The Alchemy of Air

"This book reminds us of the serendipity of scientific inquiry. It’s about the invention of fixed nitrogen fertiliser, which a chemist named Fritz Haber developed as an offshoot of World War I weapons research. That single invention dramatically improved food production, and helped support the massive population growth that took place over the last 70 years. When people think about fertiliser, “world changing” may not be the first phrase that comes to mind. When we think of dramatic inventions, we think of iPhones or airplanes. But fertiliser has made modern life possible. In retrospect, it’s one of the most important technological innovations of the 20th century. The application of nitrogen-based fertiliser is very, very different around the world. Where it is overused it can have significant negative consequences for local ecosystems. In some countries, like China, they use almost 160 kilogrammes of fertiliser per hectare. While in the US I think a few years ago the number was 60 or 70kg per hectare. And then there’s the countries that use virtually no fertiliser. In sub-Saharan Africa or dry-land South Asia, where most of the world’s poor farmers struggle to produce enough food to feed their families, they use about 8kg per hectare. Where fertiliser is not used, you see children going to bed hungry every night and an increase in the number of children who are stunted over 30 or 40 years ago. If children don’t get adequate nutrition their brains don’t develop, and they can’t learn and contribute to society to the extent of their capacity. So the story of the application of fertiliser and the disparities of that application tell the story of both environmental consequences and of really desperate human consequences."