<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/18/a-wake-up-call-total-weight-of-wild-mammals-less-than-10-of-humanitys>
"The total weight of Earth’s wild land mammals – from elephants to bisons and
from deer to tigers – is now less than 10% of the combined tonnage of men,
women and children living on the planet.
A study by scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, published this
month, concludes that wild land mammals alive today have a total mass of 22m
tonnes. By comparison, humanity now weighs in at a total of around 390m tonnes.
At the same time, the species we have domesticated, such as sheep and cattle,
in addition to other hangers-on such as urban rodents, add a further 630m
tonnes to the total mass of creatures that are now competing with wild mammals
for Earth’s resources. The biomass of pigs alone is nearly double that of all
wild land mammals.
The figures demonstrate starkly that humanity’s transformation of the planet’s
wildernesses and natural habitats into a vast global plantation is now well
under way – with devastating consequences for its wild creatures. As the study
authors emphasise, the idea that Earth is a planet that still possesses great
plains and jungles that are teeming with wild animals is now seriously out of
kilter with reality. The natural world and its wild animals are vanishing as
humanity’s population of almost eight billion individuals continues to grow."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
