What Makes Fertilizers So Dangerous to The Climate :
What Makes Fertilizers So Dangerous to The Climate
The use of fertilizers has been around for thousands of years, providing the soils with the natural substance they need to increase fertility. Farmers are using fertilizers to grow healthy crops but are fertilizers genuinely nutritious? How are they associated with environmental change, and how are they dangerous to the climate if they increase the fertility of soil?
Fertilizers have enabled the farmers to grow their crops immensely, which has boosted the production of crops by 20% to 30%. However, the excessive consumption of fertilizers has increased greenhouse gas emissions consequently that has resulted in climate change. The demand for food has risen to an extreme, with the growing population leading to 40% to 60% of crop production with fertilizers. Discover more about the impact fertilizers have on our environment.
Fertilizers’ Adverse Consequences on the Environment
Excess of everything is bad like if you start eating too much, your body will be overfilled, resulting in stomach pain and gaining excessive weight. When you have excess money, numerous evil thoughts will be born. Similarly, excessive consumption of fertilizers can grow crops faster to satisfy the growing need of people for food. However, it also has severe reactions. Greentech companies are compelling farmers to adopt sustainable and organic fertilizers and reduce the consumption of nitrogen-based fertilizers. Since the results of imbalance are drastic, fertilizers also have some detrimental effects, listed below.
● Reduces Soil Quality
As fertilizers have different toxic chemicals, substances, and acids, using too much of them depletes the soil quality. To cope with this situation, a soil test is recommended thrice a year to analyze the quality of soil and the quantity of fertilizer consumed. Although at present, the excessive quantity of fertilizer will yield production, however in the long run, it would lead to soil acidification, stunted growth, and death of plants.
● Human Health Risk
The environment where we live and the water that we drink become drastically polluted due to the overabundance of fertilizer as it causes eutrophication and discharges contaminated gases. The blue baby syndrome is one of the problems caused by the excessive use of fertilizers. On the other hand, fertilizers and pesticides, especially those used on lawns, can cause extreme chronic diseases, especially endangering children and increasing the cases of cancer amongst them.
● Global Climate Change
Fertilizers change the climate adversely because they contain different chemicals such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, ammonia, etc., that release harmful gases thus intensifying the greenhouse effect. Fertilizers are quite harmful to our planet as it causes global warming and changes weather badly. In addition, nitro-based fertilizers emit nitrous oxide which is the third-largest contributor to global warming. Thus, fertilizers are dangerous to our environment.
● Toxic to Aquatic Life
As mentioned earlier, fertilizers cause eutrophication which depletes the species in water, decomposes water quality, and becomes toxic. Due to eutrophication, the production of algae increases thus the level of oxygen decreases. It doesn’t only destroy the food source of fishes or other aquatic species but ruins our drinking water.
