Solving Earth’s problems ever so slowly - one element at a time ...
Spoiler: there is a word in the following sentence that will likely result in many readers ceasing to read beyond it!
Recently I was pleased to encounter media stories which explained some vital things about chemistry and the importance of two elements, in particular, for sustaining life on earth.
If you have read this far and are asking, “what word did you mean?”, I’ll let you guess!
As I wrote in another blog, I agree with Adam Spencer who suggested that the Periodic Table is perhaps the most creative thing achieved by anyone in the world! It truly is a wonderfully constructed condensation of so many important findings of science.
Even though my chosen education pathway included completing quite an array of chemistry courses in high school and university, I view myself as having only a limited understanding of chemistry, compared to experts in this field. And, I admit, much of my understanding is dated.
However, after working in agricultural research over several decades, I have become familiar with quite a few key elements and especially those shown in the accompanying diagram (H, C, N, P and O).
This blog is for those who might not know much about elements by introducing a couple of fascinating media stories about two special elements.
No doubt readers have been witnessing the massive worldwide focus on carbon (C) and the need for us all to limit how much we put into the atmosphere. And, most will know of the vital importance of hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O), especially when they are combined as H2O, or water.
But do you know much about nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P)?
Before introducing you to the media stories about them, let’s first get our heads around these facts:
N: Nitrogen makes up 78% of Earth’s atmosphere! Nitrogen is an essential component of all protein, of all muscle, of all meat and of all legumes that we eat (like peas, beans, etc.). That’s a pretty important element!
P: Phosphorus is another essential element for all living things. It is especially renowned for its capacity to yield biochemical energy allowing all living cells to function. Without phosphorus, there would be no life as we know it.
So let me now introduce you to the two media stories ...
The media is so focused on NOT turning readers away that they fall over themselves to avoid using terms like ‘chemistry’, ‘elements’, ‘nitrogen’, etc. So, they come up with clever titles to induce readers to engage. This is especially true of the internationally respected newspaper, the Economist, which titled the print version of this article about an absolutely key component of life - the nitrogen cycle - as: “THE WIBBLY-WOBBLY CIRCLE OF LIFE” (published in the Christmas edition, December 24th, 2022). The online version of the same article puts a negative connotation on the nitrogen ‘industry’ with a different title: “Deadly, dirty, indispensable: the nitrogen industry has changed the world”.
I suggest that creating either a trivial (“THE WIBBLY-WOBBLY …”) or a negative title (“Deadly, dirty …”) for a detailed explanation of such a vital and crucial part of all life does a disservice to this innocent element, nitrogen. There is nothing inherently bad about nitrogen. It is a wonderful element!
This type of journalistic ‘flair’ runs the risk of reinforcing the negative views that so many in society hold about ‘chemistry’, ‘chemicals’ and ‘elements’. It is an unnecessary obstacle preventing people from learning about the beauty and wonder of the properties of chemical elements.
The Economist’s graphic image accompanying article on the Anthropocene Nitrogen Cycle.
In spite of my reservations about the title, this ‘Wibbly-Wobbly Circle of Life’ article provides a well-researched, in-depth explanation of the history and intricacies of the nitrogen cycle and its importance for feeding all life on this planet. It reminds us of the importance of going beyond the limits imposed by society’s current penchant for brief social media posts. Let us hope that there are enough interested humans willing to digest this fascinating longform essay (6,300 words).
To attempt to summarise it here would do it an injustice. I heartily commend the article to the reader!
I recently listened to this fascinating, in-depth discussion of another element - one that many may be unfamiliar with. Yet, it is of vital importance to every cell in all living organisms: phosphorus.
Once again, the media draws attention to their podcast with negative aspects of phosphorus using a Getty image of toxic blue-green algae and the catchy title of “The Devil's Element: The global phosphorus paradox”.
Still, this was an excellent interview by Sarah Dingle on ABC’s Late Night Live with author and environmental journalist Dan Egan from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences. He gives us a great insight into many aspects, especially the dangerous aspects, of this most important of elements.
Image from ABC Listen page for Late Night Live portraying the effects of phosphorus when is supports the growth of toxic blue-green algae.
The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance by Dan Egan. Published by WW Norton
The book that Dan Egan has written is titled “The Devil’s Element: phosphorus and a world out of balance” and it has on its cover, a background image of toxic blue-green algae, conveying the nastier aspects of too much phosphorus in waterways - which can cause serious problems for humans and animals.
What may be missed by the casual observer of this imagery is that the blue-green algae are being stimulated to grow by nutrients such as phosphorus! In fact, all living organisms rely on adequate phosphorus to grow - and that can be a good thing for all organisms that seek to grow.
As Dan Egan explains, he has written for a ‘lay’ audience and so he decided to engage the reader early in the book with some pretty frightening aspects of phosphorus as an element - and that no doubt got the attention of his publisher - as well as the presenter and/or producers of this podcast.
In fact, this podcast of the radio show Late Night Live reinforces my view that the interviewees are frequently book authors specialising in history and/or journalism. In Dan Egan’s case, he is a graduate of both history and journalism; he has researched the topic thoroughly and he communicates well too!
The author rightly acknowledges well-known scientific facts about the element phosphorus: that it is known as “the governor of life” and that many academics have been studying phosphorus cycling for years. He correctly notes that an Australian author wrote about the concept of “peak phosphorus” over a decade ago.
To overcome the problem of the limited supply of this essential element, he concludes that we need to be much better at valuing phosphorus and recycling it wherever feasible, be that in grazed pastures or even retrieving it from human waste streams.
Again, I strongly commend this podcast to any interested readers. It is a fascinating and vitally important story.
I conclude with a little of my own perspective - as an ‘ordinary’ scientist - on how we humans come to learn about or ignore these important chemical elements.
Having conducted research and taught in the areas of agronomy and soil science for decades, I am well aware that scientists have been exploring phosphorus (and nitrogen) nutrition of crops and pastures, phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers, nitrogen and phosphorus efficiency and nutrient pollution for as many decades as agricultural science has been around. There are a zillion scientific publications about these topics but, of course, the lay person does not have access to much of the scientific literature which is too often hidden behind expensive paywalls. Nor would the lay person have much interest in reading the scientific literature.
Whilst the focus of the book is largely on the problems of phosphorus polluting freshwater rivers and lakes, much of the relevant science about nutrient flows and pollution within productive agriculture in Dan Egan’s State of Wisconsin would no doubt have been generated by scientists located in his sister campus of the University of Wisconsin - Madison. It is important for all those who like to have milk with their cereal each morning, to reflect on where their breakfast has come from and what role they as consumers might play in encouraging solutions to be found to the problems of efficient nutrient cycling to sustain food production whilst protecting the environment. These are not trivial matters.
The general public continues to be offered information which is largely filtered for us by the interests of journalists, their producers and their publishers, who naturally focus on publishing books that get the attention of the media and sell in sufficient numbers. This information delivery system means that the public continues to miss out on much of the knowledge that science has accumulated. I am referring here to the tendency to exclude consideration of the huge body of published science, leaving the general public to be distracted by some spectacular facts or scary phenomena.
If you are still with me, we have just explored a little about just two crucial elements - nitrogen and phosphorus. When we consider important foods such as meat or grain, we quickly jump to needing to consider more elements such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (contained in the well known term ‘carbohydrates’) together with nitrogen in proteins such as meat or beans. Let’s add a little potassium, sulfur, calcium, magnesium and molybdenum as some other important elements needed for food and fibre production.
The two elements we have focused on here are vital for all living organisms, life systems and their ecologies. Understanding these biophysical and biochemical systems is MUCH more complex than sending a rocket to Mars under the well-known precise physical laws of motion. Biological systems depend not only on physics, but also chemistry, biology, climate, animals, microorganisms and interactions among all these factors and more. Agricultural science has made great strides in understanding some of these complex interactions; but there is so much more to do.
The proposition in the title of this blog is: “Solving Earth’s problems ever so slowly - one element at a time”. I think it is obvious that the world hasn’t yet worked out the cycling of just one element - carbon!
If we agree that our current rate of solving problems is insufficient, then we really need a quantum leap in understanding how our living planet works and how the future of all living organisms depends on how well we humans develop and use that understanding.
To achieve that goal, we need much better general knowledge across the community of the wonders of chemistry as an antidote to the fear and ignorance of chemicals that is so widespread today.
To create a future which allows natural ecosystems to survive long into the future, we will need to continue to support lots of ordinary (and extraordinary) scientists. And we must encourage them and their networks to deliver solutions to the public based on robust and trustworthy scaffolds of knowledge that will continue to grow.
Ideas
Ask some clever kids to create a Rubik’s Cube toy consisting of all life’s essential elements from the Periodic Table that can become an essential part of every child’s learning.
Include a basic understanding of chemistry, chemicals and elements throughout school curricula: from ‘elementary’ school all the way to graduating from high school.
Perhaps AI will assist authors in the future to distil the scientific literature for the benefit of all of us.
Mankind needs to recycle all the elements that we have so carelessly discarded into the landfills of the world.