The Vanishing Face Of Gaia
James Lovelock

Mother Nature knows best, but what is best for her is not necessarily what is best for humanity. This is the alarm bell sounded by the 90-year-old scientist James Lovelock in his latest book on Gaia.
He first proposed the Gaia hypothesis in the 1960s. It posited that the life forms and physical components of Earth form a complex interacting system that maintains conditions on the planet in a preferred equilibrium, one as favourable for life as possible.
In other words, Earth functions as a single organism.
Met with derision then, the theory has gained greater currency over the years. The Briton has been awarded various prestigious prizes, including being made a Companion of Honour in 2003 by the Queen for outstanding achievement in science. This is not some crackpot doomsday prophet.
Lovelock is now seized by the topic of global warming and takes issue with the straight-line projections of models which he says have failed to accurately predict current climate conditions, much less make useful forecasts for 50 years down the road. This includes the model used by the United Nations panel on climate change.
He argues that all these models are flawed because they do not take into account the fact that the Earth is a living thing with complex interacting systems that respond to changes.
At the current rate of global heating, he warns: “The Earth, in its but not our interests, may be forced to move to a hotter epoch, one where it can survive, although in a diminished and less habitable state. If, as is likely, this happens, we will have been the cause.”
He adds that the idea that we can reverse the impact of global heating and go back to our way of urbanised, industrialised living is erroneous. Modern life is not sustainable given the current global population, he proclaims.
Some of the writing can be a bit dense and technical at times but Lovelock’s arguments about climate change, nuclear energy and the green movement are worth reading and thinking about.
If he is right, we will soon have to make some very tough decisions about our survival.

If you like this, read: Gaia: A New Look At Life On Earth by James Lovelock. Lovelock introduces his radical idea that Earth functions as a single organism in this classic tract which was first published in 1979.
(ST)