(Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
A new study published Wednesday in Nature suggests that things made by humans now outweigh everything else made by Mother Earth or will very soon, according to TIME.
Scientists at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science found that human-made materials now encompass around 1 trillion tons of mass, which is about the same amount of living biomass on Earth.
The scientists determined that both the increase in the creation of human-made materials, such as roads, concrete and steel, as well as the decrease in biomass due to human land-use, such as cutting down trees, contributed to the trend.
According to the study, humans have produced an average of 30 billion tons of material every year for the past five years. The study notes this is like producing the total mass of every human on Earth every week. If trends continue, human-made materials will triple the total mass of living things by 2040.
Ron Milo, one of the scientists, told TIME that his team can say with 95% certainty that the "tipping point" when human materials outweigh living things has either already occurred or will happen in the next six years, with 2020 being the most likely year to surpass the total mass of living things.
He suggested this number indicates that humans are the primary driver affecting Earth's climate and environment.
"Some people think that humanity is just one species out of many, and that we’re tiny and the world is huge. But our impact is not tiny,” he said. "Having a number really quantifies that."
He hoped the results of the study would inform governments and businesses as they evaluate their impact on the environment.
"It’s not that we should stop making things, but we need to be aware of the impact we are having and think about how we’re consuming natural resources," he said. "Our decisions, our policymaking could affect the rate at which human-made materials become double or triple the mass of living things."