Among the many global devastating risks known to humans, some are shown in the media more than others. Supervolcano eruptions, climate change and asteroid impacts have all received the Hollywood treatment. And every one of them has taken a catastrophic toll on our planet’s life in the past.
Yet, alien to many people, a new global risk capable of destroying life itself is brewing desire for materialism.
Just look around- you are extensively surrounded by material objects- whether they are required in your life or not. For every piece of this material we use, a butterfly effect is slowly depleting Earth’s resources, stripping human’s emotional health and degrading our planet’s habitats. If left untamed, is there a threat that human consumption may finally turn the Earth into a run-down world?
According to a study published by The Weizmann Institute of Sciences, Israel, that compared anthropogenic mass- aka human-made mass- with all the biomass, or living mass, on the globe. They concluded that for the first time in history, the former had surpassed the latter.
The study estimates that, on average, each human in the world now generates more anthropogenic mass than his or her body weight every week. “The finding that human-made stuff now weighs as much as all biomass, and the fact that it keeps multiplying, gives another rational perspective on how humanity is now a major part in shaping the future of the planet,” says the study’s chief scientist, Professor Ron Milo.”
This study comes as a no surprise to many who believes that humans have already lead in a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene- the age of humans, a term coined by chemist and Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen.
The size and scale of the anthropogenic matter are alarming.
