Mass of human-made material now heavier than Earth's entire biomass: Research

For the first time since the existence of humans on Earth, the man-made mass is now heavier than the weight of all lifeforms on the universe’s only habitable planet. The human manufactured establishments and inventions now weight approximately an estimated 1.1 trillion metric tons, which equals the mass of the plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, archaea, protists, and all other naturally occurring features on the planet.

According to the study published on December 9, the global human-made mass has exceeded all living biomass as mankind became the dominant force in shaping the face of Earth. 

According to the research, the overall material output of human activities referred to as the ‘anthropogenic mass’ has pushed the Earth to the ‘crosspoint’ in the year 2020. This manmade mass roughly doubles every 20 years. However, in the 21st century, activities of humanity and the production and accumulation of human-made objects spiked at an exorbitant rate and manner. In 1900, human-produced mass equaled only about 3 percent of the total biomass, according to scientists.

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Human comprise '0.01 percent'

"While the mass of humans is only about 0.01 percent of global biomass, our civilization had already had a substantial and diverse impact on it by 3,000 years ago," the researchers explained. Since then, the global effect of humanity has accelerated and the material flows of our socioeconomic system, also known as the socioeconomic metabolism drastically increased. The material basis of the society along with the industrial ecology ramped up the socioeconomic material stocks on the planet. 

[Credit: Amanda Montañez; Source: “Global Human-Made Mass Exceeds All Living Biomass,” by Emily Elhacham et al., in Nature. Published online December 9, 2020]

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"About 120 years later, in 2020, anthropogenic mass is exceeding overall biomass in the world," scientists warned, adding, that the point at which anthropogenic mass surpasses living biomass is ‘sensitive’.

As per the research, the production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks, and asphalt particularly pushed the Earth to comprise far beyond just the ecological biomass. Scientists call the current epoch the 'Anthropocene'. The research was conducted by Ron Milo and his colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot (Israel) who examined changes in global biomass and human-made mass from 1900 to 2020. 

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(Image Credit: AP)