
05/08/2025
We make up just 0.01% of all life on Earth. But you wouldn’t guess that from the damage we’ve caused. We’ve cleared forests, emptied oceans, erased wildlife, and in their place, we’ve built a system that feeds only us.
According to a landmark study, 82% of all biomass on Earth is plants. Another 13% is bacteria. Every other form of life, animals, fungi, insects, and everything in between, makes up just 5%. Humans are only a tiny fraction of that.
Yet in the blink of an ecological eye, we’ve wiped out 83% of wild mammals and nearly half of all plant species. Today, 60% of all mammals on Earth are livestock. 36% are humans. Only 4% are wild. The picture’s even bleaker for birds: 70% of the world’s bird population is poultry, and just 30% remain wild.
We haven’t just taken up space, we’ve replaced life as we knew it. All for a food system that’s eating the planet alive.
This isn’t about guilt. It’s about clarity. So we can choose better.
🧠 Source: Bar-On et al., 2018 ()
(biodiversity loss, wildlife, climate change, human impact, daory industry, industrial farming)