Phosphate: A Critical Resource Misused and Now Running Low

Pearce, Fred. “Phosphate: A Critical Resource Misused and Now Running Low.” Yale E360, 7 July 2011, e360.yale.edu/feature/phosphate_a_critical_resource_misused_and_now_running_out/2423/.

1. From our reading last week, I remembered that phosphate was an important ingredient for many fertilizers around the world. I also recall that humans have been harvesting an unsustainable amount of the resource and may become scarce in the near future.

2.From this article, I learned that phosphate is used in fertilizing fields that grow food that you and I will likely consume. A large reserve of this phosphate rock, located in the Western Sahara, has been subject to years of civil war and mismanagement. Phosphate is so effective that it only takes one ton of phosphorus to produce 130 tons of grain, which has led to its widespread use throughout the world. Although we are not currently running out of phosphorus, Dana Cordell of Linking University in Sweden thinks we could hit "peak phosphorus" production by ~2030. 

3. This article is applicable to our class as it revolves around the concepts of resource sustainability and sustainable consumption. This good, which is so vital to maintaining the world's food supplies, has been mismanaged and overused. As domestic production wanes, the U.S. is beginning to rely on external supplies from countries like Morocco. We must put something in place to regulate phosphorus production if we want to avoid a scarcity in the coming future.

4. I found this article to be slightly repetitive, but overall effective in conveying the author's overall message. I liked how he warned that although we have not reached peak production yet, we are much closer than many people would expect. This is not an issue that is commonly discussed in the media, but perhaps should be