I had just bought some future beachfront property in Nevada, counting on the greenhouse effect to melt the ice caps and inundate California, when I heard about the “Gaia” theory. In a nutshell, this theory says that living things on earth change the environment to suit themselves, instead of just adapting. One result of the “Gaia effect,” which threatens my get-rich-quick scheme, is that CO2 in the atmosphere has decreased, not increased, over geologic periods of time and will continue to do so–hence no greenhouse effect. Can you tell me more about this theory? –Barry Aldridge, Chicago
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Hoo boy. We’re talking about one of the major irruptions of New Age mysticism into mainstream science, and let me tell you, you haven’t even heard the good part yet. Gaiaism was first propounded by British biochemist J.E. Lovelock in a book called Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979) and later in The Ages of Gaia (1988). Lovelock argues that the planet earth, which he calls Gaia, is a living organism, although not a conscious one. And I don’t mean just that rocks have souls. Lovelock thinks all terrestrial life, us included, interacts with the earth to form a single living entity. In other words, Barry, maybe your job on this planet is to be the earth’s toenails. I’m the brains, naturally, and I know a couple people who are leading candidates for assho– well, no need to get graphic. But you know what I mean.
