Dutch Farmers Emit Nitrogen

oh no!

As we know the Dutch government is taking action to reduce the nitrogen pollution from Dutch farms. The latest news is compulsory purchase of 3,000 farms.

Nitrogen pollution? But the Earth’s atmosphere is already 78 percent nitrogen.

Oh I see. We are not talking about nitrogen, per se. The problem is the emission of ammonia (NH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Especially from cattle. See La Wik.

Wow. I bet ammonia and nitrous oxide are even worse than the CO2 concentration at over 400 parts per million!

Let’s go ask NASA about the atmosphere. NASA says:

Nitrogen: 78%
Oxygen: 21%
Argon: 0.9%
Remainder: 0.043%

Wow! But what is the remainder composed of? NASA says:

A brew of trace gases accounts for the other approximately 0.04 percent, including the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.

That 0.04 percent is actually 433.8 parts per million:

Carbon dioxide: 407 ppm
Neon: 18 ppm
Helium: 5 ppm
Methane: 1.8 ppm
Hydrogen: 0.55 ppm

Wot? So we are whacking those Dutch farmers over the head for a gas that is 0.00018% of the Earth’s atmosphere?

Yes, but, according to La Wik, methane was constant at about 500 parts per billion (ppb) for 800,000 years. And then:

Global methane concentrations rose from 722 parts per billion (ppb) in pre-industrial times to 1895 ppb by 2021.

Oh no!

I know. Let’s express all this information in parts per billion, or ppb.

Nitrogen: 780,840,000 ppb
Oxygen: 209,460,000 ppb
Argon: 93,400,000 ppb
Carbon dioxide: 407,000 ppb
Neon: 18,180 ppb
Helium: 5,240 ppb
Methane: 1,800 ppb
Hydrogen: 550 ppb

Are all these numbers confusing you? That, of course, is the whole point. I know. Let’s go back and express everything in percent (%)

Nitrogen: 78.084 %
Oxygen: 20.946 %
Argon: 0.934 %
Carbon dioxide: 0.0407 %
Neon: 0.001818 %
Helium: 0.000524 %
Methane: 0.00018 %
Hydrogen: 0.000055 %

And you are telling me that a trace gas — 0.00018% of the atmosphere — emitted by Dutch farmers and others that are helping to feed 8 billion humans in this world — as opposed to 0.5 billion in 1600 — is ending life on this Earth as we know it?

Hey, pal. I gotta bridge to sell you.