A planet's worth of human-made things has been weighed
All the technology that we have produced accounts for a lot on our planet
By Bob McDonald, CBC News
A new report has calculated the total mass of all the technology humans have produced, everything from buildings to cars and computers, and found it is an astounding 30 trillion tons. That is more than the total amount of living matter on Earth. It shows the sheer magnitude of the human impact on our planet, which is still growing.More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/a-planet-s-worth-of-human-made-things-has-been-weighed-1.3878760An international team led by the University of Leicester in England added up the mass of all our houses, factories, skyscrapers, right down to smartphones and ballpoint pens, as well as waste material in landfills, to come up with the staggering number that represents a mass of more than 50 kilograms for every square metre of Earth's surface.
By contrast, the total amount of living matter, including people, plants, animals, insects and bacteria is estimated to be around 4 trillion tons of carbon. Our technology and everything that comes with it is literally larger than life.
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how much does all the water weigh?
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