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Gaia - the supreme goddess of earth

Saturday, 7 February 2009

The Gaia hypothesis was developed by James Lovelock, and named after a rather badly behaved supreme goddess of the earth... It basically states that the biosphere - all the living things on earth, is connected closely with all the components of earth: the atmosphere - the layer of gasses surrouding the earth, the lithosphere - the rocky outer shell, the hydrosphere - all the water basically, and the cryosphere - all the ice. This relationship maintains the climatic and biogeochemical conditions in a preferred stable state.

According to James Lovelock, by 2040, the world population of more than six billion will have been culled by floods, drought and famine. The people of Southern Europe, as well as South-East Asia, will be fighting their way into countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain. He says that "By 2040, parts of the Sahara desert will have moved into middle Europe. We are talking about Paris - as far north as Berlin. In Britain we will escape because of our oceanic position." Lovelock believes it is too late to repair the damage created by greenhouse gases. "If you take the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predictions, then by 2040 every summer in Europe will be as hot as it was in 2003 - between 110F and 120F. It is not the death of people that is the main problem, it is the fact that the plants can't grow - there will be almost no food grown in Europe. We are about to take an evolutionary step and my hope is that the species will emerge stronger. It would be hubris to think humans as they now are God's chosen race."

What I think Melburnians experienced today, for the first time since climate change entered the mass media, was a realisation of the potential consequences and that something might actually be happening that will affect them. The hottest day on record, EVER, after 34 days without rain and 2 weeks of hot weather was a shock. Crops failed all over Victoria... Bush fires reigned... enormous 20km long fire fronts developed... Flames licked Melbourne's fringes as well as the rural areas and pressed through power station easements, causing power outages all over the state to more than 100 000 people... Homes were lost... Roads closed... Trains and buses ground to a halt... The cool change finally arrived, but it hasn't helped... Fires still rage throughout the state... Gaia's revenge...

Labels: gaia

posted by genloz at 9:38 PM