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Mass Panic Over Energy, Yet We Give Up Our Food Security Without a Murmur

by Richard Eldred
22 August 2023 9:00 AM

The closure of Britain’s last Haber-Bosch plant, which produced ammonia vital for the creation of fertilisers and explosives, symbolises the country’s growing dependence on imports and the broader trend of deindustrialization, says Ed Conway in the Times. Here’s an excerpt:

What is the single most consequential invention in modern human history? It’s tempting to vote for the aircraft or the motorcar, or maybe the computer or the internet, but if you ask me it has to be the Haber-Bosch process. This complex chemical reaction, devised by Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch in the early 20th century, is not universally famous. Yet nearly half of us wouldn’t be alive without it.

Haber and Bosch, a German scientist and engineer, were the duo who worked out how to capture nitrogen from the air and turn it into ammonia – from which we make fertiliser (and explosives).

Nearly everything you eat will contain nitrogen made this way. Actually it gets wilder than that, because more or less half the nitrogen inside your body (and there’s quite a lot, not least in every strand of your DNA) is nitrogen from a Haber-Bosch plant.

The story of the past century, of a global population swelling to eight billion and beyond without running out of food, is the story of Haber-Bosch. Even if we gave over every acre of available land on this planet to agriculture, we could not grow enough food to keep us all alive without the nitrogen fertilisers made in Haber-Bosch plants. It’s hard to think of anything quite so important for our survival as a species.

Which is why the following piece of news should give us all pause for thought: Britain is shutting down its only remaining Haber-Bosch plant. This may come as a surprise — it hasn’t appeared in a single national newspaper report — but those who work in the business see it as a watershed moment. For the first time in a century this country will become entirely dependent on nitrogen fertiliser imported from abroad.

This has, in fairness, been a long time coming. The plant in question – a site in Billingham, Teesside, owned by the American firm CF Fertilisers – has been mothballed for a while. You need lots of hydrogen in those Haber-Bosch reactors, and the main way you get hydrogen is from natural gas; while gas prices have fallen since the invasion of Ukraine, they are nonetheless higher than they were a few years ago. Since nitrogen fertiliser is a natural gas product, CF has shifted production to America, where gas is more plentiful and cheap. …

Now in one sense it might hardly seem to matter whether we get our fertilisers from Billingham or those overseas plants. Moreover, since ammonia manufacture involves burning natural gas, the closure will actually help Britain reduce its carbon footprint. Some point out that we have become too reliant on synthetic ammonia to fertilise our crops – and they have a point. And while the Haber-Bosch units will be closed, other bits of the Billingham plant will go on, since we still need to process the ammonia arriving from America. Only 40 jobs will be lost.

Even so, it is a reminder that in an era when many countries are investing more in manufacturing and thinking harder about where they get stuff from, Britain is still deindustrialising, becoming more reliant on imports from overseas, more exposed if things suddenly run short.

Worth reading in full.

Tags: AmmoniaBillinghamBritainDeindustrialisationHaber-BoschNitrogen fertiliser

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42 Comments
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huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago

Well I never.

FFS!

47
0
crisisgarden
crisisgarden
2 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

What face masks don’t cause anywhere near enough of is embarrassment for the wearer.

55
0
Hugh
Hugh
2 years ago

“Most of the plastics used in daily life shed toxic chemicals when they are heated or stored for prolonged periods of time. Once they have been released, humans consume them through breathing, eating and drinking, as well as through skin absorption.” (From plasticoceans.org ).

Very hard to avoid all plastics of course, but masking sounds like a very good way to ensure you ingest plenty of those toxic chemicals. Like I say, a filthy habit and dreadful for the environment.

54
0
Ember von Drake-Dale 22
Ember von Drake-Dale 22
2 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

Friend of mine is a nurse – he opened a new box of masks one day and offered me one – I refused but I took the box to examine one – before handing them back to him I took a sniff of the newly opened box of masks and it smelled of chemicals.

Glad I stuck with my exemption card instead.

33
-1
Victoria
Victoria
2 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

ingest plenty of those toxic chemicals

FGLWxQFVUAAJUD2.jpeg
4
0
Hopeless - "TN,BN"
Hopeless - "TN,BN"
2 years ago

Perhaps it was the same study, but I recall seeing a report about masks shedding inhalable plastic particles some weeks or months ago.

Apart from the detrimental effects on wearers’ health, there is little comment from the eco-warriors, regarding the tons of discarded masks now polluting land and sea.

35
-1
A Heretic
A Heretic
2 years ago
Reply to  Hopeless - "TN,BN"

Indeed, they won’t let us have straws that work because “reasons” but there’s no issues with mountains of spit and snot riddled nappies.

24
0
Victoria
Victoria
2 years ago
Reply to  Hopeless - "TN,BN"

tons of discarded masks now polluting land and sea.

Masks on beach.jpeg
2
0
Smelly Melly
Smelly Melly
2 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

I wonder how may of those useless plastic LFTs have been dumped into the sea?

3
0
John Dee
John Dee
2 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

The crabs must be wondering what incommunicative alien species has invaded their locale.

3
0
John Dee
John Dee
2 years ago
Reply to  Hopeless - "TN,BN"

I believe that problem gets filed under ‘Yes, but, no, but, yes, but…’

1
0
Ember von Drake-Dale 22
Ember von Drake-Dale 22
2 years ago

I recall reading reports over a year ago (from Canadian research I believe) about microscopic mask fibers being breathed into the lungs and possibly leading to some quite nasty health conditions and diseases which is another reason why I refused to wear one. These masks were only ever meant to be used briefly and then disposed of – I know of people who were wearing their mask all day long and usually the same one over and over again.

34
-1
Fingerache Philip
Fingerache Philip
2 years ago
Reply to  Ember von Drake-Dale 22

A dirty, filthy habit.

21
0
John Dee
John Dee
2 years ago
Reply to  Fingerache Philip

A strange lapse in our otherwise pristine and antiseptic present.

2
0
DanClarke
DanClarke
2 years ago

I would hate that job, the researcher who flushes out people’s nostrils

7
0
John Dee
John Dee
2 years ago
Reply to  DanClarke

Sounds like a job for Kenny Everett’s ‘Sid Snot’ character.

2
0
mishmash
mishmash
2 years ago

And they updated the Covid symptoms list to include hayfever-like symptoms last year.
But the virus is real…
Pathetic.

Last edited 2 years ago by mishmash
20
0
JohnK
JohnK
2 years ago
Reply to  mishmash

Someone may well have said that, but what was expressed last year was that it could be that pollen allergy might actually reduce the risk of respiratory infection. That was on the idea that there is only so much surface area in one’s nostrils etc, and the cells that are allergically reacting to various things – such as viruses – would not be available to other compounds at the same time.

2
0
John Dee
John Dee
2 years ago
Reply to  mishmash

A tennis friend of mine is just getting over his second bout of covid. Very fit man, but thoroughly vaxxed. I’ve begun to conclude that the vaxxes and/or the virus do something to the logical faculties.

2
0
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
2 years ago

So THAT’S why I never wore one! Knew there must be a reason.

14
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  Marcus Aurelius knew

I refused the damn things because I refuse to pay attention to an illegal government AND, I’m not prepared to look like a Next Tuesday

4
0
epythymy
epythymy
2 years ago

Recently my mask seemingly irritated a nerve and for three days it felt like I had a hair on the end of my nose. Ridiculous. Can’t wait to be rid of the thing (healthcare).

6
0
David Beaton
David Beaton
2 years ago

The pathetic state of our society and our deliberately broken relationship with our own health is evidenced by the fact that the plebs need “a Doctor” to tell them this ( in a White Coat of course – see Milgram).

10
0
Beowulf
Beowulf
2 years ago

“The masks, which are the gold standard for blocking Covid particles…”

That would be fool’s gold then would it?

20
0
Doom Slayer
Doom Slayer
2 years ago
Reply to  Beowulf

I mean who the f*** would write that, and it get through editorial. They are just trolling us.

10
0
John Dee
John Dee
2 years ago
Reply to  Beowulf

The ‘gold standard’, surely, would be lips sewn together, nostrils blocked by silicone sealant, with top quality goggles protecting the eyes and earbuds protecting the lugholes. That’s the affordable version, for those who can’t afford access to a decompression chamber.

2
0
Epi
Epi
2 years ago

Suggest you all read (if you haven’t already) Hector Drummond’s The Mask Cult. Explains the nonsense perfectly and in great detail.

Last edited 2 years ago by Epi
10
0
JXB
JXB
2 years ago

‘The masks, which are the gold standard for blocking Covid particles…’

Ha, haaa, haaaa… Fools’ gold.

There is no such thing as a CoVid particle – that’s like saying a Common Cold particle.

CoVid is a disease which in fact shares the same symptoms as other respiratory virus infections.

Words, definitions matter… but not to lazy ignoramuses in the MSM.

12
0
Victoria
Victoria
2 years ago
Reply to  JXB

Ha, haaa, haaaa… Fools’ gold.

MaskMoz.JPG
3
0
John Dee
John Dee
2 years ago
Reply to  JXB

Or ingnorami, as Julius Caesar might have put it.

1
0
JXB
JXB
2 years ago

Speaking of hay-fever… if masks can stop virus particles, they must be able to stop the much, much bigger pollen particles.

So why don’t hay-fever sufferers wear masks? Could it be they are not effective at stopping even large particles?

16
0
Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
2 years ago

As normal human beings we don’t usually go around totting up numbers but our masters do. It is all metrics to them. They can’t possibly win but they can do a lot of damage as they collapse. We need to keep the number as low as possible.

2
0
Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
2 years ago

They longed for mass masking. Way beyond any diease threat it was the subervience and obedience. We must never allow it to happen again regardless of the threat.

10
0
Alan M
Alan M
2 years ago

My experience exactly – long bouts of sneezing. I just exempted myself and if anyone insisted I wear one, I would explain what would happen and say “your call”. They always accepted my argument.

3
0
chris-ds
chris-ds
2 years ago

I’ve barely worn a mask yet I’m sneezing and have an itchy nose.

I assumed if was gay fever as it got really bad when I cut the fir tree hedge and people walking past where sneezing and coughing.

2
0
rockoman
rockoman
2 years ago
Reply to  chris-ds

gay fever?

Is that another name for monkeypox?

3
0
Bill Hickling
Bill Hickling
2 years ago

Face masks also cause paranoia that results in prolongation of public fear!

7
0
Martin Sewell
Martin Sewell
2 years ago

This is the paper:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.waojou.2020.100474

0
0

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