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Laurent Ye
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Earth: Looking Beyond
June 16, 2009 - 12:10 PM
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Weekly Green, Issue of December 22, 2008
It has existed for a billion years and sheltered living beings for over hundreds of millions of years. Besides being a part of the solar system, could Earth be more than a simple planet? Could it be considered as a living entity? James Lovelock, a British scientist, proposed, in the past, an answer based on an alternate point of view.
Lovelock formed his theory around the 1960. Back then, the scientist was a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) consultant. To be more precise, he was a consultant in the planetary exploration program, which was researching life on Mars at that moment. The atmospheric composition of the red planet ignited Lovelock’s theory. Lovelock observed that the Martian atmosphere (which is composed mainly of carbon dioxide and a little bit of oxygen, methane and hydrogen) was in perfect and stable chemical equilibrium. The Earth’s atmosphere also presents a form of equilibrium, although our planet’s state of balance differs greatly from the red planet’s one: the atmosphere of the blue planet is chemically dynamic. Indeed, the life cycle of the chemical elements found in the atmosphere balance it. For example, the CO2 produced by animals will be absorbed by plants. These plants will produce O2 in return and the animals will feed of that gas. With that concept in mind, Lovelock formed a hypothesis: Earth is “A complex entity involving its biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet.”
Since the scientist considered the Earth as a living entity, the next logical step for him to do, was to give a name to this entity. It was obvious that the name Gaia had been chosen. For those who are familiar with Greek mythology, Gaia was a goddess, or actually the embodiment of Earth itself. Later on, Lovelock theorized his hypothesis. The Gaia Theory claims that Earth is a living entity, which tries to create optimal environmental conditions so that there could be life, the first action had been to transform the massively present carbon dioxide. In order to support his thesis, the scientist put forward three arguments. Firstly, the surface temperature remained between 10˚C and 20˚C even thought the Sun’s energy warmth increased over 40% since the Big-Bang (remember that during the ice age, temperature went down of 3˚C or 4˚C, which resulted in several kilometers of ice). Technically, we should all be on fire right now – no pun intended- but our dear Earth is cooling off the temperature so that we can live. Secondly, the composition of our planet’s atmosphere remained stable, even though it is suppose to be varying all the time. Thirdly, the saltines of the oceans also remained constant, regardless of the natural geological alterations that happened over time (these alterations, such as erosion, add an incredible amount of salt into the oceans). The Gaia Theory stipulates that the Earth regulates all of these factors. This brought Lovelock to enounce another observation: “The temperature, oxidation state, acidity, and certain aspects of the rocks and water are kept constant, and this homeostasis is maintained by active feedback processes operated automatically and unconsciously by the biota.”
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This post was edited on: 2009-06-16 at 12:22 PM by: laurentye
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Laurent Ye
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Re: Earth: Looking Beyond
June 16, 2009 - 12:10 PM
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The Sequel
This theory should bring us to think differently about the Earth. It is very interesting, indeed, to make a link between Gaia and a human being. Gaia is one big life form that holds many other small organisms inside it. The same concept can work for us too: our body contains many cells which work automatically and unconsciously. These cells contain even smaller cells such as mitochondria. To end this comparison, we should note that, just like Gaia, we also maintain a certain state of balance in our body (a state called “homeostasis”). When the internal agents of our body changes or fluctuates, our body reacts in diverse ways. Technically, we respond to these changes. Take for example fever. When our body’s temperature rises we start to feel bad and swollen and at a certain point, if it keeps our body at a temperature which is intolerable to the organisms to whom we are the host, we would die. The same thing goes for Gaia. We can compare the entity’s state of global warming to a human’s rising body temperature. I firmly believe that the Earth hosts thinking creatures… so does our body. Does that mean that our cells can think? I will stop my question there for if I don’t, I might get a bit too philosophical… You might also say that the Earth hosts more death matter than living ones. Well… what bout trees? While it is true that once we’ve striped it from its leaves and cut it, the tree will be constituted of dead cells (that’s the wood) but originally, it was a living thing.
If we follow the Gaia theory, each living being’s role is to maintain a certain balance on Earth (its chemical atmospheric composition, the quantity of UV rays that can pass through it, the surface temperature, etc.) Unfortunately, if Gaia can live on forever (well, we hope that it can), we may not. James Lovelock declared this in his book: The Ages of Gaia: “… since the industrial revolution, men have changes the face of the Earth although the planet, with time, can regain its state of balance by adjusting itself in order to face the changes and consequence of their act. The same cannot be said for us, human beings. Indeed, our reign might be only temporary, for we are simply part of another age of Gaia.” To conclude on a personal thought: could we compare the human race to a cancer that is slowly eating Gaia away? We are similar to a carcinogenic agent, which was able to break away from the Earth’s control, and wreaking havoc upon our host. Once we have created a place that is unsuitable to us, we would sign our death while Gaia would still be standing. All in all, Mother Nature will always have the last word.
This post was edited on: 2009-06-16 at 12:22 PM by: laurentye
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siddiqua
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Re: Earth: Looking Beyond
July 5, 2009 - 03:29 AM
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I wouldn't conclude that the human race is like a cancer destroying Gaia slowly, because I'm a human being myself. But yes, I think every pert of the earth is alive.
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jodevizes
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Re: Earth: Looking Beyond
July 6, 2009 - 04:12 PM
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Trust me hairless apes, you are but a minor skin irritation in the life of the planet. What ever you do, whatever you create will be assimilated into the earth, leaving but a bare trace.
Just look at some of your roads, in your houses and other buildings, see the little shoots of plants coming up through your concrete, tarmac and bricks, see the ants, termites, moths and beatles chew up the insides of your dwellings.
In another million years you will be just detritus in the strata of my rocks. Silly apes.
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Jo Devizes knows a womens website that is rather good.
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Justin Lawrence
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Re: Earth: Looking Beyond
August 6, 2009 - 12:03 PM
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We are like a butterfly to our great Mother Earth. We are born as something that has no great affect on its environment. We then grow into a butterfly and help our world to survive through the ages, and then we die, only to be replaced by another butterfly. We are like an infestation, with countless numbers of us, and yet we are not. We are born, we help or harm Motheer Earth, and then we die to be replaced by another in an ever continuos, ever changing, circle that remains a constant to Earth's survival.
We humans came to be as young and foolish, yet through the ages we have grown and learned. This can't be in vain or it would be a waste. I mean not to be philosophical, but maybe our race was created to care for our mother and then, like all children must, say goodbye and move on. I only wish that we do not sit by her deathbed and know that we caused it.
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Laurent Ye
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Re: Earth: Looking Beyond
August 7, 2009 - 01:47 PM
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jodevizes wrote:
Trust me hairless apes, you are but a minor skin irritation in the life of the planet. What ever you do, whatever you create will be assimilated into the earth, leaving but a bare trace.
Just look at some of your roads, in your houses and other buildings, see the little shoots of plants coming up through your concrete, tarmac and bricks, see the ants, termites, moths and beatles chew up the insides of your dwellings.
In another million years you will be just detritus in the strata of my rocks. Silly apes.
How about nuclear weapons then?
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jodevizes
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Re: Earth: Looking Beyond
August 8, 2009 - 03:49 AM
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Radioactivity is already present in the rocks of the Earth. Granite has traces, then there is uranium. As the Earth is 8 billion years old that is long enough to get rid of most radioactivity. The Earth has been hit by some serious lumps of rocks that make our nuclear explosions look like goldfish farts.
We will be but a blip, some interesting artifacts left in the sediment.
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Jo Devizes knows a womens website that is rather good.
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