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#phosphate

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"To help meet the cost of moving about 10,000 residents from low-lying homes menaced by rising sea levels and floods, the remote Pacific Ocean nation of #Nauru aims to sell citizenships for the #climate-threatened island.

President Adeang is seeking to raise an initial $65 million for work to transform the barren interior — left as an uninhabitable moonscape by decades of #phosphate mining — with a project to ultimately develop a new township, farms and workplaces."

finance.yahoo.com/news/tiny-is

Yahoo Finance · A Tiny Island Nation Is Selling Passports to Beat Climate ChangeBy Chanyaporn Chanjaroen, Ishika Mookerjee and Bernadette Toh

UK scientist wins prize for invention that could help avert ‘phosphogeddon’

Phosphate, key to food production, is choking waterways, but a new sponge-like material returns it to the soil for crops

theguardian.com/science/2025/f

The Guardian · UK scientist wins prize for invention that could help avert ‘phosphogeddon’By Robin McKie

Qu’il soit blanc, aux graines, complet ou bio, le pain est la star de nos repas. Mais tous, sans exception, contiennent des traces de cadmium : un métal lourd utilisé dans l’industrie.

« Pain, fruits, légumes : révélations sur un nouveau scandale alimentaire »
📺 #zoneinterdite en streaming sur M6+

m6.fr/zone-interdite-p_845/pai

It boggles the mind that #Nauru isn't learning from past mistakes. Also, 10,000 people, who will barely profit from #DeepSeaMining, are buying the hype while #DeepGreen and #GerardBarron disrupts #DeepSeaLife, possibly permanently! Not good...

"#Australia, #NewZealand and #Britain had nearly exhausted the viable deposits of #phosphate by 1968 when Australia granted Nauru sovereignty, leaving behind one of the world’s worst #environmental #disasters."

#Corruption, incompetence and a musical: Nauru’s cursed history

The once-wealthy island now barely survives on income from Australia’s #detention regime and is pinning its economic hopes on #UnderseaMining

Anne Davies and Ben Doherty
Mon 3 Sep 2018

"During the 1990s it transformed into a money-laundering haven selling banking licences and passports, including diplomatic passports, which confer immunity. Customers included the Russian mafia and al-Qaida."
amp.theguardian.com/world/2018

The Guardian · Corruption, incompetence and a musical: Nauru's cursed historyBy Anne Davies

#Portfolio | En Tunisie, le paradoxe du phosphate

Le #phosphate est essentiel pour la fabrication d’engrais. Sa présence est concentrée dans quelques pays, dont la #Tunisie. Avec des prix d’exportation record en 2023, le président Kaïs Saïed a promis de relancer la production des phosphates tunisiens. Mais son extraction, au cœur des luttes sociales du bassin minier de Gafsa depuis l’époque de Ben Ali, n’est pas sans conséquences.

mediapart.fr/studio/portfolios

I remember this story from last year...

#Pathogen’ Storm: #VibrioBacteria, #Sargassum and #Plastic Marine Debris

By gisele galoustian | 5/18/2023

"A new study uncovers how the interplay between Sargassum spp., plastic marine debris and Vibrio bacteria creates the perfect 'pathogen' storm that has implications for both marine life and public health. Vibrio bacteria are found in waters around the world and are the dominant cause of death in humans from the marine environment. For example, Vibrio vulnificus, one of more than 100 species of Vibrio, sometimes referred to as flesh-eating bacteria, can cause life-threatening foodborne illnesses from #seafood consumption as well as disease and death from open #wound infections.

"Since 2011, Sargassum, free-living populations of brown macroalga, have been rapidly expanding in the #SargassoSea and other parts of the open ocean such as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, including frequent and unprecedented seaweed accumulation events on beaches. Plastic marine debris, first found in surface waters of the Sargasso Sea, has become a worldwide concern, and is known to persist decades longer than natural substrates in the marine environment.

"Currently, little is known about the ecological relationship of vibrios with Sargassum. Moreover, genomic and metagenomic evidence has been lacking as to whether vibrios colonizing plastic marine debris and Sargassum could potentially infect humans. As summer kicks into high gear and efforts are underway to find innovative solutions to repurpose Sargassum, could these substrates pose a triple threat to public health?

"Researchers from Florida Atlantic University and collaborators fully sequenced the genomes of 16 Vibrio cultivars isolated from eel larvae, plastic marine debris, Sargassum, and seawater samples collected from the Caribbean and Sargasso seas of the North Atlantic Ocean. What they discovered is Vibrio pathogens have the unique ability to 'stick' to microplastics and that these microbes might just be adapting to plastic.

“'Plastic is a new element that’s been introduced into marine environments and has only been around for about 50 years,' said Tracy Mincer, Ph.D., corresponding lead author and an assistant professor of biology at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College. 'Our lab work showed that these Vibrio are extremely aggressive and can seek out and stick to plastic within minutes. We also found that there are attachment factors that microbes use to stick to plastics, and it is the same kind of mechanism that pathogens use.'

"The study, published in the journal Water Research , illustrates that open ocean vibrios represent an up to now undescribed group of microbes, some representing potential new species, possessing a blend of pathogenic and low nutrient acquisition genes, reflecting their pelagic habitat and the substrates and hosts they colonize. Utilizing metagenome-assembled genome (MAG), this study represents the first Vibrio spp. genome assembled from plastic debris.

"The study highlighted vertebrate pathogen genes closely related to cholera and non-cholera bacterial strains. Phenotype testing of cultivars confirmed rapid biofilm formation, hemolytic and lipophospholytic activities, consistent with pathogenic potential.

"Researchers also discovered that zonula occludens toxin or 'zot' genes, first described in Vibrio cholerae, which is a secreted toxin that increases intestinal permeability, were some of the most highly retained and selected genes in the vibrios they found. These vibrios appear to be getting in through the gut, getting stuck in the intestines and infecting that way.

"'Another interesting thing we discovered is a set of genes called ‘zot’ genes, which causes leaky gut syndrome,' said Mincer. 'For instance, if a fish eats a piece of plastic and gets infected by this Vibrio, which then results in a #LeakyGut and diarrhea, it’s going to release waste nutrients such #nitrogen and #phosphate that could stimulate Sargassum growth and other surrounding organisms.'

"Findings show some Vibrio spp. in this environment have an ‘omnivorous’ lifestyle targeting both plant and animal hosts in combination with an ability to persist in oligotrophic conditions. With increased human-Sargassum-plastic marine debris interactions, associated microbial flora of these substrates could harbor potent opportunistic pathogens. Importantly, some cultivation-based data show beached Sargassum appear to harbor high amounts of Vibrio bacteria.

"'I don’t think at this point, anyone has really considered these microbes and their capability to cause infections,' said Mincer. 'We really want to make the public aware of these associated risks. In particular, caution should be exercised regarding the harvest and processing of Sargassum biomass until the risks are explored more thoroughly.'"

fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/perf

#WaterIsLife #Microplastics #PlasticPollution #Anticonsumerism #Degrowth
#PlasticAlternatives #CleanUpYourMess #BigCorporations #Consumerism #Advertising

www.fau.edu‘Pathogen’ Storm: Vibrio Bacteria, Sargassum and Plastic Marine DebrisAs summer kicks off and efforts are underway to find solutions to repurpose Sargassum, could the interplay between this seaweed, Vibrio bacteria and plastic marine debris pose a triple threat to public health?

Shallow #SodaLakes show promise as cradles of life on Earth phys.org/news/2024-01-shallow-

Biogeochemical explanations for the world’s most phosphate-rich lake, an origin-of-life analog nature.com/articles/s43247-023

"You have this seemingly dry salt flat, but there are nooks and crannies. And between the salt and the sediment there are little pockets of water that are really high in dissolved #phosphate. When could this happen on the #AncientEarth, in order to provide a cradle for the #OriginOfLife?"

“Most #phosphorus comes from non-renewable #phosphate rock and it cannot be synthesized artificially. All farmers therefore need access to it, but 85% of the world’s remaining high-grade phosphate rock is concentrated in just five countries (some of which are “geopolitically complex”): Morocco, China, Egypt, Algeria and South Africa. 70% is found in Morocco alone.”
theconversation.com/phosphorus

The ConversationPhosphorus supply is increasingly disrupted – we are sleepwalking into a global food crisisThis crucial fertiliser component is mostly found in just five countries.
Replied in thread

A #LFP #battery is a #steel can containing primarily (A) #graphite (synthetic or natural), and (B) #iron #phosphate (which is basically fertilizer). The next largest component is #electrolyte, primarily organic carbonates (a #petrochemical #solvent - on the lower toxicity end as far as solvents go). Next most common are the metal foils (#alumium and #copper). Next is the (#plastic) separator membrane.

In tiny quantities at the bottom of the list? Electrolyte additives and the #lithium itself.