The Gaia Theory of a Living Single Organism Earth

The scientist James Lovelock with philosopher Dian Hitchcock came up with the theory of Gaia in the 1970’s while looking at the moon, and noticing how dead it was compared to the earth, which seemed teeming with life. They experimented further and found that the air was not just another aspect of the earth’s surrounds, but actually a part of it, like fur is to a cat. They concluded that if the air was alive and part of the earth, then the earth too must be alive and active. He “began to wonder if it could be that the air is not just an environment for life but it is also a part of life itself. “

The Gaian idea is that life forms actually control and manipulate their planet to suit themselves and to make it more conducive to the evolution of further organisms. This has upset many scientists, who find the theory too all-encompassing to grasp. Another debate by traditional scientists has been against the idea that cooperation between organisms can arise, where science tends to believe that organisms act out of selfishness and survival. No wonder the planet is in trouble! An example of this is that Lovelock believes sulphur returns from the sea to the land through marine algae. The algae help life by circulating sulphur throughout the biosphere so their proliferation of this algae continued as it ensured life for all.

Another phenomenon that proves we live on an intelligent planet is our stable temperature, which remains in the exact range suitable for life, no matter what has happened in the billions of years there’s been life on earth.

The Gaia theory gives us hope for the continuing survival of the planet despite the amount of pollution we are putting into ‘the organism’ (i.e. land, air, sky and inhabitants). It’s not an excuse to run amuck, but the earth’s system, if intelligent as the Gaia-ists would have us believe, will also find a way to keep everything stable and everything living, and even to dispel the pollution. Of course, that may mean that the earth system heats up the atmosphere, leading to increased temperatures, which ignites people’s tempers so the human race annihilates itself and that’s the earth’s solution to the problem! The scary thing about the Gaia hypothesis is that humans are not necessarily important in the overall scheme of things, and that the species that act to enhance the health of Gaia are the ones that prosper and matter in the long run.

Lovelock believes that there are regions on earth that are important to Gaia’s survival, and these areas may be the key to sustainability. Continental shelves may be vital in the regulation of the oxygen-carbon cycle. “ It is through the burial of carbon in the anaerobic muds of the sea bed that a net increment of oxygen in the atmosphere is ensured.” Lovelock also believes that wetlands and the tropical rainforests and scrub lands between latitudes 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south are core regions of Gaia. Lovelock urges that we watch carefully the tropics and the seas close to the continental shelves. “ Here (humans) may sap the vitality of Gaia, by reducing productivity and by deleting key species in her life-support system; and (we) may then exacerbate the situation by releasing into the air or the sea abnormal quantities of compounds which are potentially dangerous on a global scale.”

"Organisms do not just adapt to a dead world determined by physics and chemistry alone. They live in a world that is the breath and bones of their ancestors and that they are now sustaining." - James Lovelock.