When the world’s population passed seven billion people in 2011 we humans weighed, in total, 350 million tonnes. That weight is rising rapidly as our numbers are still growing and we are getting heavier. Back in 2011 each of us weighed, on average, just under eight stone. Around two billion of us were children then, and there were more people underweight than overweight worldwide. Since then, the number that are overweight has risen dramatically. The proportion of the population who are children has been falling, as fertility itself has fallen. Peak baby was in 1990, but the human population continues to rise because of ageing. Most of the growth in human population predicted in the next few decades will be as a result of that ageing.
The heaviest animals on the planet are the ones we farm for their meat. This includes some 1.4 billion cattle that weigh 520 million tonnes at any one time. After that there are the 1.1 billion sheep making up 65 million tonnes in total planetary sheep weight.
Then there are the 18.6 billion chickens weighing 40 million tonnes worldwide, being by far the most populous birds on the planet today. If we ignore fish in the oceans and insects, then the vast majority of animal life on Earth by weight is either us, or what we farm to eat. We have taken over the planet.→
Source: Meat Eaters – Views of the World
Robin Edgar
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