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Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas

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Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas

#31

Post by fogihujy »

charbonneau wrote: post #25
esarbe wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Although I'd put it like this: We're racing towards extinction and almost everyone tries to put the pedal to the metal because it benefits them just enough in the short run. Classic tragedy of the commons!

Not me! I drive a Tesla.

Unless you find food made without fertilizer that result in NOX emissions then the Tesla won't help with this particular problem.

Just like going from combustion engines to electric vehicles will require major infrastructure changes, as will going from modern industrial farming practices to climate neutral ones require large changes in the way we produce, consume and think about food. You're not just going to be able to tell farmers to stop using fertilizers without a viable alternative.

Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas

#32

Post by alephnil »

warvariuc wrote: post #28
stinos wrote: post #23

Also interesting to note: the heavy use of nitrogen fertiliser is also one of the reasons for the biodiversity crisis. Which according to some is a problem just as serious as the climate crisis, but is much less reported on in global media. Basic principle for the operation: plants which thrive well on nitrogen (think fast-growing grasses, nettles, ...) get an advantage over other plants (typically slower growing lon…

Similar logic applies to the case when we would use laser robots to get rid of weeds. It's artificial selection. Are you suggesting we should stop fighting weeds/insects to get better crops?

Those robots at least stop at the boundary of the field, unlike fertilizer and pesticides, that run off to the surrounding environment.

Such robots are mostly on a prototype stage, and not applied widely in agriculture today, so they are a possible problem of tomorrow rather than a present problem. Fertilizer run off is very much a present problem.

Also, the robots will typically replace a combination of herbicides and manual labor. It is not like farmers let the weed grow freely today. As such they may be an improvement over current practices.

Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas

#33

Post by nahuel0x »

dazag wrote: post #2

That's actually pretty interesting. That's been used in almost every agricultural land... Regenerative agriculture may save us from mayhem. We're heading towards extinction if we don't adapt

And if humans doesn't go extinct, the loss of biodiversity created after eons of evolution is a tragedy who put our species to shame. We need to stop worrying only about humanity.

Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas

#34

Post by TeMPOraL »

hkt wrote: post #24
stinos wrote: post #23

Also interesting to note: the heavy use of nitrogen fertiliser is also one of the reasons for the biodiversity crisis. Which according to some is a problem just as serious as the climate crisis, but is much less reported on in global media. Basic principle for the operation: plants which thrive well on nitrogen (think fast-growing grasses, nettles, ...) get an advantage over other plants (typically slower growing lon…

It is also worth shouting out the fact that healthy biospheres sequester carbon..

Only when growing. Stable biosphere is carbon neutral.

Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas

#35

Post by postingawayonhn »

warvariuc wrote: post #28
stinos wrote: post #23

Also interesting to note: the heavy use of nitrogen fertiliser is also one of the reasons for the biodiversity crisis. Which according to some is a problem just as serious as the climate crisis, but is much less reported on in global media. Basic principle for the operation: plants which thrive well on nitrogen (think fast-growing grasses, nettles, ...) get an advantage over other plants (typically slower growing lon…

Similar logic applies to the case when we would use laser robots to get rid of weeds. It's artificial selection. Are you suggesting we should stop fighting weeds/insects to get better crops?

It's hard to imagine what kind of evolutionary paths would be available to avoid robot weed killers? All I can think of is mimicking the crop that has been planted in the field.

Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas

#37

Post by prennert »

nahuel0x wrote: post #33
dazag wrote: post #2

That's actually pretty interesting. That's been used in almost every agricultural land... Regenerative agriculture may save us from mayhem. We're heading towards extinction if we don't adapt

And if humans doesn't go extinct, the loss of biodiversity created after eons of evolution is a tragedy who put our species to shame. We need to stop worrying only about humanity.

I wonder if the loss of biodiversity during the anthropocene will lead to a post-anthropocenic explosion once humans (which might be the biggest evolutionary constraint at the moment) are gone. If that happens it will be a shame for humans to miss it...

Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas

#38

Post by Gravityloss »

PanosJee wrote: post #36

Augmenta.ag fixes that They use machine vision & hyperapectral cameras to estimate nitrogen on the leaves and accordingly spread more, less or no fertilizer.

These are the kind of companies where it's easy to see it's net positive. It's not trying to sell something that spends more resources, instead it reduces resource usage.

Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas

#40

Post by rex_lupi »

postingawayonhn wrote: post #35
warvariuc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar logic applies to the case when we would use laser robots to get rid of weeds. It's artificial selection. Are you suggesting we should stop fighting weeds/insects to get better crops?

It's hard to imagine what kind of evolutionary paths would be available to avoid robot weed killers? All I can think of is mimicking the crop that has been planted in the field.

an evolutionary arms-race will follow resulting in conscient weed-killer robots
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