Phosphorus is a key component of fertilizers. But the raw material has a finite source, and we're squandering what's already there. How can we prevent a shortage — and what does our pee have to do with it?

#PlanetA #Agriculture #FertilizerShortage

Credits:
Reporter: Beina Xu
Video Editor: Nils Reinecke
Supervising Editors: Kiyo Dörrer, Michael Trobridge

We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.

Read more:

Morocco situation: https://vest-sahara.s3.amazonaws.com/...

National Geographic on Phosphorus Crisis: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/sc...

Wasting of Phosphorus by the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/a...

The New Yorker on Food Crisis:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

On Global Phosphorus Shortage:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146...

"Understanding Phosphorus Fertilizers" by University of Minnesota: https://extension.umn.edu/phosphorus-...

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:51 What is phosphorus?
02:21 Where do we get it from?
03:36 Where does it go?
05:04 Pee fertilizer
07:09 Microbial help
07:47 The road ahead