What three chemical elements have to do with colonialism, climate and world food supply.
We cannot live without nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Not humans, not animals, not plants – no one on Earth. We owe everything to these three elements (along with a few others): breathing, walking, thinking. And eating. Above all, eating. As the main components of all fertilisers, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium – N, P and K – ensure the world's food supply. Without them, we would not be able to feed ourselves.
But these three elements bring not only nourishment and prosperity, but also destruction. Through their ruthless exploitation, and above all through our excessive consumption, we have turned vital nutrients into pollutants: as a result, lakes are becoming unbalanced, seas are dying, and forests and moors are losing their biodiversity. Groundwater, climate, ecosystems – they are all under threat. And so are we.
These three elements therefore pose existential questions: Can we feed humanity without destroying its basis for existence? And even more fundamentally: How do we want to live as humans on this planet? How do we want to manage our shared resources?
Director: Kerstin Hoppenhaus, co-writer and camera: Kerstin Grunze
THURN FILM, an independent production company for documentary films,
was founded in 2003 by Valentin Thurn.
