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> What saved us was the invention of Haber-Bosch process, chemical synthesis of nitrogen fertilizer from air nitrogen. Of equal importance is Norman Borlaug, w
by sampo 4y ago
> What saved us was the invention of Haber-Bosch process, chemical synthesis of nitrogen fertilizer from air nitrogen.
Of equal importance is Norman Borlaug, who bred new wheat and corn varieties that were able to make use of the fertilizers and grow large harvests.
https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/norman-borlaug-legacy-documentary/ https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/norman-b...
- eesmith 4y agoAnd who, in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, pointed out it was "a temporary success in man’s war against hunger and deprivation ... But the frightening power of human reproduction must also be curbed; otherwise the success of the green revolution will be ephemeral only." This is long-term view is shared with Ehrlich, whose "Population Bomb" appears (based on the cut-off for non-subscribers) to be ridiculed by the author of this essay.
- NoPie 4y agoGood point. I am reading about him on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug This is really crazy stuff: >> Western European governments were persuaded to stop supplying fertilizer to Africa. According to David Seckler, former Director General of the International Water Management Institute, "the environmental community in the 1980s went crazy pressuring the donor countries and the big foundations not to support ideas like inorganic fertilizers for Africa."[36]
- sampo 4y agoAnd later the Western elites did it again: Quite successfully persuaded the 3rd world countries to not make use of the improved crop varieties that were bred with the assistance of gene technology.