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Just as a curiosity, humans kill hundreds of trillions of insects annually. [1] https://www.quora.com/How-many-insects-die-from-people-stepping-on-them-daily

• dheera 6y ago
  Insects, however, reproduce so much that without population control, the ecosystem would be in imbalance very quickly, and they can't be educated to have less children. Insects were "designed" into the system such that a large number of them are expected to die. I wouldn't be surprised if birds and spiders kill far more insects than people.
  • mac01021 6y ago
    They probably do if you count only humans directly squashing the insects with their hands/feet/cars. If you count things like pollution, pesticides, land use, they absolutely don't. Insect populations have been reduced to a fraction of their former size over the last few decades due to human activity.
• mindfulhack 6y ago
  I appreciate that type of thinking. I also think that we desire so much to modify or eradicate other species, but we haven't thought about our own species' overpopulation, which is taxing the planet dearly. Not saying people should die, but that in the same breath we have to think about sustainability from that angle too. We're producing too many new humans, and it's lowering the quality of life for both our species and others...
• dntbnmpls 6y ago
  If you include all human activity - like home building and farming, it's probably in the quadrillions.