Human activity can be measured by the number of carbon atoms that have bonds with hydrogen atoms traded for bonds with oxygen atoms.  This applies to measuring every breath you take, through to all the actions done in a day. It can be aggregated out to families, communities, cities, nations – the world, and can be aggregated through the years to sum up all the activities, encompassing past capital formation.  This approach truly zooms from the very micro- to the global, historical accretive macro-economic.