Phosphorus and Sustainability: Ingredients Needed for Life

Phosphorous is one of the six main chemical elements of life, along with carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. It forms the structural support backbone of DNA, connecting these molecules’ genetic bases in the familiar double helix. It is vital to both animal metabolism and plant photosynthesis because it is involved in the generation of life’s fundamental fuel: adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy that powers growth and movement. Phosphorus is also part of living architecture – it’s in the phospholipids that make up the cell walls, as well as the bones and teeth of vertebrates, and the exoskeletons of insects. Life as we know it literally cannot exist without phosphorus. However, indications are that phosphorus demand could outstrip supply this century if no fundamental changes are made to our current trajectory of use.