Too much meat, too much nitrogen
The human race is responsible for too much nitrogen being produced, which threatens the environment in a number of different ways, all potentially devastating. The primary causes, according to this very interesting BBC article, are the overconsumption of meat and chemical fertilisers used in intensive farming.
Policies to reduce nitrates in water have banned wintertime spreading of farm manures across much of Europe’s farmland. The focus on springtime manure spreading has intensified peak ammonia emissions, giving a new threat to biodiversity and air quality. Most organic gardeners in the West, as yet unrestrained by this governmental stupidity, continue to be well aware that manure is best applied from October through to December. By doing so, its breakdown is much slower and emissions from its decay dramatically reduced when compared to applications from March onwards.
tags: carbon, composting, emissions, environment, global warming, intensive farming, manure, nitrogen, toxicity
