In dramatic findings, a new visualization reveals that the mass of human-created materials exceeds that of all living organisms on Earth.
A Century of Human Creation: The Weight of Our Impact
A Century of Human Creation: The Weight of Our Impact
Exploring how human-made materials now outweigh Earth's biomass
Over the course of four billion years, life on Earth has evolved from simple protoplasm to a staggering 1.1 trillion tons of biomass, predominantly flora and fauna. However, a recent study highlights a startling truth: the weight of the "technostuff" produced by humans in just the last century surpasses that of all living matter combined. This engrossing revelation arose from the extensive work of geophysicist Yinon M. Bar-On from Caltech, who led a comprehensive global inventory assessing various types of matter—natural and artificial.
The research compiled data from numerous scientific studies and calculated the total weight of various materials, from the cars we drive to the plastics we discard. Interestingly, the data included an amusing fact often cited by pest control companies: there are approximately 1,000 pounds of termites for every human on this planet.
Physicist Brice Ménard and graphic artist/computer scientist Nikita Shtarkman have taken Bar-On's findings and brought them to life through impactful visualizations. With their new project, they depict different types of living matter juxtaposed against human-created materials using dimensional cubes whose size corresponds to each category's weight.
Ménard emphasizes the importance of this visualization, hoping it will allow people to better understand and appreciate the scope of human consumption and production within a lifetime. This initiative not only illustrates the extent of human influence on the planet but also serves as a powerful reminder of our ecological footprint as we forge into the future.
The research compiled data from numerous scientific studies and calculated the total weight of various materials, from the cars we drive to the plastics we discard. Interestingly, the data included an amusing fact often cited by pest control companies: there are approximately 1,000 pounds of termites for every human on this planet.
Physicist Brice Ménard and graphic artist/computer scientist Nikita Shtarkman have taken Bar-On's findings and brought them to life through impactful visualizations. With their new project, they depict different types of living matter juxtaposed against human-created materials using dimensional cubes whose size corresponds to each category's weight.
Ménard emphasizes the importance of this visualization, hoping it will allow people to better understand and appreciate the scope of human consumption and production within a lifetime. This initiative not only illustrates the extent of human influence on the planet but also serves as a powerful reminder of our ecological footprint as we forge into the future.
