This episode of Climate Emergency Forum explores how the Iran war has triggered a hidden global crisis in fertilizer and food security, far beyond the headlines about oil. Herb Simmens speaks with climate scientist Paul Beckwith and physician and climate analyst Peter Carter about how conflict in the Strait of Hormuz is blocking up to one‑third of the world’s nitrogen fertilizer supply, threatening harvests from Iowa and the Punjab to Ukraine and the Nile Delta.
This video was recorded on March 25th, 2026, and published on March 29th, 2026, and represents the opinions of the discussion participants.
Paul unpacks the central role of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and the Haber–Bosch process in feeding roughly half of humanity today, and shows how heavily the world relies on Middle Eastern petrochemical complexes for fertilizers and pesticides. The panel explains why this tightly coupled system is so fragile, how price spikes and shortages can ripple through global grain markets with dangerous time lags, and why wars in Iran and Ukraine are also massive, undercounted sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Looking ahead, Herb, Peter, and Paul discuss pathways to climate‑resilient agriculture: green and blue ammonia, organic and regenerative farming, and advanced research to help major cereal crops fix nitrogen directly from the air. They highlight concrete actions viewers can take, from supporting the U.S. Fertilizer Research Act to pushing foundations and governments to fund a “Manhattan Project” scale effort to move off fossil fuels and fossil‑based fertilizers—before cascading food and climate shocks become unmanageable.
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Dr. Peter Carter - MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute.
Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University.
Herb Simmens - Author, Co-founder of the Healthy Planet Action Coalition (HPAC), Climate Emergency Board Member and former college instructor.
Charles Gregoire - Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader
Heidi Brault - Climate Reality Leader, BA(Psychology), Library & Information Technician Diploma - Video production and website assistant - Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP Team Lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum.
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