The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning [Paperback]

 

 

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"-----GAIA THEORY:

A view of the Earth introduced in the 1980s that sees it as a self-regulating system made up from the totality of organisms, the surface rocks, the oceans, and the atmosphere tightly coupled as an evolving system. The theory sees the system as having a goal--the regulation of surface conditions so as always to be favourable for contemporary life as possible. It is based on observations and theoretical models; it...has made eight successful predictions."

The above comes from the glossary of the engrossing and slim book by James Lovelock (who is 90 years old). He is an independent scientist, inventor, author, researcher, environmentalist, and futurist who lives in southwest England. Lovelock is the recipient of many scientific awards and other honours. Given his stature, this writing (as well as his other writings) deserve close attention.

GAIA (named after the Goddess of Earth in Greek mythology) which essentially views the Earth as kind of a super organism has overcome its main critics to become part of a distinguished historical tradition of serious (if not controversial) science. Lovelock and his proponents regard GAIA as a scientific theory since (as stated above) it has passed predictive tests.

Generally, Lovelock, being an independent scientist, lacks confidence in mainstream science climate models. He makes the case that it's too late to prevent global warming (which he calls "global heating"). Thus we must think about how to adapt and act fast. The best chapters (at least for me) concern survival strategies, such as energy and food options. And he tells the reader:

"The few countries likely to escape relatively unscathed [from the effects of climate change and global warming], Canada among them, should figure out how to cope with the millions of environmental refugees that will wash up on their shores."

There is much to be taken away from this book. Some examples: I was initially surprised by Lovelock's preferred energy source until I read his reasoning. He tells us the "best available measure of the heat absorbed by the Earth." and "like it or not, we [the sheer number of humans] are the problem." Lovelock's thoughts on being green (or not) are illuminating.

There are four graphs and three tables found in this book. In the center of the book are thirteen colour photographs. My favourite has the caption:

"The 'Ice Hole,' the vast area of Arctic floating ice that melted in the summers of 2007 and 2008. Like the 'Ozone Hole' it was unpredicted and is potentially deadly."

Finally, don't know what the meanings of such terms as "GAIA theory" or "Earth System Science?" Then check out the helpful glossary at the end of the book. (The meaning of GAIA Theory found at the beginning of this review came from this glossary.)

In conclusion, this is both an entertaining and terrifying book by James Lovelock, an independent, respected scientist. The fact is GAIA will survive in one form or another. But will we??

(first published 2009; list of illustrations; acknowledgements; forward; 9 chapters; main narrative 160 pages; glossary; further reading (references); index)

<<Stephen Pletko, London, Ontario, Canada>>

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The Vanishing Face of Gaia

This book is an absolute must to read for everyone who is remotely interested in conserving our environment. I can only read one chapter at a time, it is so scary, but is a "wake-up" call.
Renate Kellhammer

This book is based upon the notion that, since the Earth teems with life, it can profitably be be viewed as a living entity which -- like all living entities -- attempts to ensure its own well being. At very minimum it is clearly true that it is impossible to understand the functioning of the Earth without taking into account the existence of life in general and human life in particular. Lovelock chooses to emphasize this fact by referring to the earth as Gaia (A Greek word which personifies the Earth as a goddess)and Lovelock's Gaia theory is not just a fanciful notion but a theory with some real substance. This is exemplified by the use of this theory to make no less than seven verified forecasts.
There is little doubt that Gaia is passing through a troubling phase in its ever changing existence and Lovelock attempts to identify the causes of this troubled state. Over and over again,throughout the book, he points an accusing finger at our overpopulation of the Earth as being a major and, possibly, the major cause of our woes. To use Lovelock's own words: ".. the root cause is too many people ... more than the earth can carry". He is not exactly confident in our ability to stave off the potentially disastrous consequences of this overpopulation. Moreover, he does not have much confidence in our use of computer models to try and predict what will happen in the future and is even more pessimistic about our ability to stave off disaster. In his view Gaia,as whole, will undoubtedly survive no matter what but the future of the human race has a huge question mark hanging over it.
Unfortunately the book is marred by an almost inexplicable flaw. For reasons which are hard to understand Lovelock is persuaded that the Earth is facing CAGW -- Catastrophic Anthropogenic(human caused)Global Warming -- or "heating" as Lovelock chooses to call it. He makes the indefensible blunder of referring to carbon dioxide(CO2) as a "pollutant" -- even although he knows full well that CO2 is very far from being a pollutant and absolutely essential to the very existence of life on Earth.
We now know that the self styled "climate scientists" have been guilty of breaking all the norms of science and equally guilty of unethical behaviour. These scientists contend (or contended)that the Earth is undergoing unprecedented and dangerous warming due to our insertion of extra CO2 into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. Moreover, they claim to be able to forecast the earths climate over the next 10, 20, 30, 40 or even more years. Although Lovelock is skeptical about the ability of computer models to predict the future he has nevertheless accepted the occurrence of human caused global warming as an established fact.
In point of fact none of the claims are true. Even the existence of warming is subject to substantial doubt and the claimed ability of the computer models to foreact future climate is little different ot the misplaced faith in economic computer models which helped to get us into the current finacial mess and simply a case of hubris gone mad.
It is a shame that Lovelock did not come straight out and reject CAGW as unsubstantiated and his book, with its many useful insight would have been much improved if he had done so. Nevertheless a book well worth reading for its fascinating insights.

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1.0 out of 5 stars More of the same...
Like another reviewer, I could only read this book one chapter at a time. In fact, I gave up halfway through. Read more

Published on July 28 2009 by Drinse

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