Search OCA: Get Local!   OCA News Sections  Organic Consumers
Association  The Curse of Fertilizer    Without this
independent-minded element, disinclined to associate with other
gases, the machinery of photosynthesis cannot function-no
protein can form, and no plant can grow. Corn, wheat, and rice,
the fast-growing crops on which humanity depends for survival,
are among the most nitrogen hungry of all plants. They demand
more, in fact, than nature alone can provide.  Enter modern
chemistry. Giant factories capture inert nitrogen gas from the
vast stores in our atmosphere and force it into a chemical union
with the hydrogen in natural gas, creating the reactive
compounds that plants crave. That nitrogen fertilizer-more than
a hundred million tons applied worldwide every year-fuels
bountiful harvests. Without it, human civilization in its
current form could not exist. Our planet's soil simply could not
grow enough food to provide all seven billion of us our
accustomed diet. In fact, almost half of the nitrogen