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Aneirin -> The Revenge of Gaia ? (8/27/2010 8:02:22 AM)
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As an aside from independent research scientist James Lovelock's work whilst working for NASA in the 1960's seeking a methodology for detecting possible life on other planets, Lovelock presented a perhaps not so much of a new way of looking at our planet, but certainly different to scientific theory of the age and much of what was thought due to personal belief of the day. He after a suggestion from his Nobel Prize for literature friend William Golding called his earth feedback hypothesis; The Gaia Theory after the ancient Greek primordial Goddess of the Earth ; Gaia
Gaia Theory on Wikipedia
Enter global warming;
If Lovelock's Earth Feedback hypothesis has any merit, then the Revenge of Gaia is upon us, all we can do now is prepare ourselves and learn to adapt, for there are big changes coming, and with that, perhaps changes that are due to the planet as a whole, should we welcome these changes as progress where it is so needed, or bury our heads in the sand and hope it goes away ?
I am suggesting the changes are due, because when we started to cut down forests for building materials, fuel and land, and otherwise pillage our enviroment for the things we through history needed to thrive, we didn't know the eventual consequences of our actions, but it took until the technological age for us to create the tools to see more clearly what is now irreversible. But if that is correct, then global change as it affects life on this planet is best coming in this age, as we have the knowledge to think and provide the tools to ensure our survival. Hopefully with that will come a much needed change in our human thinking, conserve instead of pillage, the age of permaculture and living in harmony with our surroundings, i.e. low impact living, we are not the only forms of life that are important here.
Excerpt from Lovelock's Revenge of Gaia ;
The Revenge of Gaia
In James Lovelock's 2006 book, The Revenge of Gaia, he argues that the lack of respect humans have had for Gaia, through the damage done to rainforests and the reduction in planetary biodiversity, is testing Gaia's capacity to minimize the effects of the addition of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This eliminates the planet's negative feedbacks and increases the likelihood of homeostatic positive feedback potential associated with runaway global warming. Similarly the warming of the oceans is extending the oceanic thermocline layer of tropical oceans into the Arctic and Antarctic waters, preventing the rise of oceanic nutrients into the surface waters and eliminating the algal blooms of phytoplankton on which oceanic foodchains depend. As phytoplankton and forests are the main ways in which Gaia draws down greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, taking it out of the atmosphere, the elimination of this environmental buffering will see, according to Lovelock, most of the earth becoming uninhabitable for humans and other life-forms by the middle of this century, with a massive extension of tropical deserts.
Given these conditions, Lovelock expects human civilization will be hard pressed to survive. He expects the change to be similar to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum when atmospheric concentration of CO2 was 450 ppm. At that point the Arctic Ocean was 23 °C and had crocodiles in it, with the rest of the world mostly scrub and desert. He says of sustainable development and renewable energy that it came "200 years too late" and that more effort should go into adaptation, including more use of nuclear fission as a viable energy source in the future (unclear reference - clarification needed).
He likens the Kyoto Protocol to the Munich conferences that failed to prevent World War II, including the likelihood that the disaster will cause people to come together in common cause. "We have been through no less than seven of these events as humans...comparable in extent to the change" likely to be wrought by global warming.
He claims that Gaia's self-regulation will likely prevent any extraordinary runaway effects that wipe out life itself, but that humans will survive and be "culled and, I hope, refined."
According to James Lovelock, by 2040, the world population of more than six billion will have been culled by floods, drought and famine. Indeed [t]he people of Southern Europe, as well as South-East Asia, will be fighting their way into countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain.[33]
"By 2040, parts of the Sahara desert will have moved into middle Europe. We are talking about Paris - as far north as Berlin. In Britain we will escape because of our oceanic position."[33]
"If you take the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predictions, then by 2040 every summer in Europe will be as hot as it was in 2003 - between 110F and 120F. It is not the death of people that is the main problem, it is the fact that the plants can't grow — there will be almost no food grown in Europe."[33]
"We are about to take an evolutionary step and my hope is that the species will emerge stronger. It would be hubris to think humans as they now are God's chosen race. [sic]"[33]
Lovelock believes it is too late to repair the damage.[33]
Just a personal thought, I wonder where religion will figure in all of this, in particular the Judeo-Christian- Muslim beliefs, could we see a return to what is in effect a form of paganism, earth centred religions, we worship the Earth, Gaia as it is it that sustains us.
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