James Lovelock: The Earth is about to catch a morbid fever that may last

[Flabbergasted]

as long as 100,000 years

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article338830.ece

The climate centres around the world, which are the equivalent of the pathology lab of a hospital, have reported the Earth's physical condition, and the climate specialists see it as seriously ill, and soon to pass into a morbid fever that may last as long as 100,000 years. I have to tell you, as members of the Earth's family and an intimate part of it, that you and especially civilisation are in grave danger.

Our planet has kept itself healthy and fit for life, just like an animal does, for most of the more than three billion years of its existence. It was ill luck that we started polluting at a time when the sun is too hot for comfort. We have given Gaia a fever and soon her condition will worsen to a state like a coma. She has been there before and recovered, but it took more than 100,000 years. We are responsible and will suffer the consequences: as the century progresses, the temperature will rise 8 degrees centigrade in temperate regions and 5 degrees in the tropics.

Much of the tropical land mass will become scrub and desert, and will no longer serve for regulation; this adds to the 40 per cent of the Earth's surface we have depleted to feed ourselves.

Perhaps the saddest thing is that Gaia will lose as much or more than we do. Not only will wildlife and whole ecosystems go extinct, but in human civilisation the planet has a precious resource. We are not merely a disease; we are, through our intelligence and communication, the nervous system of the planet. Through us, Gaia has seen herself from space, and begins to know her place in the universe.

We should be the heart and mind of the Earth, not its malady. So let us be brave and cease thinking of human needs and rights alone, and see that we have harmed the living Earth and need to make our peace with Gaia. We must do it while we are still strong enough to negotiate, and not a broken rabble led by brutal war lords. Most of all, we should remember that we are a part of it, and it is indeed our home.

[Wilber_Stool]

1. If you extrapolate that for an 80 year human life,

it's like having diarrhea. The planet will be fine in a day. We, on the other hand, are doomed.

[roguevalley]

2. This kills me. I'm glad I have no kids.

[Mugu]

3. I'm so confused.

In the second paragraph the author claims that Gaia has been warmer before and it took 100,000 years for her to heal. So there can be a reason other than humans that can cause warming? I thought that only humans caused Gaia’s problems.

In the third paragraph the author refers to “the 40 per cent of the Earth's surface we have depleted to feed ourselves.” I just looked out my kitchen window and sure as shit, they’re plowing the field that they used last year to grow corn and they’re going to grow beans this year. The field behind my house that for over 100 years provided food for people and animals, has been allowed to go fallow. It’s a great hunting spot now with trees, grasses, and other flora.

The fields in front of my house grew corn and beans for over 100 years has now grown a bumper-crop of houses and condos.

Depleted? I think not.

[Vickers]

5. "I thought that only humans caused Gaia’s problems." Where does it

say that?

Oh, and welcome to DU yadda yadda yadda...

[Mugu]

7. What are we to do?

I thought that the point is that we need to change our behavior to save Gaia. If the problem happens without humans what are we to do?

Thank you for the welcome yadda yadda

[Vickers]

8. Lemme ask you this: if your house catches on fire, do you throw gas on it?

:shrug:

Just trying to figure out your thought process here.

[Mugu]

11. If it were only 1cc of gasoline `

it wouldn’t make any difference on the outcome.

[Vickers]

13. So, you would throw 1 cc of gas on the house instead of trying to put

it out?

:rofl:

I think I'm starting to understand you now!

ENJOY YOUR STAY!!!

[Mugu]

18. You didn’t offer that option in your original post.

I stand by my post, if you stand outside facing West and scream, it’s not going to affect the jet stream no matter how hard you try.

One of my favorite pastimes is to make high voltage, it terrifies my girlfriend and scares the hell out of my friends and neighbors (and yes I have had fires on many occasions). They’re going to really love my latest machine, which should produce well over a megavolt, but my point is that they liken my arcs to lightning and thunder. While it tickles me that people cower when my machines roar, I can’t even imagine in my wildest dreams competing with, or altering nature on even the most miniscule level.

I’m assuming that your statement about “enjoy your stay” implies that I’m not enough like you to play in your neighborhood. Was it something I said? I’ll stand by my environmental record anytime.

I have chores that must be done, the animals have to be fed. When I get a chance I’ll check back later.

Regards,

Mugu

[htuttle]

6. Live near the ocean?

I hope so.

[Mugu]

9. Nope upper Mid-West

We’re suffering through a drought. The precipitation seems to track either to the North or South and has for several years. I’m quite concerned about the trees, I lost several 10 year old trees last year and the ponds are mud puddles, the fish long ago coon food.

However, I lived in Western Kansas in the 50s and can remember mom placing wet towels under the doors and windows. You could see where you slept in the sheets the night before, because of the dust, and the 50s weren’t as bad as the 20s.

Live in the Mid-West long enough and you learn that every year is bad for the farmers. It’s too wet or too dry, or the conditions perfect and prices low, it’s never good. And 15 thousand years ago, there was 3000’ of ice on top of the ground so farming really sucked.

[NickB79]

16. Have you farmed recently?

I have seen cornfields in Iowa that haven't been rotated to another crop in a decade. The soil is like sand, whereas nearby fields that have been rotated between corns, soybeans, alfalfa, etc, have deep, rich soil. The massive cornfields are on life support from the synthetic fertilizers and irrigation we have to apply just to keep them growing crops. That is depleted. The field near you obviously has been worked by farmers that are more far-sighted than most, as they at least practice crop rotation.

Why do they grow crops this way instead of rotating them? Because an industrial farm gears up to grow one crop for long periods of time to save money on unnecessary equipment. You get everything you need to grow corn, and then cultivate 1000-acre fields year after year while believing you can make up for the losses with fertilizers. Eventually though, it all catches up to you. This spring I've heard many, many farmers now speaking of losing money on their fields when they factor in the cost of skyrocketing fertilizer prices. They are scared, as they should be. Converting to soybeans isn't an option because they don't have the money to buy new equipment, and the yields would be low for at least a few years due to the incredibly poor conditions of the soil.

Of course, this is the US, where our soil depletion isn't nearly as bad as in the developing nations. Try to grow crops on a baked hardpan of clay in what was once an Amazonian forest in Brazil that was slash-and-burned for a few years of food production before being left empty. Try growing wheat and soybeans in northern China, where desertification has rendered fields there dustbowls.

Consider this: much of the Middle East, just as Syria and Israel, as well as the entire Mediterranian region, was once the original "breadbasket" of the world. What is now scrublands was covered in cypress forests. What is now desert was grasslands and fields of wheat, rye and barley. Human overgrazing, deforestation and overfarming destroyed all this in the past 5000 years. With 6.5 billion people on this planet, I fear we will need far less than 5000 years to do similar damage on a global scale.

[FiveGoodMen]

4. I really don't think the earth cares about which life survives

and which goes extinct. There's no reason (other than poetic) to think that the earth is a creature--that it has a mind; that it "cares" about anything.

We should care. But I wouldn't try turning the earth into a super-being just to make the point.

[Cheeps]

10. Didn't George Carlin...

once say that the only reason we're here is that the planet wanted plastic and couldn't come up with it on its own??? We've sure as hell come thru big time!

Lisa

[FiveGoodMen]

14. Yup -- "Why are we here? Plastic."

That was a funny and insightful peace. George may have said more sane things -- in public -- in my lifetime than anyone else I know.

[Mugu]

12. Nature can be very harsh without any human provocation.

I can remember seeing jackrabbits so thick that it looked like entire fields were hopping around. You couldn’t drive anyplace without squishing them like bugs on the windshield. In an effort to curb the problem, the county offered a bounty of $.05 for each pair of ears. Hunters would drive down country roads with a man on each fender of the car. They would routinely kill 200 rabbits each in an afternoon. The county went bankrupt in less than a month and the rabbit population exploded anyway. Then rabbit fever went through. It was a kill unlike anything that you can even imagine.

For years you saw more deer than rabbits. It cured one problem for the farmers, but now the predators were forced to hunt farm animals. It’s always something.

[FiveGoodMen]

15. That's for sure!

That's the reason I worry when people try to claim that everything is god's will. You end up believing in a very nasty god instead of a very indifferent set of random forces.

[okieinpain]

17. well I just don't believe it. I heard rush today and he said that the sun

is just hot. so I tend to believe rush, rather then someone that's been studying that stuff all of their lives. see studying stuff like that is just boring, and well a little weird. so those scientist guys must be weird too. they should try relaxing maybe take some oxycotin or something.

:~)