School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA.
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2012 Dec;23(6):833-8. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2012.03.001. Epub 2012 Mar 30.
Phosphorus is a chemical element that is essential to life because of its role in numerous key molecules, including DNA and RNA; indeed, organisms require large amounts of P to grow rapidly. However, the supply of P from the environment is often limiting to production, including to crops. Thus, large amounts of P are mined annually to produce fertilizer that is applied in support of the 'Green Revolution.' However, much of this fertilizer eventually ends up in rivers, lakes and oceans where it causes costly eutrophication. Furthermore, given increasing human population, expanding meat consumption, and proliferating bioenergy pressures, concerns have recently been raised about the long-term geological, economic, and geopolitical viability of mined P for fertilizer production. Together, these issues highlight the non-sustainable nature of current human P use. To achieve P sustainability, farms need to become more efficient in how they use P while society as a whole must develop technologies and practices to recycle P from the food chain. Such large-scale changes will probably require a radical restructuring of the entire food system, highlighting the need for prompt but sustained action.
磷是一种对生命至关重要的化学元素，因为它在许多关键分子中发挥作用，包括 DNA 和 RNA；事实上，生物体需要大量的磷才能快速生长。然而，环境中磷的供应常常限制了生产，包括作物的生产。因此，每年都要开采大量的磷来生产化肥，以支持“绿色革命”。然而，其中许多化肥最终最终流入河流、湖泊和海洋，导致代价高昂的富营养化。此外，考虑到人口不断增加、肉类消费不断扩大以及生物能源压力不断增加，人们最近对用于化肥生产的开采磷的长期地质、经济和地缘政治可行性表示担忧。这些问题共同凸显了当前人类磷利用的不可持续性。为了实现磷的可持续性，农场需要提高其利用磷的效率，而整个社会必须开发从食物链中回收磷的技术和实践。这种大规模的转变可能需要对整个食品系统进行彻底的重构，凸显了需要迅速而持续的行动。
