The realm of nature is overwhelmed by the human world

The total mass of artificial goods so far has exceeded the approximately 1.1 trillion natural creatures on the Earth for the first time. This study was published in the international journal, Nature by Ron Milo, a professor at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science.

On Earth, humans account for only 0.01 percent of all living things, but their impact on the ecosystem is enormous. Since the agricultural revolution began about 10,000 years ago, humans have quickly destroyed plants around the world through deforestation and land use. The total weight of plants reached two trillion tons then, and that has now decreased by half. In the midst of this reduction, the weight of human-grown crops stands only at around 10 billion tons. Since human influences have grown so much bigger on the Earth scientists have recently defined this geological era as the “(Anthropocene1)”.

To quantify human effects, Milo’s research team estimated changes in the total mass of natural organisms and artificial objects worldwide from 1900 to the present. Biological quantities were estimated through literature surveys, satellite observations, and software modeling. Artificial objects were defined as man-made, solid, and inanimate objects.
Meanwhile, man-made food and livestock were included in the volume of natural organisms, and objects made of natural materials were classified as artificial. According to the analysis, the total mass of the artifacts was only three percent of the biomass in 1900. It doubled every 20 years as human products such as buildings, roads, and machines increased dramatically. Up to 2020, human-built buildings and roads on the Earth were about 1.1 trillion tons, surpassing the 900 billion tons of trees worldwide. The total mass of plastic was eight billion tons, twice that of animals worldwide. Most of the artificial components were made of sand, gravel, and concrete. Bricks, which were the main building materials until 1950, accounted for 25 percent of all artifacts. The proportion of concrete and aggregate such as gravel or sand has increased rapidly as concrete has been used in buildings since then. That of concrete increased from five percent in 1900 to 45 percent in 2020.

The rate of increase in artificial production followed the trend of global events. The annual production growth rate, which was only two percent before World War II, has risen to five percent but has fallen to the three percent range during the first oil shock in 1973. It has since maintained a similar rate of increase. As of 2020, humans produce 30 billion tons of artificial objects every year. “Every human being in the world produces more than their own weight every week,” the team explained. Human waste was excluded from artifacts on the result of the analysis. Including the amount of garbage thrown away by humans without being incinerated or recycled, the total mass of artificial materials has already exceeded the global biomass in 2013. The research team estimated artificial materials will exceed three trillion tons in 2040, which is about three times the total mass of today if this trend continues. “It shows the symbolic boundaries that the Earth is changing to Anthropocene. I hope we can act more responsibly for the shocking consequences that are just around the corner,” said Professor Milo.

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