this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2026
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[–] Soot@hexbear.net 8 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

So what, now my piss is liquid gold???

[–] LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins@hexbear.net 6 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

In 1561 the queen of England had to pay a German 300 pounds of gold for a manual for saltpeter production that was basically "bury a bunch of shit and piss and regularly water it"

[–] reagansrottencorpse@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 hours ago

I was curious so I looked into it a bit more. Yep that's about the gist of it.

[–] greenbelt@lemy.lol 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

70% of the nitrogen in your body comes from fertilizer fixed from the air through these chemical processes requiring fossil fuels. If it runs out 70% of humanity will starve.

[–] Soot@hexbear.net 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

??? Firstly, my post was a funny one about piss.

Secondly, "It is estimated that a third of annual global food production uses ammonia from the Haber–Bosch process", so, averaging 30%, not 70.

Thirdly, fossil-fuel based fertilizer production is unnecessary and has harmful side-effects. It's doable completely without fossil fuels, and the fact we've not divested even more out of that already is our own stupidity, not a reason to say "fossil fuels good".

..excessive use of nitrogen-based fertilizers has severe environmental consequences, including biodiversity loss, soil and freshwater degradation, and substantial greenhouse gas emissions.

85 to 95 per cent of nitrogen applied to soil is lost and does not make it to us as food.

Food security is possible with less nitrogen: with massive overuse and low use efficiency, much nitrogen can be spared without reducing yields. With nitrogen scarcity and soil mining, recycling should be increased before and besides adding new external nitrogen.

Fourthly, given the amount of BEANS I eat, and they in fact do their own nitrogen fixing. I daresay my percentage of fossil-fuel derived fertilizer-enabling nitrogen is actually much lower. beanis

[–] greenbelt@lemy.lol 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

does 30% of food production equal 30% of calories? High calorie foods like corn and wheat need more nitrogen fertilizer than others.

[–] Soot@hexbear.net 3 points 13 hours ago