'Which do you think weighs more — human beings and domestic animals, or all the vertebrates in the world?'
Here's another way to see our impact on the biosphere. Which do you think weighs more — human beings and domesticated animals, or all the wild vertebrates in the world? I would have guessed all the vertebrates. Here are the facts: In 2000, the dry mass of humans was about 125 million metric tons. For all domesticated animals, it was 300 million tons. That's a total of 425 million tons, compared to just 10 million tons for all wild vertebrates. It's pretty mind-blowing.
In Bill Gates' review of Vaclav Smil's latest book.
@ Harvesting The Biosphere: Book Review | Bill Gates:
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