One percent population growth, then and now

Here’s an illustration I’ve meant to create for a while. Population growth when most of the Earth is unpopulated is different than when we’ve populated nearly every place we can.

I think it tells a story, and an important one: growing our population today, even a small amount, affects the world very differently than when humans comprised a small fraction of life on Earth.

Illustrations that prompted it

Maybe you’ve seen these images before that prompted it.

weight vertebrate land animals

mammals lost

wild mammals lost

humans livestock wild animals

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