James Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis

Question 1

Lovelock is ecoholistic. What does ecoholism mean?

Answer 1

A holistic way of thinking about the environment.

Question 2

Why was Lovelock’s position at NASA important?

Answer 2

He noticed that planets with an atmosphere made up of mostly inert gasses did not contain any form of life. Those that did have chemically active gasses in the atmosphere did not have life on them - inspired the Gaia Hypothesis.

Question 3

An example of complex relationships between things.

Answer 3

Pilot fish/sharks - symbiotic relationship.

Question 4

According to Lovelock, the Earth appears to be what?

Answer 4

Regulated.

Examples; ocean salinity, atmospheric composition and global surface temperature.

Question 5

What is Gaia?

Answer 5

Derived from Ancient Greek - Goddess of the Earth.

Question 6

Quote about the Gaia Hypothesis - Lovelock.

Answer 6

‘A complex entity involving the Earth’s 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’.

Question 7

What does Gaia do?

Answer 7

She regulates the stable conditions needed for growth and development.
Conditions favour life.
Not random, but intelligently designed.

Question 8

Evidence of maintenance - Chernobyl.

Answer 8

An accident at a Soviet nuclear power plant in 1986. Human life was eradicated there, and the surrounding area (Chernobyl Exclusion Zone) due to extreme levels of radiation. Now there are signs of life in the CEZ - Gaia has readdressed the balance.

Question 9

Evidence of maintenance - fossils.

Answer 9

Lovelock examined the fossil evidence which showed that climate change has taken place within a very narrow range so that life was never destroyed - Gaia is ensuring that life is continued. Life cannot be destroyed if Gaia does not permit it.

Question 10

What is the relationship between Gaia and humans?

Answer 10

Gaia can survive without humans as humans are contingent. If humans abuse Gaia then they risk their own survival as Gaia owes humans nothing and owe her their existence.

Question 11

Strength of Gaia’s Hypothesis - anthropocentric.

Answer 11

The Gaia hypothesis challenges anthropocentric understandings of the Earth because it suggests that humans are not the most important species, but just one part of a living whole.

Question 12

Strength of Gaia’s Hypothesis - secular.

Answer 12

It is a secular, not religious theory, although the idea that the world is a living entity has attracted a minority of religious-like followers. It is also opposed to Darwinism and evolution because it creates a role for Gaia in the development of organisms.

Question 13

Strength of Gaia’s Hypothesis - interdependence.

Answer 13

It emphasises not the rights of humans but the interdependence of all ecosystems and see the environment as a whole entity, valuable in itself. It also shows how the world could survive without humans and that they are dependent on it, rather than the other way around.

Question 14

Weakness of Gaia’s Hypothesis - reproducing.

Answer 14

Inherent in a living thing is the ability to reproduce, humankind has the ability to reproduce, but how can the Earth reproduce?

Question 15

Weakness of Gaia’s Hypothesis - space.

Answer 15

Exploration of space: colonisation and terraforming other planets.

Question 16

Weakness of Gaia’s Hypothesis - Darwin.

Answer 16

Darwin came up with the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’; species typically evolve to suit the conditions available and is a result of chance. However, Lovelock claims that the conditions of the Earth are managed by Gaia and is not random, but intelligent self-regulation.

Question 17

Weakness of Gaia’s Hypothesis - Lynn Margulis.

Answer 17

States that animals will at times combine with other organisms in a symbiotic relationship in order to survive - pilot fish.

Question 18

Weakness of Gaia’s Hypothesis - Lovelock.

Answer 18

In his latest book ‘The Revenge of Gaia’, Lovelock was, however, more pessimistic about the ability of the planet to respond to climate change and self-regulate in the face of the damage being done to it by humans.