Putting Man's Thumb on the Scale


Some still cannot accept that Earth has entered a new geological epoch, the first one shaped by a single species, man. However the argument against the existence of the Anthropocene grows weaker by the day.

A report released today reveals how humankind dominates the Earth - its air, its seas, its land.

The giant human footprint stamped across the world in 2020 is greater than the impact on the planet of all other living things, research suggests.

The amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined, the study estimates.

While human beings might believe in “the immensity of the globe and the seeming infinity of the natural world”, the researchers say they wanted to provide an objective and rigorous measure of the reality of the balance between man and nature.

Their research shows that human activity including production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks and asphalt has brought the world to a crossover point where human-made mass – driven mostly by enhanced consumption and urban development – exceeds the overall living biomass on Earth.

 Now, will someone remind me why we should remain silent to the ongoing overpopulation of this planet, Spaceship Earth, our one and only and oh so very finite biosphere? And, if you can, do remind me why our leaders, with their neoliberal dunce hats, still pursue perpetual, exponential growth in production and consumption.

 

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