Over the last few months, I've been reading Animate Earth: Science, Intuition & Gaia by Stephen Harding. Dr. Harding is one of James Lovelock's closest colleagues. He accomplished important extensions of Lovelock's computer model of Gaia, Daisyworld, that demonstrated the model's robustness even with multiple species on multiple trophic levels & that challenged traditional modeling strategies in theoretical ecology & helped resolve an important decades-long debate about the role of complexity in ecosystem stability. (More on that another time.)
Currently, Dr. Harding is "coordinator of the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College" in Dartington, Devon, England. Upon Lynn Margulis' recommendation, I intend to teach a short course there next year.
I'd started reading AE last year upon recommendation from Lynn Margulis during a meeting with her in spring, 2008. She said to me, paraphrasing only slightly, if you want to really understand Gaia, read Animate Earth.
Now, Lynn Margulis is, IMO, one of the greatest biologists of the last few hundred years. OK, OK, the greatest. There, I admitted it. I think she ranks with Charles Darwin. Her work has informed my own development as a biologist since the 1970's, but with accelerating intensity for the last decade. I currently teach courses using no fewer than 5 of her books, & have plans to add more. Her work on eukaryotic cell evolution should win her a Nobel (if only they awarded them for such things). Add her work on speciation in eukaryotes (non-bacterial organisms with DNA in a nucleus) & her contributions to Lovelock's Gaia theory, & she just rocks my science world.
So, when Lynn makes a strong reading suggestion, I listen. I pulled AE off my shelf & started reading it ... that night.
A friend & academy board member had given it to me nearly a year earlier as a gift. I had begun then to read it, but didn't get far for two reasons. First, I was exceptionally busy just then & had insufficient time to read it carefully.
But second, and more challenging, when I read the first two chapters, I sort of walked away with - choosing my words carefully - a slightly uncomfortable feeling like I was dancing dangerously close to something that was squishy & a bit more "new age" than I was interested in.
So, for both reasons, I set it aside until after I had my meeting with Lynn. I read several chapters - including chapter 3 on Gaia hypothesis v theory, & chapter 8, "Desparate Gaia", about ice ages, interglacials (between ice ages) & extreme heating events.
I was impressed. His descriptions offered a nearly intuitive feeling for both topics for an average lay reader, yet with enough technical details to satisfy a PhD in ecology like me.
Then, alas, I got busy again, & had to put it down a second time.
Finally, during June, I pulled it off the shelf once again, dove in, & couldn't put it down.
Within the context of the well-developed science of later chapters, I now understand chapters 1 & 2 & their great importance much more clearly.
Here's a brief (& evolving) synopsis of each chapter.
Chapter 1: Anima Mundi. The crucial role of reintegration of the senses, intuition & ethics with science (rational thinking) as a way of knowing nature. A history of animism, how it has evolved a perspective during human development from childhood, as a perspective in human cultures historically, & needs a resurgence now even if with a different understanding. The role of modern science in shaping western views of nature, including promotion of a "dominance over nature" perspective that has reduced our deeply felt connections to nature & contributed to our current ecological crises. The role of holistic sciences (system sciences) in both explaining nature & understanding it; how by its nature, it promotes a redevelopment of intuition in our understanding of nature while disabusing our wrong-headed notion that we can control it.
Chapter 2: Encountering Gaia. An exposition of how Gaia has been understood using intuition, sensing, feeling & thinking from the perspective of four great thinkers: Aldo Leopold (intuition), David Abram (sensing), Arne Naess (deep ecology) & James Lovelock (Gaia theory).
Chapter 3: From Gaia Hypothesis to Gaia Theory. Pre-Gaia theory views of nature that were precursors of the theory. An explanation of Lovelock's main ideas, including an important distinction between the hypothesis & the theory. Three major criticisms of the theory & how they helped shape it. Major evidence supporting the theory. The role of "tight coupling" (linkage between parts of the system) & feedback. Daisyworld as a brilliant mathematical/computer model of Gaia (explained conceptually).
Chapter 4: Life & the Elements. A description of how the atoms of matter in nature fall into natural categories called elements with distinct behavioral characteristics. An overview of a few main elements playing major roles in Gaia: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, silicon, calcium, sulfur ... Origins of elements & the birth of our solar system.
Chapter 5: Carbon Journeys. Major players in the carbon cycle of Earth: life forms, atmosphere, oceans & rocks. Major forms of carbon in Gaia: organic (carbon-based) molecules, carbon dioxide (CO2), calcium carbonate (CaCO3: chalk & limestone). The crucial role of marine algae like Ehux (Emiliania huxleyii) & the great ocean currents (thermohaline circulation) in regulation of carbon from the atmosphere ("pump down"), rock weathering & volcanoes. The role of CO2 in regulating Earth's long-term temperature. Current trends in atmospheric CO2.
Chapter 6: Life, Clouds & Gaia. Clouds as Gaia's sunshades, cooling our planet against a sun that is getting increasingly brighter. Clouds as a product of sulfur waste products (dimethyl sulfide, or DMS) produced by marine algae, corals & microbes in rain forests. The role of terrestrial ecosystems (biomes) in planetary temperature regulation.
Chapter 7: From Microbes to Cell Giants. A brief history of life on Earth, focusing on how bacteria played a major role in climate regulation for billions of years (& continue to do so today), drastically changing the chemistry of Earth's atmosphere, including original pump down of CO2, production of oxygen & the important role of phosphorus in that process. Evolution of nucleated cells & their role in climate regulation.
Chapter 8: Desperate Gaia. Ice ages, interglacials & global heating events as attractors, with the former two dominating the last 2 million years, & last big heating event during the PETM, 55 million years ago. The astronomical factors that have regularly triggered (but do not "cause") rapid phase transitions between ice ages & interglacials. Why Earth's climate is very unstable & highly sensitive, esp during interglacials. How human activities are triggering the largest heating event since the PETM (although this one could be worse & far faster to develop). Hurricanes as a potential negative feedback to counter the numerous positive feedback processes now kicking in. Sobering conclusions about potential Earth temperature ranges & a thermostat that stuck on high for 200,000 years.
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Even though I might pick a few points in a section or three, overall, I'm very favorably impressed with this book, & largely in agreement with the author's conclusions.
But what really grabbed me, & convinced me to begin a course on this book was Lynn's forward to the book. The following quote, in particular, is what stimulated my decision. In her quote, "It" refers to Animate Earth:
"It should serve as required reading [my emphasis] for at least the following kinds of classes in rough order of importance to their required subject matter): evolution, Earth sciences, biology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, paleontology, economics, comparative religion, ethics, sociology, physiology, meteorology, and especially philosophy."
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