Collapse

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This is the place for discussing the potential collapse of modern civilization and the environment.

Collapse, in this context, refers to the significant loss of an established level or complexity towards a much simpler state. It can occur differently within many areas, orderly or chaotically, and be willing or unwilling. It does not necessarily imply human extinction or a singular, global event. Although, the longer the duration, the more it resembles a ‘decline’ instead of collapse.

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The Protein Problem (medium.com)

submitted 10 months ago by maketotaldestr0i@lemm.ee to c/collapse@lemmy.ml

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[–] user134450@feddit.de 1 points 10 months ago

”nitrogen-rich fossil fuels that feed our culture“ wow this article is really badly researched. the problem is of course real and has been described very well by William Crookes in 1898. The answer back then was the development of the Haber-Bosch process. The input was originally hydrogen from coal not natural gas which shows that the process is a bit more adaptable than this article makes us believe.

hydrogen can be obtained from many sources (including as a pure substance from wells as white hydrogen) and the reason why we use natural gas today is because it is much cheaper than the alternatives, not because other source materials would not scale as well.

how we will be creating inorganic nitrogen fertilizer in the future is a question to be solved but it is not an insurmountable problem – more like an upcoming shift in our economic practice because we will have to switch to more expensive sources.