July 13, 2009
Graph of the Day: Phosphorus Production, 1900-2007
It takes a lot of phosphorus to support our diet-about 222.5kg per person per year for a normal balanced diet. Professor Stuart White, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney suggests that it follows the same Hubbert’s Peak pattern as oil, and that we are just about at the peak. He writes in Sustainable Phosphorus Futures that while oil can be replaced with other fuels, “Quite simply, without phosphorus, we cannot produce food.” …
