Balance of nature: human and theological implications (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, January 20, 2025, 20:03 (1 day, 14 hours, 4 min. ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Poisoning air and soil is more alarmist propaganda.

dhw: Does this mean you think we should go on indefinitely cutting down the forests etc.? (We needn’t go into the details of how modern fertilizers, pesticides and other chemical aids are poisoning air, soil and water. Just answer the question, please.)

DAVID: You spew alarmist propaganda and my answer is we can go very slow in any possible mitigation.

dhw: Neither of us is an expert in the field, but if you really believe that the current pollution of our waters, deforestation, the burning of fossil fuels and the noxious gases from current forms of transport (and agricultural methods) are harmless, then so be it. If you recognize the damage they are causing even now, would that not be sufficient reason to replace “very slow” with “as fast as possible”?

What is wrong with slowly changing?? The apocalypse is not here, while you think it is alarmistically. Here is a slow but helpful way t o poison the soil:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250116161230.htm

"If corn was ever jealous of soybean's relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, advancements in gene editing could one day even the playing field. A recent study shows that gene-edited bacteria can supply the equivalent of 35 pounds of nitrogen from the air during early corn growth, which may reduce the crop's reliance on nitrogen fertilizer.

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"'To replace all synthetic nitrogen would certainly be something. Maybe 100 years from now we will have found the microbes and genetic tweaks to get close to that goal, but these microbes are not there yet. However, we have to start somewhere, and this work demonstrates nitrogen-fixation for corn has potential," said study co-author Connor Sible, research assistant professor in the Department of Crop Sciences, part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at Illinois.

"Sible and his co-authors tested products from Pivot Bio called PROVEN and PROVEN® 40, which includes one or two species of soil bacteria, respectively, that can turn atmospheric nitrogen into plant-available forms. The edited versions boost the activity of a key gene involved in nitrogen fixation, making more of it available to plants. When applied at planting, the bacteria colonize plant roots, delivering the nutrient where it is needed most.

"The company claims that biologically-fixed nitrogen can potentially replace the equivalent of up to 40 pounds per acre of fertilizer nitrogen.

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"The analysis showed that, across all nitrogen fertilizer rates, the inoculant increased corn vegetative growth, nitrogen accumulation, kernel number, and yield by 2 bushels per acre on average. At the moderate nitrogen rates, yield was up by 4 bushels per acre. This was equivalent to 10-35 pounds of nitrogen per acre of fertilizer.

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"While the products as they are now cannot replace synthetic fertilizers, the research team thinks the technology shows promise and hopes it can be improved to deliver even greater benefits. Still, the products could be useful in certain applications today.

"'Every farm has areas of the field where the soil does not provide enough nitrogen or the fertilizer was lost or unavailable, so a microbial inoculant to provide a third source of nitrogen could help," Sible said. "Sometimes corn fields receive 'insurance nitrogen' where an extra 20 pounds is supplied in case it is a year prone to nitrogen loss. Perhaps a nitrogen-fixing inoculant can reduce the need for those extra 20 pounds, and this could have a large impact when summed across all Corn Belt acres.'"

Comment: careful work is answering the complaint of 'poisoning the soils'. It is a reasonable study, not a poisoning event. It is the answer to dhw's panic mode.