A further planetary boundary concerns two chemicals, Nitrogen and Phosphorus, which are both essential for life, known as biogeochemicals. The industrial use of artificial nitrogen based fertilisers and the increased mining and use of Phosphorus is changing the natural concentration of these elements in the environment. Seas, lakes, rivers and streams are becoming overloaded with phosphorus and nitrogen based nutrients as a result of farming and waste disposal. When too many nutrients are dumped or seep into the rivers and sea, they trigger algal blooms. When the algae die, decomposition sucks oxygen out of the water, killing fish and creating devastating dead zones. This process is known as eutrophication.
There are many examples of its effects
In the UK, effluent from chicken farms is killing the river Wye [1], documented elsewhere in Rivercide [2] and “Britain’s Rivers are suffocating to death” [3]. The ecocidal consequences of cheap chickens packed into stinking industrial barns are clear.
But it is easy to feel disconnected from all this, to simply shrug our shoulders and carry on as before. Forests burn as the chicken feed is harvested. Rivers choke. And we do not see the chain of events that lead to our plates.
The article, “Ammonia pollution damaging more than 60% of UK land” [4], reveals that ammonia and nitrogen pollution, mostly from farms, is harming more than 60% of the UK’s land area and hitting the most sensitive habitats for plants and wildlife hardest, with no clear plans to monitor or reduce its impact.
Algal blooms in Florida are the cause of a sharp rise in Manatee deaths [5].
The Problems with Scottish Salmon Farming are well documented, and include high levels of chemical pollution and phosphates excreted by the fish [6].
Other problems include the health risks of high concentrations of nitrate in drinking water, and the fact that Phosphorus is a finite resource, mined in only a few locations worldwide and at risk of running low [7].
Johan Rockström notes that these issues have already moved us over a planetary boundary, beyond a zone of uncertainty, and into a danger zone. So what can we do in the short time that remains to move back into the planetary safe zone? Clearly, better management and use of resources is one step.
A further clue is given in The role of diet in phosphorus demand which explains that “meat consumption was the most important factor affecting Phosphorus footprints” [8]
Adopting a vegan diet is an immediate and effective action to tackle these problems. It cuts off the demand for polluting and environmentally destructive livestock products. It reduces the requirement for fertilisers as crops do not need to be grown for animal feed. Less land is needed to produce the same amount of nutrition.
For myself, after reading these accounts of the effects of livestock farming on the environment, I have chosen not to eat meat, dairy or fish. Life on this planet cannot continue as it is if we do not change our diets.
References
[1] https://theconversation.com/revealed-true-cost-of-britains-addiction-to-factory-farmed-chicken-158555
[2] https://rivercide.tv
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/21/britains-rivers-suffocating-industrial-farm-waste
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/18/ammonia-pollution-damaging-uk-land-report
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/31/sharp-rise-florida-manatee-deaths-algal-blooms-food-depletion
[6] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-48266480
[7] https://theconversation.com/phosphorus-is-vital-for-life-on-earth-and-were-running-low-74316
[8] https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044043
