Nitrogen cycle Part 3?

Unfortunately, I didn't get to quite finish my last post from yesterday. So this is a continuation of it.

The environmental consequences are not limited to acid rain. Nitrogen released into the atmosphere can combine with water droplets and cause another huge problem in the form of acid rain. Nitric acid rain sources are not limited to fossil fuels, but also linked to fertilizer uses. With nitrogen saturation, nitrogen emissions to streams, groundwater and atmosphere are increased. 

Soil quality gets affected by nitrogen saturation. Nitrate discharge from the soil into streams and groundwater means that it also carries minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. As a consequence, the resulting soil quality is often low due to the loss of essential minerals for future plant growth. The acidification of soil as well as the release of nitrites into streams and groundwater consequently can lead to toxic concentrations of minerals such as aluminum which have devastating impacts on tree roots as well as on aquatic species. 

Whilst there are many indirect impacts on human health from nitrogen cycle alterations, there are arguably two main direct impacts:

Atmospheric nitrogen has a huge impact on humans. For example, nitrogen oxides (which are products of fertilizers and fossil fuel combustions) help produce O3, commonly known as ozone. Ozone exposure has negative impacts on human health by inducing respiratory tract inflammations, asthma, and other chronic respiratory diseases. Air pollution, which is typically worse in urban areas, account for at least 2 million deaths annually, which makes this issue quite substantial.

Whilst researching on the health impacts of the Haber process, I stumbled across an illness called methemoglobinemia, or most commonly known as the 'Blue Baby Syndrome'. This illness is related to nitrate uptake by babies from drinking nitrate contaminated water. The nitrate from the water is converted into nitrites by the digestive system, causing a bond with oxyhemoglobin and creating metheglobin - which greatly limits babies' ability to contain oxygen. Because the body is being deprived of oxygen, the baby's body turns a slight shade of blue, and can eventually lead to death. 

To end this post, there's one paper by Vitousek et al. (1997) which details all the different human impacts on the global nitrogen cycle that may be worth taking a look into if you are more curious in specificality. To conclude this section of my blog, I am quite saddened by how capitalism (despite its scientifically dynamic nature) has also meant huge consequences that may not be rectifiable. Furthermore, I am increasingly pessimistic on that despite how there is fertilizer available, its impacts are varied globally and that there is a crisis of overproduction juxtaposed with a hunger and malnutrition crisis. Additioanlly, I do wonder why we have not found a way around this yet and how this issue is not widely spoken about - especially when it ends up breaching environmental justice.

In my next post, I hope to explore the UN and its recent COP21 agreement.