Gaia in Turmoil Climate Change, Biodepletion, and Earth Ethics in an Age of Crisis

by Crist, Eileen; Rinker, H. Bruce; McKibben, Bill

• ISBN13: 9780262513524
• ISBN10: 0262513528
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-10-16
• Publisher: The MIT Press

Summary

Gaian theory, which holds that Earth's physical and biological processes are inextricably bound to form a self-regulating system, is more relevant than ever in light of increasing concerns about global climate change. The Gaian paradigm of Earth as a living system, first articulated by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, has inspired a burgeoning body of researchers working across disciplines that range from physics and biology to philosophy and politics. Gaia in Turmoilreflects this disciplinary richness and intellectual diversity, with contributions (including essays by both Lovelock and Margulis) that approach the topic from a wide variety of perspectives, discussing not only Gaian science but also global environmental problems and Gaian ethics and education. Contributors focus first on the science of Gaia, considering such topics as the workings of the biosphere, the planet's water supply, and evolution; then discuss Gaian perspectives on global environmental change, including biodiversity destruction and global warming; and finally explore the influence of Gaia on environmental policy, ethics, politics, technology, economics, and education. Gaia in Turmoilbreaks new ground by focusing on global ecological problems from the perspectives of Gaian science and knowledge, focusing especially on the challenges of climate change and biodiversity destruction. Contributors:David Abram, Donald Aitken, Connie Barlow, J. Baird Callicott, Bruce Clarke, Eileen Crist, Tim Foresman, Stephan Harding, Barbara Harwood, Tim Lenton, Eugene Linden, Karen Litfin, James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis, Bill McKibben, Martin Ogle, H. Bruce Rinker, Mitchell Thomashow, Tyler Volk, Hywel Williams

Author Biography

Eileen Crist is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Virginia Tech, the author of Images of Animals: Anthropomorphism and the Animal Mind, and the coeditor of Scientists Debate Gaia (MIT Press, 2004).

H. Bruce Rinker is Science Chairman at North Cross School in Roanoke, Virgina, and the coeditor of Forest Canopies.

Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature, is a visiting scholar at Middlebury College.

Eileen Crist is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Virginia Tech, the author of Images of Animals: Anthropomorphism and the Animal Mind, and the coeditor of Scientists Debate Gaia (MIT Press, 2004).

H. Bruce Rinker is Science Chairman at North Cross School in Roanoke, Virgina, and the coeditor of Forest Canopies.

James Lovelock is the originator of the Gaia hypothesis (now Gaia theory). His many books on the subject include Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, The Revenge of Gaia, The Vanishing Face of Gaia, and A Rough Ride to the Future. The author of more than 200 scientific papers, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974.

Tyler Volk is Science Director of Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology at New York University. He is the author of Gaia's Body: Toward a Physiology of the Earth (MIT Press, 2003), Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind, and other books.

Lynn Margulis (1938–2011) was Distinguished Professor of Botany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. An evolutionary theorist and biologist, science author, and educator, Margulis was the modern originator of the symbiotic theory of cell evolution. Once considered heresy, her ideas are now part of the microbiological revolution.

H. Bruce Rinker is Science Chairman at North Cross School in Roanoke, Virgina, and the coeditor of Forest Canopies.

Connie Barlow is a science writer.

Mitchell Thomashow is the author of Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist, Bringing the Biosphere Home: Learning to Perceive Global Environmental Change, and The Nine Elements of a Sustainable Campus (all published by the MIT Press).

Eileen Crist is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Virginia Tech, the author of Images of Animals: Anthropomorphism and the Animal Mind, and the coeditor of Scientists Debate Gaia (MIT Press, 2004).

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introductory Essays
One Grand Organic Whole	p. 3
Our Sustainable Retreat	p. 21
The Science of Gaia
How the Biosphere Works	p. 27
Water Gaia	p. 41
Thousand Million Years of Wetness on Planet Earth
Gaia and Evolution	p. 61
Forest Systems and Gaia Theory	p. 85
Imperiled Biosphere
Gaia and Biodiversity	p. 107
Global Warming, Rapid Climate Change, and Renewable Energy Solutions for Gaia	p. 125
Gaia's Freshwater: An Oncoming Crisis	p. 151
Deep Time Lags: Lessons from Pleistocene Ecology	p. 165
Gaian Ethics and Education
From the Land Ethic to the Earth Ethic	p. 177
Aldo Leopold and the Gaia Hypothesis
Principles of Gaian Governance: A Rough Sketch	p. 195
In the Depths of a Breathing Planet	p. 221
Gaia and the Transformation of Experience
Sustainability and an Earth Operating System for Gaia	p. 243
The Gaian Generation	p. 255
A New Approach to Environmental Learning
Gaia Theory	p. 275
Model and Metaphor for the Twenty-first Century
Neocybernetics of Gaia	p. 293
The Emergence of Second-Order Gaia Theory
Intimations of Gaia	p. 315
Afterword
Gaia Going Forward	p. 337
About the Contributors	p. 343
Index	p. 347
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