Gaia and Climate Change: A Theology of Gift Events

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Such activity defines the homeostasis, but for leverage it relies on deep investigation of the homeorhetic balances, if only to find places to intervene in a system which is changing in undesirable ways. Tony Bondhus brings up the point in his book, Society of Conceivia , that if Gaia is alive, then societies are living things as well.

This suggests that our understanding of Gaia can be used to create a better society and to design a better political system. Other intellectuals in the environmental movement, like Edward Goldsmith , have used Gaia in the completely opposite way; to stake a claim about how Gaia's focus on natural balance and resistance and resilience, should be emulated to design a conservative political system as explored in Alan Marshall's book The Unity of Nature , Imperial College Press: Gaians do not passively ask "what is going on", but rather, "what to do next", e.

Changes can be planned, agreed upon by many people, being very deliberate, as in urban ecology and especially industrial ecology. See arcology for more on this 'active' view. Gaians argue that it is a human duty to act as such - committing themselves in particular to the Precautionary Principle.

Such views began to influence the Green Parties , Greenpeace , and a few more radical wings of the environmental movement such as the Gaia Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. These views dominate some such groups, e. Some refer to this political activity as a separate and radical branch of the ecology movement , one that takes the axioms of the science of ecology in general, and Gaia theory in particular, and raises them to a kind of theory of personal conduct or moral code.

The ecologist and theologian Anne Primavesi is the author of two books dealing with the Gaia hypothesis and theology. Rosemary Radford Ruether , the American feminist scholar and theologian, wrote a book called "Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing". Many new age authors have written books which mix New Age teachings with Gaia philosophy. This is known as New Age Gaian. Often referred to as Gaianism, or the Gaian Religion, this spiritual aspect of the philosophy is very broad and inclusive, making it adaptable to other religions: The question of "what is an organism ", and at what scale is it rational to speak about organisms vs.

We are all ecologies in the sense that our human bodies contain gut bacteria , parasite species, etc. Applying that thinking to whole planets:. The argument is that these symbiotic organisms, being unable to survive apart from each other and their climate and local conditions, form an organism in their own right, under a wider conception of the term organism than is conventionally used.

It is a matter for often heated debate whether this is a valid usage of the term, but ultimately it appears to be a semantic dispute. In this sense of the word organism, it is argued under the theory that the entire biomass of the Earth is a single organism as Johannes Kepler thought.

Unfortunately, many supporters of the various Gaia theories do not state exactly where they sit on this spectrum; this makes discussion and criticism difficult. Much effort on behalf of those analyzing the theory currently is an attempt to clarify what these different hypotheses are, and whether they are proposals to 'test' or 'manipulate' outcomes. Both Lovelock's and Margulis's understanding of Gaia are considered scientific hypotheses, and like all scientific theories are constantly put to the test.

More speculative versions of Gaia, including all versions in which it is held that the Earth is actually conscious, are currently held to be outside the bounds of science, and are not supported by either Lovelock or Margulis. One of the most problematic issues with referring to Gaia as an organism is its apparent failure to meet the biological criterion of being able to reproduce.

Richard Dawkins has asserted that the planet is not the offspring of any parents and is unable to reproduce.

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Gaia philosophy

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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. Archived from the original on How plants changed Earth's history. An Introduction to the Earth-Life System.

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This page was last edited on 14 February , at By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. London University, D. Bedford Strohm, Ashgate, Farnham pp. Didier Vanhoutte, Les Reseaux du parvis, Paris pp. Voices from Theology and Science , eds. Drees, Hubert Meisinger, Taede A. Smedes, Continuum, London pp.

The Meaning of Gaia, ed. Mary Midgley, Imprint Academic, Exeter pp. John Sawyer, Blackwell, Oxford pp. Science and Mysticism today. Chris Clarke, Imprint Academic pp.

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Lindsay Jones, et al. Macmillan Reference, New York, Vol. English edition forthcoming, published by Brill, Leiden.

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