Creating an alternative future for Earth's phosphorus cycle in the Anthropocene via eco-prospecting, eco-mining, and eco-refining

We describe how the phosphorus (P) cycle has been transformed, via fertilizer production from phosphate rock, from slow processes of chemical weathering and lithification of sedimentary deposits (with recycling of P among living and nonliving components) into a linear vector of P from finite geologic deposits to farms to aquatic ecosystems, where it degrades water quality. We describe innovations to improve P sustainability via eco-prospecting, eco-mining, and eco-refining. We discuss various socio-economic factors that will shape the rate and form of this transformation of the P cycle to determine if future generations live in ‘phosphoheaven’ or ‘phosphogeddon.’