James N Galloway
Biographic Data
| ID | 6015083 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James N Galloway |
| GIVEN NAMES | James N |
| FAMILY NAME | Galloway |
| SIGNATURE | GALLOWAY J N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Virginia |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7676-8698 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 47 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 125 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 47 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Focus on environmental footprint tools for sustainability: An overview of contributions
The Danish nitrogen footprint: Balancing regulation with individual environmental responsibility
Anthropogenic production of reactive nitrogen (N r ) amplifies the negative impact of excess N r on the environment, causing harm to both ecosystems and human health. N-footprint tools offer a valuable method for predicting N r emissions, helping to identify leakage points across the entire production chain, from farm to plate. This study estimates the N-footprint of an average Danish individual based on population-based consumption patterns. The…
The nitrogen footprint of Ukraine: Why personal consumption matters
Unintended reactive nitrogen (N) losses from agriculture, energy and transportation pose significant environmental hazards, including eutrophication, acidification, water and air pollution, biodiversity loss, human health risks and climate change. The concept of a nitrogen footprint (NF) emerges as a pivotal metric, reflecting potential N losses in the entire production-consumption chain of goods and services used by an individual within a define…
Footprint tools tiptoeing towards nitrogen sustainability
As we face multiple environmental crises (e.g. climate change, nutrient pollution, freshwater scarcity), there is often a disconnect between an entity’s activities and the pollution resulting from that activity. Footprint tools help address this disconnect. They are effective in educating people, institutions and communities on how their resource use results in environmental pollution and what we can do to moderate that pollution. These tools con…
Improving the social cost of nitrous oxide
Identifying and assessing effectiveness of alternative low-effort nitrogen footprint reductions in small research institutions
Concern over the ecological damage of excess nitrogen has brought increased attention to the role of research institutions and universities in contributing to this problem. Institutions often utilize the concept of the ecological ‘footprint’ to quantify and track nitrogen emissions resulting from their activities and guide plans and commitments to reduce emissions. Often, large-scale changes and commitments to reduce nitrogen footprints are not f…
Reflections on 200 years of Nitrogen, 20 years later: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Eutrophication
The U.S. consumer phosphorus footprint: Where do nitrogen and phosphorus diverge
Phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) are essential nutrients for food production but their excess use in agriculture can have major social costs, particularly related to water quality degradation. Nutrient footprint approaches estimate N and P release to the environment through food production and waste management and enable linking these emissions to particular consumption patterns. Following an established method for quantifying a consumer-oriented …
The nitrogen footprint of organic food in the United States
We estimated the reactive nitrogen (Nr) lost per unit food Nr consumed for organic food production in the United States and compared it to conventional production. We used a nitrogen footprint model approach, which accounts for both differences in Nr losses as well as differences in productivity of the two systems. Additionally, we quantified the types of Nr inputs (new versus recycled) that are used in both production systems. We estimated Nr lo…
A community nitrogen footprint analysis of Baltimore City, Maryland
The nitrogen footprint tool (NFT) provides a novel way for communities to understand the environmental impacts of their collective activities and consumption. Reactive nitrogen (Nr; all N species except N 2 ) is created by the Haber–Bosch process for food production and as a by-product of fossil fuel combustion and two natural processes, biological nitrogen fixation and lightning. While it is a vital input for food production, too much Nr has a n…
Why future nitrogen research needs the social sciences
Nitrogen management is on the cusp of becoming a major global policy issue — the international community is gradually acknowledging that the feasibility of an array of environmental, health and food security goals hinges on how humanity manages nitrogen as a resource and a pollutant over the coming decades. As a result, the nitrogen research agenda should expand to consider more policy-relevant questions, such as the power dynamics of the broader…
I'll try the veggie burger”: Increasing purchases of sustainable foods with information about sustainability and taste
Air pollution success stories in the United States: The value of long-term observations
We summarize past examples of the use of science to document the effectiveness of policy in air quality management. Our goal is to inform public discourse amidst attempts to negate the relevance and value of scientific data and fact-based analysis in favor of partisan opinion and ideology. Although air quality is fundamental to environmental and human health, air pollution has degraded natural systems and reduced economic and cultural benefits an…
Reactive nitrogen spatial intensity (NrSI): A new indicator for environmental sustainability
How China’s nitrogen footprint of food has changed from 1961 to 2010
People have increased the amount of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in the environment as a result of food production methods and consumption choices. However, the connection between dietary choices and environmental impacts over time has not yet been studied in China. Here we combine a nitrogen footprint tool, the N-Calculator, with a food chain model, NUFER (NUtrient flows in Food chains, Environment and Resources use), to analyze the N footprint of foo…
Toward a nitrogen footprint calculator for Tanzania
We present the first nitrogen footprint model for a developing country: Tanzania. Nitrogen (N) is\na crucial element for agriculture and human nutrition, but in excess it can cause serious\nenvironmental damage. The Sub-Saharan African nation of Tanzania faces a two-sided nitrogen\nproblem: while there is not enough soil nitrogen to produce adequate food, excess nitrogen that\nescapes into the environment causes a cascade of ecological and human …
Nitrogen footprints: Regional realities and options to reduce nitrogen loss to the environment
Nitrogen (N) management presents a sustainability dilemma: N is strongly linked to energy and food production, but excess reactive N causes environmental pollution. The N footprint is an indicator that quantifies reactive N losses to the environment from consumption and production of food and the use of energy. The average per capita N footprint (calculated using the N-Calculator methodology) of ten countries varies from 15 to 47 kg N capita−1 ye…
Managing a forgotten greenhouse gas under existing U.S. law: An interdisciplinary analysis
Meeting future food demand with current agricultural resources
Reducing China’s fertilizer use by increasing farm size
Environmental impact food labels combining carbon, nitrogen, and water footprints
Food and feed trade as a driver in the global nitrogen cycle: 50-Year Trends
Nitrogen footprints: Past, present and future
The human alteration of the N cycle has evolved from minimal in the mid-19th century, to extensive in the present time. The consequences on human and environment health are significant. While much attention has been given to the extent and impacts of the alteration, little attention has been given to those entities (i.e., consumers, institutions) that use the resources that result in extensive reactive nitrogen (Nr) creation. This paper reviews a…
First approach to the Japanese nitrogen footprint model to predict the loss of nitrogen to the environment
Humans increase the amount of reactive nitrogen (all N species except N-2) in the environment through a number of processes, primarily food and energy production. Once in the environment, excess reactive nitrogen may cause a host of various environmental problems. Understanding and controlling individual nitrogen footprints is important for preserving environmental and human health. In this paper we present the per capita nitrogen footprint of Ja…
Changes in wet nitrogen deposition in the United States between 1985 and 2012
The United States (US) is among the global hotspots of nitrogen (N) deposition and assessing the temporal trends of wet N deposition is relevant to quantify the effectiveness of existing N regulation policies and its consequent environmental effects. This study analyzed changes in observed wet deposition of dissolved inorganic N (DIN = ammonium + nitrate) in the US between 1985 and 2012 by applying a Mann–Kendall test and Regional Kendall test. C…
Reactive Nitrogen and The World: 200 Years of Change
This paper examines the impact of food and energy production on the global N cycle by contrasting N flows in the late-19th century with those of the late-20th century. We have a good understanding of the amounts of reactive N created by humans, and the primary points of loss to the environment. However, we have a poor understanding of nitrogen's rate of accumulation in environmental reservoirs, which is problematic because of the cascading effect…
Meeting future food demand with current agricultural resources
Environmental impact food labels combining carbon, nitrogen, and water footprints
Reducing China’s fertilizer use by increasing farm size
International Trade in Meat: The Tip of the Pork Chop
This paper provides an original account of global land, water, and nitrogen use in support of industrialized livestock production and trade, with emphasis on two of the fastest-growing sectors, pork and poultry. Our analysis focuses on trade in feed and animal products, using a new model that calculates the amount of "virtual" nitrogen, water, and land used in production but not embedded in the product. We show how key meat-importing countries, s…
I'll try the veggie burger”: Increasing purchases of sustainable foods with information about sustainability and taste
The nitrogen footprint of food products and general consumption patterns in Austria
Reactive nitrogen in the environment and its effect on climate change
Nitrogen Use in the United States from 1961–2000 and Potential Future Trends
Nitrogen inputs to the US from human activity doubled between 1961 and 1997, with most of the increase in the 1960s and 1970s. The largest increase was in use of inorganic N fertilizer, but emissions of NOx from fossil-fuel combustion also increased substantially. In 1961, N fixation in agricultural systems was the largest single source of reactive N in the US. By 1997, even though N fixation had increased, fertilizer use and NOx emissions had in…
Reactive Nitrogen: Too Much of a Good Thing
Reflections on 200 years of Nitrogen, 20 years later: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Eutrophication
Managing a forgotten greenhouse gas under existing U.S. law: An interdisciplinary analysis
Air pollution success stories in the United States: The value of long-term observations
We summarize past examples of the use of science to document the effectiveness of policy in air quality management. Our goal is to inform public discourse amidst attempts to negate the relevance and value of scientific data and fact-based analysis in favor of partisan opinion and ideology. Although air quality is fundamental to environmental and human health, air pollution has degraded natural systems and reduced economic and cultural benefits an…
Why future nitrogen research needs the social sciences
Nitrogen management is on the cusp of becoming a major global policy issue — the international community is gradually acknowledging that the feasibility of an array of environmental, health and food security goals hinges on how humanity manages nitrogen as a resource and a pollutant over the coming decades. As a result, the nitrogen research agenda should expand to consider more policy-relevant questions, such as the power dynamics of the broader…
Reactive nitrogen spatial intensity (NrSI): A new indicator for environmental sustainability
Nitrogen footprints: Regional realities and options to reduce nitrogen loss to the environment
Nitrogen (N) management presents a sustainability dilemma: N is strongly linked to energy and food production, but excess reactive N causes environmental pollution. The N footprint is an indicator that quantifies reactive N losses to the environment from consumption and production of food and the use of energy. The average per capita N footprint (calculated using the N-Calculator methodology) of ten countries varies from 15 to 47 kg N capita−1 ye…
Reactive Nitrogen
Reactive Nitrogen: Too Much of a Good Thing
Nitrogen Use in the United States from 1961–2000 and Potential Future Trends
Nitrogen inputs to the US from human activity doubled between 1961 and 1997, with most of the increase in the 1960s and 1970s. The largest increase was in use of inorganic N fertilizer, but emissions of NOx from fossil-fuel combustion also increased substantially. In 1961, N fixation in agricultural systems was the largest single source of reactive N in the US. By 1997, even though N fixation had increased, fertilizer use and NOx emissions had in…
Reactive Nitrogen
Reactive Nitrogen and The World: 200 Years of Change
This paper examines the impact of food and energy production on the global N cycle by contrasting N flows in the late-19th century with those of the late-20th century. We have a good understanding of the amounts of reactive N created by humans, and the primary points of loss to the environment. However, we have a poor understanding of nitrogen's rate of accumulation in environmental reservoirs, which is problematic because of the cascading effect…
Nitrogen Use in the United States from 1961–2000 and Potential Future Trends
Nitrogen inputs to the US from human activity doubled between 1961 and 1997, with most of the increase in the 1960s and 1970s. The largest increase was in use of inorganic N fertilizer, but emissions of NOx from fossil-fuel combustion also increased substantially. In 1961, N fixation in agricultural systems was the largest single source of reactive N in the US. By 1997, even though N fixation had increased, fertilizer use and NOx emissions had in…
Reactive Nitrogen
Reactive Nitrogen: Too Much of a Good Thing
Response to the Comment by Artur Granstedt
Reactive Nitrogen and The World: 200 Years of Change
This paper examines the impact of food and energy production on the global N cycle by contrasting N flows in the late-19th century with those of the late-20th century. We have a good understanding of the amounts of reactive N created by humans, and the primary points of loss to the environment. However, we have a poor understanding of nitrogen's rate of accumulation in environmental reservoirs, which is problematic because of the cascading effect…
The Nitrogen Cascade
Human production of food and energy is the dominant continental process that breaks the triple bond in molecular nitrogen (N 2 ) and creates reactive nitrogen (Nr) species. Circulation of anthropogenic Nr in Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere has a wide variety of consequences, which are magnified with time as Nr moves along its biogeochemical pathway. The same atom of Nr can cause multiple effects in the atmosphere, in terrestrial ec…
Nitrogen Cycles: Past, Present, and Future
International Trade in Meat: The Tip of the Pork Chop
This paper provides an original account of global land, water, and nitrogen use in support of industrialized livestock production and trade, with emphasis on two of the fastest-growing sectors, pork and poultry. Our analysis focuses on trade in feed and animal products, using a new model that calculates the amount of "virtual" nitrogen, water, and land used in production but not embedded in the product. We show how key meat-importing countries, s…
An Earth-system perspective of the global nitrogen cycle
How a century of ammonia synthesis changed the world
Transformation of the Nitrogen Cycle: Recent Trends, Questions, and Potential Solutions
Humans continue to transform the global nitrogen cycle at a record pace, reflecting an increased combustion of fossil fuels, growing demand for nitrogen in agriculture and industry, and pervasive inefficiencies in its use. Much anthropogenic nitrogen is lost to air, water, and land to cause a cascade of environmental and human health problems. Simultaneously, food production in some parts of the world is nitrogen-deficient, highlighting inequitie…
Global Biodiversity: Indicators of Recent Declines
Global Biodiversity Target Missed In 2002, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) committed to a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. There has been widespread conjecture that this target has not been met. Butchart et al. (p. 1164 , published online 29 April) analyzed over 30 indicators developed within the CBD's framework. These indicators include the condition or state of biodiversity (e.g., species numbers, pop…
Reactive nitrogen in the environment and its effect on climate change
A nitrogen footprint model to help consumers understand their role in nitrogen losses to the environment
Consequences of human modification of the global nitrogen cycle
The demand for more food is increasing fertilizer and land use, and the demand for more energy is increasing fossil fuel combustion, leading to enhanced losses of reactive nitrogen (N r ) to the environment. Many thresholds for human and ecosystem health have been exceeded owing to N r pollution, including those for drinking water (nitrates), air quality (smog, particulate matter, ground-level ozone), freshwater eutrophication, biodiversity loss,…
The global nitrogen cycle in the twenty-first century
Global nitrogen fixation contributes 413 Tg of reactive nitrogen (N r ) to terrestrial and marine ecosystems annually of which anthropogenic activities are responsible for half, 210 Tg N. The majority of the transformations of anthropogenic N r are on land (240 Tg N yr −1 ) within soils and vegetation where reduced N r contributes most of the input through the use of fertilizer nitrogen in agriculture. Leakages from the use of fertilizer N r cont…
Food and feed trade as a driver in the global nitrogen cycle: 50-Year Trends
Nitrogen footprints: Past, present and future
The human alteration of the N cycle has evolved from minimal in the mid-19th century, to extensive in the present time. The consequences on human and environment health are significant. While much attention has been given to the extent and impacts of the alteration, little attention has been given to those entities (i.e., consumers, institutions) that use the resources that result in extensive reactive nitrogen (Nr) creation. This paper reviews a…
First approach to the Japanese nitrogen footprint model to predict the loss of nitrogen to the environment
Humans increase the amount of reactive nitrogen (all N species except N-2) in the environment through a number of processes, primarily food and energy production. Once in the environment, excess reactive nitrogen may cause a host of various environmental problems. Understanding and controlling individual nitrogen footprints is important for preserving environmental and human health. In this paper we present the per capita nitrogen footprint of Ja…
Changes in wet nitrogen deposition in the United States between 1985 and 2012
The United States (US) is among the global hotspots of nitrogen (N) deposition and assessing the temporal trends of wet N deposition is relevant to quantify the effectiveness of existing N regulation policies and its consequent environmental effects. This study analyzed changes in observed wet deposition of dissolved inorganic N (DIN = ammonium + nitrate) in the US between 1985 and 2012 by applying a Mann–Kendall test and Regional Kendall test. C…
Nitrogen-neutrality: A step towards sustainability
We propose a novel indicator measuring one dimension of the sustainability of an entity in modern societies: Nitrogen-neutrality. N-neutrality strives to offset Nr releases an entity exerts on the environment from the release of reactive nitrogen (Nr) to the environment by reducing it and by offsetting the Nr releases elsewhere. N-neutrality also aims to increase awareness about the consequences of unintentional releases of nitrogen to the enviro…
Environmental Science (40 works) · Chemistry (30 works) · Nitrogen (27 works) · Economics (26 works) · Biology (24 works) · Geography (22 works) · Reactive nitrogen (21 works) · Ecology (20 works) · Natural resource economics (20 works) · Business (15 works)