In 1898 Sir William Crookes, president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, stated "All England and all civilized nations stand in deadly peril of not having enough to eat".
At the time, the availability of reactive nitrogen species was known to be a limiting factor in the growth of crops. Fritz Haber responded to the food crisis in 1909 by inventing a process to convert atmospheric N2 into NH 3. Carl Bosch scaled the process up to an industrial level and, by 1913, the Haber-Bosch process was providing an unlimited supply of nitrogen fertilizer. Today, one third to one half of the world's population eats food that is fertilized using this process.
Unfortunately, the increase in reactive nitrogen generates increasing atmospheric concentrations of N2O, a significant greenhouse gas. Reactive nitrogen species also contribute to a variety of environmental problems, such as the destruction of the ozone layer and the eutrophication of lakes. In the years after its discovery, warring countries used the Haber-Bosch process to produce explosives, destroying many lives.
Question: Do you think the anthropogenic increase in reactive nitrogen since the invention of the Haber-Bosch process has been to humanity's overall benefit or detriment?