Nitrogen. It makes up three-fourths of the air all around us. It cascades through our environment between land, water and the atmosphere. It is critical to agricultural production that feeds the world. And it is a byproduct of all the fossil fuels we consume.

In the United States, we put five times more nitrogen into the environment than is deposited or released naturally. That excess nitrogen causes a variety of environmental and health problems – pollution of ground and surface waters, smog, increased emissions of greenhouse gases.

It is an issue that the National Academy of Engineering has called one of the “grand challenges” facing this country in the 21st Century.

On Oct. 4, 2012, the Freshwater Society and the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences will present an important lecture on that challenge by Purdue University professor Otto Doering.

Dr. Doering is a professor of agricultural economics and director of Purdue's Climate Change Research Center.

Dr. Doering led a team of scientists that last year produced a major report on the nitrogen problem for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board. The report is titled "Reactive Nitrogen in the United States: An Analysis of Inputs, Flows, Consequences, and Management Options."

Join us to learn about this important issue of excess nitrogen.

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