New NIOO publication: Long-term #nutrient load reductions and increasing #lake TN : TP stoichiometry decrease #phytoplankton biomass and #diversity in a large shallow lake. #ijsselmeer #nitrogen #phosphorus
https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12428

New major source of phosphate and instead of feeding the world and avoiding catastrophic food shortages people want to feed cars electric batteries and make more phones a just transition cant include starving future generations https://theconversation.com/huge-phosphate-discovery-in-norway-could-fully-charge-the-electric-vehicle-industry-209189 #phosphorus #EVs #climate

Holy cow, that previous post was the last mention of runoff and algal blooms in the book. The final 20 or so pages are just focused on technology possibilities that could wean us off of mining #phosphorus instead of any actual discussion of what we could do to protect dying lakes. I have to say, this really was not well-researched or planned, even as the beginning point for a discussion. Finishing the #book has left me with no place to go for more info or for a potential future.

The next logical step is to get Congress to strengthen the Clean Water Act, heck yeah. All right, let’s get into the strategies for handling the agriculture exemption to - wait, what. Why are we talking about making cow waste into methane as though this is a real, viable to solve this problem. What happened to the pages about strengthening the CWA?! I want more info on an *actual* solution, what the hell
#books #phosphorus #environment #politics #cows

Reports of reddish brown waters around the Bay Area have SF Baykeeper concerned about another algal bloom. Baykeeper scientists suspect an outbreak of the same algae that caused a red tide across the Bay last year, resulting in an unprecedented fish kill event.

https://alamedapost.com/features/alameda-life/likely-algal-bloom-reported-along-central-east-bay-shoreline/

#alameda #algae #AlgalBloom #nitrogen #NutrientPollution #phosphorus #SanFranciscoBaykeeper #wastewater

Obviously they will think “Oh, they treated #phosphorus reserves similar to oil or to potable water, it actually makes perfect sense that they would squander them completely”
#books #environment

I guarantee you are not prepared for one of the places where the author says we went askew of the natural cycle of #phosphorus use: Stopping the collection and application of human waste for fertilizer. The thing is, they’re not specifically *wrong,* at least as the argument is laid out in the book
#books #environment

The author makes the argument that ethanol mandates are driving a large amount of fertilizer and #phosphorus runoff. Those mandates are popular, but nowhere more than in Iowa, where the presidential campaign trail anchors itself every four years to show deference to the “rural, farming” community. It’s wild that, even here, centering rural, white interests for decades is literally poisoning everywhere else
#books #environment #politics

Huh, I guess it *does* matter whether we push for change even in states without progressive governments, wow, if only there was a robust federal-level program that regulated this type of runoff at the source if they’re, say, connected to - maybe “adjacent” is a better word - to waters of the United States. You know, an act for clean water, if you will
#books #phosphorus #environment #epa #supremecourt

This is running on about 15 pages now of local interviews: people who are affected by algal blooms in the Gulf and along the Mississippi, but who aren’t specialists who understand the actual stakes. I’m glad the author did the legwork but it’s clear there’s barely enough here for a book. The entire book is a little more than 200 pages already
#books #phosphorus #environment

The actual attribution here should read, “They said, while living under a government that regularly tells you what you’re allowed to do with even your private property, typically for very good reason like I don’t know being the main cause of a toxic algal bloom in public waters, just picking that out of the blue, no reason”
#books #phosphorus #environment

With credit to @mattbors, “Yet you participate in society. Curious! I am very intelligent.” What an annoyingly facile line from this author who absolutely knows better.
#books #phosphorus #environment

Also in that same clip, for the fourth time in this book, the author notes that a quote about a deadly toxin isn’t coming from “an activist” or “a professional environmentalist.” I know they’re trying to do a “even the common folk are noticing!” thing but it’s a very weird note to make, as though those groups are the only ones who *could* be concerned about the environment in a “normal” setting.
#books #phosphorus #environment

After the Toledo bloom in 2014, local mayors grouped to make the Western Basin of Lake Erie Collaborative Agreement, which made a goal of reducing #phosphorus in the lake by 20% by 2020 and 40% by 2025. I did some digging into where that’s at now and it looks like several studies have been done in the interim but I can’t find a solid number on what amount of change has happened. Can someone please help in tracking this info down? #books #environment #LakeErie #pollution

Oh, I should have guessed, it’s not as much the fertilizer on the farms themselves, it’s the cows that are responsible for massive overflows of #phosphorus in farm runoff. How is it always the #cows
#books #environment

It’s challenging to acknowledge some amount of change while also being clear that more is definitely needed, especially since the book notes how much #phosphorus is latent in the ground from decades ago. This feels like such a market opportunity for some fertilizer enterprise to push for routine soil samples and cheaper products that offer only what’s needed to balance out N, P and K
#books #environment #history

A good chunk of this book has been devoted to the history of #phosphorus in detergent and how we got the industry to regulate itself through bans after scientists showed its contribution to algal blooms. It’s hard to believe the detergent advocates weren’t able to maneuver around this? But maybe I’m just used to our response to climate change. #books #environment #history

Desperately trying to no-prize an explanation wherein Musk’s rebranding of Twitter to #x is indirectly based on him reading about the success of Proctor & Gamble’s #phosphorus full Project X detergent development back in the 1930s so I can get a tiny cut of the discourse traffic
#books #history #environment #musk

Oh good, mining an element that specifically is key to causing deadly algal blooms out on the ocean floor will *definitely* not have any unwanted effects as soon as there is any type of accident
#books #history #environment #phosphorus

I am wildly curious as to how he determined that this was the appropriate way to coax the Philosopher’s Stone from urine. What experiments must’ve come before this? What made him think this would work? What did he tell his neighbors, his wife?
#books #history #environment #phosphorus