Kim Peart
‘The Vanishing Face of Gaia – A Final Warning’, is the latest book by the scientist who conceived the Gaia Theory, explaining how all Earth’s systems work together to provide an environment that is
friendly for life and has allowed the emergence of human civilization. James Lovelock is not only a visionary, but also a practical scientist who once worked for NASA with the Viking mission to Mars and invented the machine that detected the gases destroying the ozone layer.
In his latest book he warns that with “global heating” we are looking down the barrels of an environmental catastrophe that will be hard to avoid and may even put our very survival at risk. Lovelock believes that, “Our obligation as an intelligent species is to survive” p.63 and that extraordinary measures will be required to achieve this.
Many authors on climate change are now telling a similar story of what the Earth would be like as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, causing the temperature to rise. A dark snapshot of this future can be read in New Scientist magazine of 28 February this year.
The current economic collapse shows just how rapidly disaster can overtake us and how amazingly unprepared we are to deal with it. Professor Dennis Meadows who led the research team in ‘The Limits to Growth’ study in 1972 recently warned while receiving a top science prize in Japan, “Growth will not end gradually or peacefully in the distant future. It will end soon and suddenly through overshoot and collapse.” Space Daily online 23 April 2009.
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Japan_honours_Limits_to_Growth_science_author_999.html
I remember all too vividly the conversations with Bill Mollison in Hobart in 1975, when he was germinating the Permaculture concept, describe how society could collapse and the social disaster that may unfold. In his 2005 book ‘Collapse’ Jared Diamond describes in some detail how many societies have fallen through history, to be swept into the dust of time and warns, “it is doubtful that Australia can even support its present population: the best estimate of a population sustainable at the present standard of living is 8 million people” p.398.
Lovelock believes that we have time to act, but also that we need to prepare for survival, if we cannot stop the temperature from rising. He sees the present period as like the years before World War Two and wonders if it will take the emergence of a leader like Winston Churchill to lead his native England into the future. He believes that there will be a number of safe places where civilization can be protected and will fare better through global warming, including England, Japan New Zealand and Tasmania. p.11.
But, should the world go mad and pirate fleets crewed by the desperate roam the oceans, as now happens out of Somalia, will anywhere be safe?
It is hard to find hope for the future of humanity in Lovelock’s predictions, where he sees bastions of survivors defending their area from desperate refugees. Lovelock does see hope for humanity, if we can unify our vision and work as one to save ourselves. In this he observes,”Almost all of our achievements come from single acts of genius or leadership amplified coherently by the many.” p.157
Lovelock expresses the fear that “environmentalism show signs of becoming a faith” p.157 and will lead too many in the wrong direction with simplistic solutions, where a far more comprehensive vision is needed to deal with global warming and ensuring our survival in a hotter world. One answer, he suggests, could be a sunshield to help cool the Earth. Located between Earth and the Sun. p.95. A sunshield would also help our survival and the future of life on Earth in the longer-term, as our Sun gets steadily hotter and rages with age.
We are a deeply technological civilization, whether searching through the Internet, building robots to work on the Moon by 2020, or designing weapons that can destroy all life. We could all too easily
destroy ourselves by inaction or misdirection, but Lovelock sees hope for us yet when he writes, “We are deeply impressed by the power of our weapons, yet they are puny compared to the most powerful weapon of all: creative intelligence.” p.157.
As a space scientist and astronaut in training for one of the early Virgin Galactic flights into space, it is surprising that Lovelock makes no further mention of the role space development could play in
ensuring our survival, as our ability to build a sunshield will require the opening of space to mining and industry and if we wish to extend the life of the Earth as the Sun grows hotter, securing a
sustainable presence in space. It is perhaps in a future work that Lovelock may bring his vision to a future where humanity has secured their survival with a sustainable presence in space and on Earth.
Other books I have read in recent months on climate change include:
‘Evolution’s Edge’ by Graeme Taylor, 2008
‘Climate Code Red’ by David Spratt & Philip Sutton, 2008
‘We are the Weather Makers’ by Tim Flannery, 2006
Tim Flannery’s ‘Now or Never: A Sustainable Future for Australia’, Quarterly Essay issue 31 2008
‘Climate Wars’ by Gwynne Dyer, 2008
To gain a clearer understanding of climate change I am currently reading:
‘Understanding Climate Change’ by Richard Whitaker, 2007 with another book lined up to follow:
‘The Rough Guide to Climate Change’ by Robert Henson, 2006, which has a ‘Forward’ by James Lovelock.
Kim Peart
Vandemonian
Brisbane
