“We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do.”– Barbara Ward
Various anthropogenic innovations and discoveries have reduced human effort and made our lives easier. Innovations that were originally regarded as a success in all terms have now started to become a burden on not just humans themselves but for the Earth.
The amount of concrete, asphalt, metal and plastic on Earth is growing rapidly and according to research published in Nature shows that the mass of everything human has built and made, from concrete pavements and glass-and-metal skyscrapers to plastic bottles, clothes, and computers, is now roughly equal to the mass of living things on Earth and could surpass that this year.
Things like plastic, electronic devices, glass, and many more have added to the total anthropogenic mass on earth and are even well approximated to double in the next year. Today all the infrastructure like roads, shopping mall, electronic devices such as smartphones, laptops, and basic things like paper, mugs, etc now weigh in at approximately 1.1 trillion metric tons—equal to the combined dry weight of all plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, archaea, and protists on the planet. This generation of anthropogenic mass has increased exponentially over the past 120 years. Artificial material has gone from just 3 percent of the world’s biomass in 1900 to on par with it today. And the number of new products being produced every week is equivalent to the average body weight of all 7.7 billion people.
This is becoming a matter of concern due to its deteriorating effects on living forms and nature. The innovations and discoveries are showing a tremendous surge in almost all the fields by human beings, which is also called development by most people, the earth is now facing several environmental changes which will actually take years to renew.
Plastic is known as the biggest threat to the environment, which now weighs twice the weight of all zoological forms on the earth. Similarly, infrastructure like roads and buildings outweigh shrubs and trees. Despite this increase in the anthropogenic mass, there is a plunge in the total biomass on earth due to various factors like land exploration, deforestation, etc. With increasing climate change, carbon footprint, deforestation, ocean acidification, and many more this rapid surge in anthropogenic mass is resulting in degradation of our environment and its time serious measures are taken in order to protect the earth from severe impacts of climate change and heaps of anthropogenic mass which is being generated.
Therefore, one can safely say that in the name of development and invention of new products, humans have started to destroy the environment by exploiting natural resources. The fact that how essential a healthy environment is for our survival is being completely ignored. It’s high time that we realize the necessity of maintaining a balance between anthropogenic development and the environment in a sustainable manner.
References
Track2Training 