Event Detail Information
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Jim Arnold Lecture: Nitrogen--A Story of Food, Fuel and Fiber |
| Event Status: | Updated |
| Modified Date: | 5/5/2009 |
| Start Date: | 5/8/2009 |
| End Date: | 5/8/2009 |
| Event Time: | 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM |
| Title: | Jim Arnold Lecture: Nitrogen--A Story of Food, Fuel and Fiber |
| Location: | |
| Other Location: | Natural Sciences Bldg. Auditorium (Revelle) |
| Event Category: | Lectures/Seminars -Sciences |
| Sponsor: | UCSD Division of Physical Sciences / California Space Grant |
| Open to Public: | YES |
| Admission Cost: | Free |
| Contact Name: | Tehseen Lazzouni |
| Contact Phone: | (858) 822-1597 Ext. |
| Contact Email: | tlazzouni@ucsd.edu |
| Description: | Humans obtain metabolic energy by eating food. Nitrogen is required to grow food, but natural supplies of nitrogen for human purposes have been inadequate since the beginning of the twentieth century. The Haber-Bosch process, invented in the early 20th century, now provides a virtually inexhaustible supply of nitrogen fertilizer. This one invention is responsible for the existence of about half of the world’s population. That’s the good news. The other news is that most of this nitrogen (and additional amounts from fossil fuel combustion) is lost to the environment where it contributes to smog, greenhouse effect, ecosystem eutrophication, acid rain and loss of stratospheric ozone in a sequential manner—the Nitrogen Cascade. This seminar will examine the impact of this increased N mobilization on the global N cycle by contrasting N distribution in the late-19th Century with those of the late-20th Century. It will review our understanding of the primary points of nitrogen loss to the environment, and the impacts on people and ecosystems. The seminar will conclude with the challenges facing society to optimize the use of nitrogen to provide food for the world’s peoples, yet minimize the negative consequences on the environment. |
