The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity

This is a deceptively short book, but let's start (near) the beginning.

James Lovelock was the scientist (and he's a fully paid up, kosher scientist, not some New Age quack) who put into words the concept of the Earth as a living, self-regulating entity.

No, don't pick up your coat just yet... he

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doesn't ascribe a consciousness to this mechanism, which, for simplicity's sake is called Gaia (courtesy of his neighbour, William Golding). Gaia is the process by which the Earth behaves as a single, self-regulating system, comprised of physical, chemical, biological and human components. The interactions between the component parets are complex and exhibit multi-scale temporal and spatial variability.

Gaia, Lovelock explains, is a dynamic system, and one that uses the natural resources available to it to manage the process. Unfortunately, human activities have wrested more and more of these resources from Nature's control, and have severely hampered the system's ability to self-regulate. Lovelock therefore fears - nay, predicts, even - a 'tipping point' in climate is approaching, one which will push the climate beyond Gaia's ability to moderate sufficiently to be compatible with our (the Western world's) lifestyle.

Ironically, current pollution levels are helping keep temperatures down because the suspended particulates in the air filter and reflect sunlight back into space. Unfortunately, these particulates have a relatively short shelf-life in the atmosphere, such that were we to cease all emissions tomorrow, within a few weeks the protective blanket's effectiveness would dwindle, and the temperature would increase. So simply turning off the switches isn't going to help as much as one might thing.

Yeah, it's a fairly depressing read, and despite Lovelock's eminence in his field, I'm not wholly certain of his impartiality in the long, hard-sell section devoted to nuclear power.

Anyway, Lovelock's central thesis is that the Earth cannot support the lifestyle we currently enjoy/expect/demand. It can't support that lifestyle for the existing populations that enjoy it, let alone accommodate the developing nations' thirst for the same.

Indeed, he argues that we need to step back. That 'sustainable development' isn't sustainable, and what we need to be looking at is 'sustainable retreat'.

Oddly enough, I came across a page at The Beeb the other day which claimed that if the planet were to enjoy a UK lifestyle, we'd need 3.7 earths to provide the resource for it. Apparently, the magic 1 Earth figure equates to a 1961 lifestyle...

I digress. Lovelock's main message is that we should be doing all we can to prepare for a soft, powered landing, now, rather than panic when the whole system tilts us into a brand new, hotter world.

It's a thought provoking book, but a depressing one. I'm not terribly well-read in this field (although I am intending to continue exploring), so I have no feel for how 'out there' Lovelock is. Some of the language, some of the metaphors, jar in what one expects to be a studious tome. But maybe this is no bad thing.

It's a quick read, and an illuminating one. 's worth a look.

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Lovelock is a non-conformist thinker with an entertaining writing style. His book is an appeal from the heart. It is slightly rough around the edges but it carries a forceful message. Put simply the global natural ecosystem is in bad health. Thus appropriate urgent action (life support) is required

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to keep the natural systems working temporarily whilst we find and adapt to workable long-term solutions.

Lovelock dismisses the linguistic wordplay about whether the ecosphere (Gaia) is alive or is merely an adaptive homeostatic physiological system. He acknowledges many ecological blunders caused by industries during the 20th century. Nonetheless he argues we must put aside subsequent irrational fears driven by political mischief. We have no choice but to responsibly and carefully use nuclear power and pesticides. He proposes we divide the world into three equal proportional allocated to untamed nature, scientifically informed farming and human cities.

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This is my first Lovelock book. I firmly believe in the dangers of climate change. On the downside I found it to be eccentric, lose with facts, not well researched for other points of view (or intentionally ignoring them), preachy and somewhat insular. His arguments pro-nuclear sound good but he

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never mentions some of the strong counter-arguments (ie. we would need a new Yucca mountain every year if the entire world was powered by nuclear, and no, burying nuclear waste in Lovelocks backyard to heat his home is not a viable option for a bunch of reasons - and an array of other counter-arguments). His argument that organic food can not feed the world is incorrect (all of China was organic until not long ago, many studies show this, the world doesn't need American style industry-ag to feed itself). His core message is sound: we are in more trouble and urgent action is needed. Also the idea that the world is healthier cold, and heat is a sign of stress, is interesting. His distaste for wind power because it destroys the countryside? The desire to return to 1840 when things were a garden of eden? There were many times I cringed "but.. but.." - Lovelock once again proves to be controversial but at the same time there are some brilliant ideas and insights that make it worth the time to read.

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The original "geophysiologist" recommends nuclear (fission now, fusion eventually) as the way to go for energy generation. But he fears it's too late to avoid a thousand-century hot age when human civilization, if it survives at all, will be confined to the polar regions.

For millennia, humankind has exploited the Earth without counting the cost. Now, as the world warms and weather patterns dramatically change, the Earth is beginning to fight back. James Lovelock, one of the giants of environmental thinking, argues passionately and poetically that, although global

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warming is now inevitable, we are not yet too late to save at least part of human civilization. This short book, written at the age of eighty-six after a lifetime engaged in the science of the earth, is his testament.

He argues for nuclear power and highlights the downsides of renewables (lack of reliability, insufficient scope and nasty side effects)

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One of the striking things about places heavily contaminated by radioactive waste is the richness of their wildlife. This is true of the land around Chernobyl, the bomb test sites of the Pacific, and areas near the United States' Savannah River nuclear weapons plant of the Second World War. Wild

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plants and animals do not perceive radiation as dangerous, and any slight reduction it may cause in their lifespans is far less a hazard than is the presence of people and their pets. It is easy to forget now that we are so numerous, almost anything we do in the way of farming, forestry and home building is harmful to wildlife and Gaia. The preference of wildlife for nuclear-waste sites suggests that the best sites for its disposal are the tropical forests and other habitats in need of a reliable guardian against their destruction by hungry farmers and developers.

Although I had heard of the Gaia theory, I had not read about it in any detail before so there were quite a few surprises awaiting me between the covers of this book.

And are we all doomed? Most likely yes.

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It was James Lovelock who put into words the concept of the Earth as a living entity. Anything that smacks of New Age or mysticism usually makes me gag, but I kept going because the author doesn't ascribe a consciousness to this mechanism, which he calls Gaia. Rather, Gaia is the process by which

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the Earth behaves as a single, self-regulating system. Mr. Lovelock believes that human activities have limited Gaia’s to self-regulate. He believes disaster is all but inevitable .

The book contained some surprising ideas: support for nuclear energy, disapproval of organic farming. But the test for a book like has to go beyond interesting. It needs to make a compelling argument, and I think Mr. Lovelock falls a little short of compelling in several cases.

In spite of his arguments, I have some doubt about the safe disposal of nuclear waste. He is nostalgic to the point of being realistic; for example, when he talks about returning to sailing ships for long distance travel. And, he tells us that Gaia is “old and has not very long to live”. So, either we need a new metaphor or there isn’t much point worrying about anything, including climate change.

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I do not know whether you, like me, listening to the moaning of the Greens, telling us that the world is doomed unless we give up our lifestyle, NOW. Eating lentils and chanting appear to be the only allowable pastimes. I become a rabid gain-sayer of Global Warming and the effects that planetary

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destruct will bring upon us. Then, we get the 'sensible view': some plutocrat in his best pin-stripe suit confidently preaching that it is all nonsense and that we should only be concerned with his accrual of more shiny coins to add to the mountain that he already possesses, and I am ready to lead the revolution - I might even eat the odd lentil!

This is not a healthy way in which to consider the health of our planet and so, thank God for James Lovelock. He states what he believes in a manner so lacking in the stridency of most advocates that he seems quite willing to be proved wrong - and admits to an error in one of his previous books in this text. Lovelock has a carefully considered argument, rather than a series of knee-jerk reactions. He accepts that it is impractical to suggest that we close down our way of life tomorrow and offers ideas that would slow our rape of Gaia.

This approach is far more scary than all the doom-mongers. When one is faced by a reasonable, well argued tract suggesting that it is imperative to take action now, it is hard to dig in one's heels. It is clearly time to do something and, whilst it might make us feel good to stick windmills on every bit of spare space and grow bio-fuels, Lovelock is disparaging about the likely success of these actions. He argues for nuclear power as the only system that will provide the power needed in the time available. He is not too caught up in green philosophy to accept the need for unpleasant actions.

This book should be compulsory reading by every school child. We have messed things up; it is time that we gave the next generation the tools to correct our stupidity and ignorance.

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Excellent book. I read James Lovelock's previous book, Gaia, and was impressed - in part. When I read that book, I felt he was unduly optimistic.

In this book, he struck a more pessimistic note. Since he wrote the earlier book, the world has moved closer to a tipping point. There is one theme that

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comes through persistently, which is this: the earth is a living system, and you cannot just address one small aspect at a time. It is only when we look at nature as a complex system, alive, that we will address how we live our lives.

He is skeptical about most clean energy projects and is a great proponent of nuclear energy. This is an area I need to explore.

James Lovelock pulls no punches, and his style is engaging.
Be prepared to have a few illusions shattered.

Read on.

There is another point he made consistently: we are almost out of time

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