The Nitrogen Pollution 300 Times Faster in Increasing The Risk of Climate Change

Nitrogen Pollution Increases The Population of Algae in Freshwater (image is credited to http://www.msrivercollab.org)

It has been arguably statement that Nitrogen could be affected the climate change as it is demanded importantly for our food preservation. However, the data could not be avoided that Nitrogen could cause more damage to the environment. Subsequently, we need to think deeper about how we use the fertilizers particularly those which related to nitrogen-integrated ecosystem.

Nitrogen (N2) is one of the inert gases which is needed for certain activities and those are including in farming sector. The agriculture aspect demands the gas for the growth of plants, such as vegetables. However, the more nitrogen we demand, the higher risk will be gotten. Nitrogen itself could be improving the growth of blue-green algae which is considered as toxic plant impacting the ecosystem. According to the recent events, the problems associated to nitrogen produce lots of greenhouse gasses resulting to ammonia, nitrogen oxide, and nitrous oxide, which contribute to acid rain or matter. Therefore, to counter this problem, scientists and farmers must reform the way of growing plants by using fertilizers.

Compared to the carbon dioxide pollution, chemical compounds based on nitrogen is far higher in impacting the climate change. As we mentioned previously, the leakage of nitrogen affects the ecosystem life in freshwater such as in river, basin and lake. In the United States (US) itself, the effects contribute up to 24 percent of contamination in Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin, while in the Europe itself it is estimated that more than 70 billion Euros of costs in preventing the pollution. How it happens?

The causes of compounds based on nitrogen
The beginning of the nitrogen pollution is started by the burning of fossil fuels in large-scale such as coal and oil. In petroleum industries, the nitrogen is used to prevent the process of ignition while at the same time it can reduce the corrosion in a vessel/tank. On the other hand, the discovery of Haber-Bosch process which allows the N2 to become inert contributes to the presence of ammonia in synthesizing valuable and cheaper fertilizers, which are needed to supply the global demands. As a result, either Nitric Oxide (NO) or Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and some acidic compounds are produced. The question is how are we going to reduce the contamination of nitrogen?

In addition to reduce the nitrogen pollution, we must avoid exaggeration use of nitrogen based compounds, such as in large scale use of nitrogen fertilizers. On the other hand, the declining utilization of fossil fuels in combustion process must be avoided particularly in providing the electricity.