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- From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
- To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [permaculture] James Lovelock and Gaia theory
- Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2024 19:39:41 -0700
“Life does more than adapt to the Earth. It changes the Earth to its own purposes.”
- James Lovelock
July 26, 1919, birthday of James Lovelock.
In
1965 James Lovelock, inspired by research on the possible habitability
of Mars, proposed in a article to see the single parts of Earth
(lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere) not as distinct
spheres, but as an interconnected and self-regulating system almost like
a single living being. He followed the suggestions by novelist William
Golding and called this idea the Gaia-hypothesis after the ancient
mythological titan/personification of Earth Gaia.
Even
if the original idea was criticized for some scientific and
philosophical inaccuracies (Lovelock used some biased calculations to
show how life is needed to keep a planetary climate stable and also
implied a "higher purpose and goal" for Earth to reach) the basics to
study Earth as a complex and dynamic system survive to this day as Earth
System Sciences.
a comment:
"
I
believe that it's been determined that life is needed to keep a climate
system stable. The whole reason we have oxygen in the atmosphere is
because
of photosynthesizing plants. Originally stromatolites
transformed the atmosphere over millions of years. We are currently
changing the atmosphere through carbon emissions."
--
- [permaculture] James Lovelock and Gaia theory, Lawrence London, 08/05/2024
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