GAIA

1. James Lovelock GAIA A Totally New Look at Life on Earth: The Earth as an Organism

2. What is it? • The Gaia Hypothesis: • What is the hypothesis of Gaia? Stated simply, the idea is that we may have discovered a living being bigger, more ancient, and more complex than anything from our wildest dreams. That being, called Gaia, is the Earth.

3. What does it mean? • …not only that life has a greater influence on the evolution of the Earth than is typically assumed across most earth science disciplines but also that life serves as an active control system. In fact, they suggest that life on Earth provides a cybernetic, homeostatic feedback system, leading to stabilization of global temperature, chemical composition, and so forth.

4. What does it not mean? • "The name of the living planet, Gaia, is not a synonym for the biosphere-that part of the Earth where living things are seen normally to exist. • Still less is Gaia the same as the biota, which is simply the collection of all individual living organisms

5. Instead… • The biota and the biosphere taken together form a part but not all of Gaia. Just as the shell is part of the snail, so the rocks, the air, and the oceans are part of Gaia.

6. Remember… • Gaia, as a total planetary being, has properties that are not necessarily discernable by just knowing individual species or populations of organisms living together...Specifically, the Gaia hypothesis says that the temperature, oxidation, state, acidity, and certain aspects of the rocks and waters are kept constant, and that this homeostasis is maintained by active feedback processes operated automatically and unconsciously by the biota."

7. An Analogy • It is easier to understand this concept if you let the image of a giant redwood tree enter your mind. The tree undoubtedly is alive, yet 99% of it is dead. The great tree is an ancient spire of dead wood, made of lignin and cellulose by the ancestors of the thin layer of living cells that constitute its bark.

8. Some Problems • Is there a “purpose” to Gaia? For instance, your individual cells don’t “know” that you exist, but you cannot function without them. So, how did they end up making the complete “you?” • A step beyond that is, does “Gaia” exist for us? This is the reverse of “Man Conquering Nature”.

9. Problems 2 • It is a short step from there, for some people to the idea that “Gaia” exists for us, which is sort of supported by Western religion. • If you think like that, then you will believe that Gaia will “look after us” whatever we do. Scientifically that is nonsense. It may maintain balance by eliminating us.

10. The Danger • Two extremes: The first—Gaia will take care of us like a caring “Earth Mother”: the Theological Approach. • The second, that it is OK to pollute because Gaia will clean up after us. • The key word here may be after! • The problem was that these views diverted the debate away from science.

11. Another Perspective • Everything that constitutes “Gaia” is interlocked with everything else, and the totality of these interactions is what really matters. • Thus, if you think you are above and beyond this system, or think that it was created for you, then there is a good chance that the system will eliminate you

12. Conclusion? • The idea of Gaia may facilitate the task of converting destructive human activities to constructive and cooperative behavior. It is an idea that deeply startles us, and in the process, may help us as a species to make the necessary jump to planetary awareness.