How We've Physically Changed Our World
Human-made materials now outweigh all living things on Earth combined. We haven't just changed the climate — we've replaced the planet's biology with concrete, plastic, and livestock.
1.1 trillion tonsHuman-made mass now exceeds all biomass on Earth— Elhacham et al., Nature 2020
8B+ tonsPlastic ever produced — twice the mass of all animals— Geyer et al., Science Advances 2017
95%of mammal biomass is now humans + livestock. Wild mammals are 5%— Bar-On et al., PNAS 2018
70%of Earth's land surface has been physically altered by humans— IPBES Global Assessment 2019
63%of the world's longest rivers are no longer free-flowing— Grill et al., Nature 2019
30B tons/yrConcrete produced annually — more than all other materials combined— Chatham House 2018
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