is actively growing and when the weather's suitable. Instead of synthetic fertiliser, farmers can also use nitrogen-fixing plants such as clover and alfalfa in fields, or alders in hedges, and then the nitrogen is not over-produced, and is held in the soil, not released to the atmosphere.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Nitrogen-fixing_crops
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_fixation#Biological_nitrogen_fixation
In Britain, catchment-sensitive farming in England, to take one example, is managed by Natural England:
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/farming/csf/default.aspx