Found this book to be interesting on a few different levels.
The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance
If a Nomad were only to read the first chapter he or she may think twice before jumping into a lake, pond, or stream that isn't inspected for pubic bathing. There is a blue-green algae that could literally eat the skin off your body as it is so laden with phosphorus. Some who have walked the beaches by the oceans have picked up items that looked like ancient coins or curious looking small rocks and put them in their pockets have met with a horrible fate. These were a type of phosphorus that needed eighty five degrees (less than body heat) to cause their ignition.
Phosphorus is a vital element to just about every living thing and the environment in which we live. In recent decades it has become vital in the production of the food we eat and fortunes have been made by those who mine it in various places around the world. Early alchemist realized it's value and spent years trying to synthesize it.
Today it is readily abundant and is so overused it is beginning to pose threats that before were unrealized. This is the crux of the book but the story details phosphorus from the time it's value was first realized to today's times. Following chapters are a collection of interesting stories that chronicle how early global commerce had phosphorus as a pillar of their trade.
As far as we know, this is a finite resource. We may have to mine the ocean floor or build mines on Mars someday just to continue as we have been living.
In reading this I began to wonder that if we run out of this resource, would it be the end of us.
This story about phosphorus reminds me of that 1 Thessalonians 5:2" quote "For you yourselves are fully aware that the Day of our Lord will come like a thief in the night". (myself....I still think it will be a black hole that pops up out of nowhere) But running out of phosphorus could be a close second.
www.latimes.com
