Humans Are Just 0.01% of Life on Earth, But We Still Annihilated The Rest of It

[Demovictory9]

Humans Are Just 0.01% of Life on Earth, But We Still Annihilated The Rest of It
Ruining things since 298,000 BCE.

PETER DOCKRILL 22 MAY 2018
Humankind is pathetically lightweight in comparison to the mass of almost all other living things on Earth, but while our bodies (and thinking) may be tiny, our crushing footprint is not.

The most comprehensive study ever of the weight of all living biomass on the planet has discovered humans account for only about 0.01 percent of life on Earth – but despite our physical insignificance compared to the teeming masses around us, history shows there's no doubt over whose dominion this is.

"I would hope this gives people a perspective on the very dominant role that humanity now plays on Earth," biologist Ron Milo from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel told The Guardian.

"It is definitely striking, our disproportionate place on Earth."

Milo and fellow researchers spent three years combing the existing scientific literature on the planet's biomass to provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive estimate on the mass of all the kingdoms of life.
https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-are-just-0-01-of-life-earth-but-we-annihilated-rest-biomass-animals-mammals-plants

[elleng]

1. Yes, it's nature's little joke,

give something brains and ability to communicate

[Solly Mack]

2. Ouch. :)

But, yeah.

If it helps, a lot of people will not ride with me because I'd rather wreck the car than hit an animal. I've been called all manner of names after a close call.

[elleng]

3. OUCH! :)

I'm with you of course, Solly Mack.

[BigmanPigman]

4. The overall population growth in many countries, including the US,

is reducing. Due to all the damage we have already done and the harm that will continue to occur for decades even if we stopped everything right now. The best thing that could happen to the planet would be for people to become extinct.

[jberryhill]

5. It's not over between us and the bacteria yet

[hunter]

6. A hundred million years from now we'll be a peculiar layer of trash in the geologic record.

For now, maybe we ought to be paying people to experiment with lifestyles having a very small environmental footprint. What does it take for a human being to be happy?

This thing we now call "economic productivity" is actually a direct measure of the damage we are doing to what remains of the natural environment and our own human spirit.

[appalachiablue]

7. Big Kick. The 'human race,' nothing like it...for good reason! :)