Haber-Borsch process

The Haber-Bosch Process is a process which converts nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia, NH3, developed by Fritz Haber around 1907. It's been useful to humans because it can be used in nitrogen-based fertilizers, which help increase the amount of crops grown and people that can be fed. It is used so widely that, according to the article, "humans are now likely responsible for fixing more nitrogen than all terrestrial ecosystems combined." Though being able to feed more people is a positive thing, the Haber-Borsch process has not had an overall beneficial impact on humans and the Earth.
The Haber-Borsch process actually allowed for a population boom that the Earth cannot support. Before this process was invented, the world population was at around 2 billion. The Earth reached one billion people in 1798 and doubled that in about 1898. From there, it began to increase much faster. Three billion people lived on Earth by 1968. Today, only 47 years later, the population has increased to 7 billion. The reason behind this is that the more people there are, the quicker it will take for that population to double. The article says that "population 'increases in a geometrical ratio.'" Geometric ratio means multiplying - therefore, the population will increase more rapidly as there are more people to reproduce. The article goes on to say that “subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.” Subsistence, the things we need to continue supporting us on the planet, will not continue to grow with us. Humans might grow more rapidly over time, but we will continue to produce the same amount of food. Resources would eventually run out over time.
This has to do with the T.F.R, total fertility rate, of places on Earth. The T.F.R  is about how many children a woman will have in her lifetime, which is different for every country. 2.1 is the rate at which the population would stay steady and not grow or decrease. In some places, such as China and Japan, this number is actually below 2.1. These countries have decreasing populations which would help solve the possible overpopulation issue coming, if it weren't for extremely high T.F.Rs of other countries. Many places in Africa, such as Niger and Somalia, have a T.F.R of over 5. More people will be added to the world than lost, despite the shrinking populations of other countries, because of this.
To get to a point where the world can sustain it's population, it's clear the number of people in the world cannot keep increasing at the rate which it currently is. There wouldn't be enough resources for everyone and it would be a worse future, including a possible worldwide famine. The Haber-Borsch process, while making it possible to feed more people, only created a population boom that there is no room for. Because of this, the Haber-Borsch process had an overall negative effect on the world.