Welcome to Earth

Anti-Randroid
Jul 20, 2017 · 5 min read

This is our planet:

Well… half of it anyway. Some people call it Earth, others call it Tierra, Monde, Erde, and countless other terms which all pretty much mean the same thing: this entire hunk of debris. It’s a small (cosmically speaking) bit of rocky material leftover from the formation of the Sun, aka: Sol, Soleil, Araw, Shams, Suraj, among many others. This planet is one of 8 such objects, and millions of smaller objects that likewise failed to contribute to the total mass of that giant fusion reactor in the sky.

Since we all depend on this tiny bit of rock for survival right now (which in and of itself is a huge problem), here’s a small primer on our planet.

The entire surface area of our planet is about 196,900,000 square miles. Of that 196,900,000 square miles:

  • About 29% of the planet is considered dry land (approx: 57,300,00 square miles)
  • About 71% of the planet is comprised of water (approx: 140,000,000 square miles

Of all the water on our planet, 2.5% of it is freshwater — the rest is salty. Of that freshwater, only 1% is easily accessible. Which is incredible considering how many people are able to acquire freshwater by turning on one of the many faucets in their home.

Every living thing on this planet depends on that 1% of water — but how many living things are there?

Life on Planet Earth:

There are approximately 8.7 billion different species of plants and animals on this planet. This number is constantly increasing as humans continue to probe new locations at new scales. According to latest estimates:

  • There are 10 billion billion (yep, two billions there) individual ants.
  • The number of cattle on our planet has exceeded 1.4 billion individuals.
  • The global chicken population is a mind-blowing 18.6 billion (constantly growing).
  • Ten species of great whales combine to a total of 3 million individuals.
  • Both species of elephants only amount to 500,000 comparatively.

Humans, on the other hand, have recently exceeded 7.5 billion. That’s right, there are over 7.5 BILLION other humans just like you: each human having a history, a present moment, a future. Needs. Wants. Dreams. Disappointments. Successes. Failures. Setbacks.

7.5 billion human beings, all alive at once.

Humans on Planet Earth:

All 7.5 billion humans live within the borders of one of 196 countries. Or… one of 193 countries, depending on who you ask. You see there are three countries that are not recognized by many of the others:

  • Taiwan
  • Palestine
  • Holy See (aka: Catholic Church HQ)

The newest of the “official” 193 is South Sudan, formed in 2011 after a brutal civil war. South Sudan is still dealing with catastrophic violence within her borders, and is also facing an ongoing famine — a direct result of the violence.

In these 196 separate countries, there are 6,000–7,000 completely unique languages being spoken. According to the Ethnologue Catalog of World Languages, there are exactly 6909 unique languages in the world. Of these distinct languages:

  • 6% are spoken by over 94% of the global population.
  • 40% are at risk of going extinct since children are no longer being taught the native tongue of their elders.

Language is arguably humanity’s first major technological advancement. The development of language allowed humankind to learn and share intimate details about our environment across generations. As languages die, so too does the history and environmental knowledge accumulated over hundreds — thousands of years of niche survival.

Many of the 7.5 billion humans on our planet are dependent on this thing called oil — which is the product of millions years of life decaying underground. Oil powers our cars, airplanes, manufacturing centers, and is a major component in plastic — one of the most widespread materials on our planet. It’s so widespread that used plastic has joined together to create islands in our oceans, these islands have a land-area comparable to the state of Texas:

These trash islands are growing. Partly because our humanity’s consumption habits haven’t changed, and partly because oil production continues at a phenomenal pace.

Humans and oil:

Right now there are approximately 700 oil refineries in the world. These 700 refineries produce:

  • Approximately 96 million barrels of oil per day.
  • Add it up, and that’s about 35 billion barrels every year

One barrel of oil is exactly equal to 42 U.S. gallons, or 159 Liters, thanks to Pennsylvania oil producers who decided to standardize oil distribution containers in order to instill confidence in the consumer. This standardization occurred in the 1860’s, and was in fact a unit of measurement put in place by King Richard III in the form of the English Wine Tierce.

This oil is used for a variety of things, but perhaps the most direct experience many of us have with oil is it’s ability to power our cars. As of right now, there are around 1.015 billion oil cars on the planet. Quite impressive considering the combustion engine 1859, and the first automobile was created in 1885. There are also:

  • Over 51,000 oil dependent cargo ships traveling the world
  • Around 20,000 oil dependent commercial airplanes ready to take to the skies
  • And a little over 1,000,000 fully electric cars have been sold as of September 2016.

Note: sold. I’d have to do a bit more digging to confirm (or defeat) my suspicion that this 1 million figure takes into account the Tesla Model 3’s nearly 400,000 pre-sales. If this were true (again, it may not be… but it seems likely), there are only about 600,000 electric vehicles on the road right now, in stark contrast to the 1,015,000,000 oil dependent vehicles.

Humans like oil because it’s easy, efficient, and “That’s just the way it is.”

There’s actually quite a lot of things that humans like because “That’s just the way it is.”

Free Market Economics.

Government Corruption.

Poverty.

War.

Climate Change.

“That’s just the way it is.”

Published July 20, 2017July 22, 2017


Originally published at antirandroid.com on July 20, 2017.

)
Anti-Randroid

Written by

“That’s just the way it is” isn’t good enough anymore.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade