Lovelock is the originator of the Gaia principle, which asserts that the Earth behaves as a living organism. The planet’s systems work together to maintain conditions favourable for life, it is like a huge self-regulating system. Nevertheless, human activities are disrupting this equilibrium and have pushed the planet towards a crucial turning point. He suggests that Gaia will retaliate against the abuse she has been inflicted upon, leading to drastic and potentially irreversible changes. As a book belonging to the Green Ideas Series by Penguin, this excerpt from James Lovelock’s “The Revenge of Gaia,” published in 2006, elucidates the environmental challenges with a sense of awe. I was thrilled to learn about the Gaia principle, which seems so intuitive and beautiful.
“Gaia, the living Earth, is old and not as strong as she was two billion years ago. She struggles to keep the Earth cool enough for her myriad forms of life against the ineluctable increase of the sun’s heat. But to add to her difficulties, one of those forms of life, humans, disputatious tribal animals with dreams of conquest even of other planets, has tried to rule the Earth for their own benefit alone. With breathtaking insolence they have taken the stores of carbon that Gaia buried to keep oxygen at its proper level and burnt them. In so doing they have usurped Gaia’s authority and thwarted her obligation to keep the planet fit for life; they thought only of their own comfort and convenience.”
First published in “The Revenge of Gaia” 2006