We are Gaians! — United with a living planet in crisis
Versión original en Castellano: ¡Somos de Gaia!, D.C. Wahl, 2005
Many of us are familiar with the name Gaia. But how well do most people understand the concept this word tries to express? Mythologically Gaia refers to the ancient Greek goddess. More than a simple member of the Greek pantheon Gaia was revered as the all containing and all embracing mother. [This article was first published in 2005, in Spanish, by EcoHabitar, Nr.4, pp.40–41. see original copy here.]
According to Greek mythology, the universe began in chaos. From this chaos emerged Gaia to give birth to the world. The poet Hesiod (7th Century B.C.) called Gaia “the mother of all”. She represents the feminine archetype that gives birth to life — a concept as old as human consciousness. Among the ancient American civilizations the equivalent of Gaia was called ‘Pachamama’, referring to the all embracing goddess of Nature.

The resurgence of Gaia in our time owes a lot to the work of the British scientist James Lovelock. In the 1970’s, Lovelock followed the advice of his friend, the writer William Golding, and used the name of the ancient goddess to refer to a revolutionary new hypothesis he wanted to propose.

At the time Lovelock was working for N.A.S.A. on the first project that was investigating the possibility of life on Mars. His job was to design experiments and equipment that could be used to establish whether there was life on the Red Planet.
While analysing new data about the atmospheric composition of various planets, Lovelock realized that Earth was unique in showing a pronounced chemical disequilibrium in the relative composition of gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen in its atmosphere. In comparison, the atmospheres of the other planets in our solar system all had atmospheric compositions in equilibrium, with little potential for further reactions or change.
It was this peculiarity of the Earth’s atmosphere, which led Lovelock to his intuitive insight that maybe life itself was the cause for the disequilibrium in the atmospheric composition of the planet. Lovelock speculated that there was an intimate connection between life and the planet that somehow maintained the favourable conditions, which allowed for life to continue.
Since Lovelock first proposed the Gaia hypothesis it has been developed significantly. Supported by various lines of evidence, it has matured into a fascinating theory of self-regulation at the planetary scale. Nevertheless, Gaia theory still has many critics. A holistic theory of such scale, that unites life and matter on Earth in an intimate and cooperative way, runs contrary to the Reductionist methodology and the detached rationalism of many modern scientists.
Most conventional scientists feel more comfortable with the image of a meaningless universe on its way to maximum entropy. In such a world of dead matter and life forms that are believed to have evolved by the pure chance of genetic mutations acted upon by natural selection, the destiny of all life is to fight for survival until finally met by inevitable extinction. If this is the scientific story we tell, why are we so surprised that we find it hard to develop more cooperation and mutual support in our communities and between nations?
Why are we complaining about egocentric, anti-social behaviour and environmental degradation? We are taught in our science classes that the fittest, most successful competitor survives. Modern society’s guiding myth is based on a misinterpreted Darwinism, so much so that we have designed much of modern life around these beliefs, thereby creating conditions that emphasize and bring about competitive rather than cooperative behaviour.
In the time scale of evolution, the long-term survivor is the most fitting, the one who strikes a balance between adapting to the environment and adapting the immediate environment. Cooperation, symbiosis or synergy at the level of whole ecosystems and the entire biosphere is the fundamental driving force in the continuing evolution of life!
No doubt, competition does exist and has an important function in creating a dynamic and healthy population, but what unites all individuals and species into a single whole is symbiosis and cooperation at the scale of the ecosystem and the biosphere.
The surviving species are the ones that are best adapted to the particular ecological conditions of their local environment. Such adaptation is based predominantly on symbiotic relationships that increase the overall diversity and dynamic stability of the ecosystem.
Adaptation involves collaboration and competition with other species. Fundamentally, the number of symbiotic interconnections between all its members critically maintains the diversity and health of an ecosystem. While individual interactions between two species may be characterised by competitive relationships, at the level of the ecosystem and the biosphere cooperation is the basis of the continued evolution of life.
To survive, in the long term, it is critically important to know how to participate appropriately in the live sustaining natural cycles that maintain the health and diversity of life and the whole biosphere — the health of Gaia. Gaia theory offers us a number of important lessons about these natural cycles that sustain life on Earth.
One of the key dates in the development of the green movement was the publication of Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, in 1962. She blew the whistle on the increasing accumulation of toxins and carcinogens in soil, water and air. Interestingly, it was an instrument called the ‘electron capture detector’ and developed by James Lovelock in 1957, that enabled the collection of the scientific data on which Carson’s warnings were based.
Again, it was Lovelock who published the first experiments showing that there was a clear connection between the increasing hole in the ozone layer and the use of chloroflurocarbons (C.F.C. gases) for refrigeration and as a propellant in spray cans.

Lovelock’s Gaia theory, which he developed in collaboration with the microbiologist Lynn Margulis, shows us that microorganisms in the soil have a critical role in maintaining self-regulatory cycles based on biological, chemical and geological processes. All life depends on these processes!
The majority of cloud formation, for example, occurs as water condenses around tiny sulphur molecules in the atmosphere, which can be traced to a gas emitted by unicellular algae, called cocolithaphores. In turn, the white clouds, covering large parts of the planets surface, reflect a substantial proportion of the sunlight that reaches Earth. This reflecting of solar energy plays an important role in the self-regulation of the average temperature of our atmosphere.
For over thirty years, James Lovelock has been warning people about the danger of a run-away global warming effect caused by the excessive use of fossil fuels, the primary cause for the drastic build up of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Only in recent years has the clear link between the increase of CO2, methane and other gases to the greenhouse effect finally been publicly admitted by most scientists and politicans.
The freak heat waves that have caused victims in France and England in recent summers, the increased number and severity of tropical storms in recent years, as well as the increase in droughts, forest fires, and flooding in many parts of the world, are all signs of climate change being on its way. [Originally published in Spanish, in 2005.]
Every year of the last decade, the world has witnessed new extremes of heat and cold, hurricanes, rain- and snowstorms. The polar icecaps are melting at an alarming rate, and the potential consequences of a change of the major ocean currents in response to rising sea temperatures are already inspiring apocalyptical speculations in the newspapers, on the radio and on television.
Rather than speaking about global warming, which can have a certain enticing appeal in some parts of the British Isles, we should use the more appropriate term global climate chaos. Our irresponsible use of fossil energy, our contaminating technologies and habits of consumption are beginning to threaten the dynamic equilibrium of the finely tuned life support systems of the planet. Gaia is sick! She has a fever, and it is our fault!
The Great Extinction
We are currently living through an extinction phase that is among the most drastic in the Earth’s history, the biggest since the dinosaurs disappeared. If we want to assure a future for humanity, we will have to act to slow and stop this loss of biodiversity. According to conservative estimates we are losing around 120 different species per day. There are 15,589 species of animals and 60,000 plant species on the endangered species list. If one considers that we have only classified and names around 1.8 million of an estimated 10 to 30 million species on the planet, these figures become even more alarming.
With each and every one of those species we are loosing its intrinsic value, its particular qualities, its way of being, its genetic diversity, and its important role in the dynamic equilibrium of its ecosystem. Such loss is permanent!
The resilience of an ecosystem, its ability to recover after drastic changes and to adapt to these changes depends critically on biodiversity. We need to understand that the ecological equilibrium and health of Gaia, and with it the future of humanity itself, depends on high levels of biodiversity.
If we are hoping to minimize the effects of the impinging climate chaos, we have to stop using fossil fuels as quickly as possible and create new eco-efficient technologies that do not contaminate and use renewable energy. The path towards sustainability, the appropriate participation of humanity in the self-regulating cycles of Gaia, is a path of continuous learning that each one of us has to walk within his or her community.
Civilizational Transformation
I am talking of nothing less than the total transformation of our civilization, which is still predominantly characterized by a wasteful and ultimately auto-destructive society, into a civilization in symbiosis and collaboration with the community of life — a permanently sustainable culture.
Admittedly, this is an enormous change at a scale unprecedented in the history of human kind. We are living in a very special period of the history of humanity. The future of what it means to be human depends on us. Change and transformation at such a scale is only possible through an underlying change in human consciousness.
This is a change away from a culture of extraction, consumption, and waste, away from a focus on competition, quantity, and individualism; and a change towards earth restoration, frugality, and creative recycling, towards a focus on cooperation, qualities, and conviviality with our human communities and the community of life as a whole. The shift is about transforming a culture dominated by fear, alienation and scarcity into a culture of compassion, love, participation and abundance.
More than simply a scientific theory, the resurgence of Gaia can be regarded as Life itself awakening our modern civilization out of a dream of scientific literalism that makes us feel separate from Nature. From the anima mundi, the soul of the earth, Gaia is awakening so that humanity becomes once again conscious of its intimate connection with the community of life.
Once we realize that we are members, but not masters of this community of life, we can begin to learn how to participate appropriately and cooperatively in this community. Along with the name of Gaia, another important lesson is emerging from the collective subconscious of humanity: everything in the universe is fundamentally interrelated and interconnected. The separation between humanity and nature is a result of the dogmatic dualism characteristic of our scientific worldview.
As participants in the large-scale processes of life, we are integral parts of Nature and of the entire Universe. But as participants, we also carry a certain responsibility for our own actions and their effects on life as a whole. This is an individual and collective responsibility to participate in the process of sustainability. We have to learn, once again, how to integrate human activity into the natural cycles of Gaia. [Originally published in Spanish, in 2005.]
[As a graduate in Biological Sciences from the University of Edinburgh in 1996, Daniel has been investigating the theory and practice of sustainability for many years. In 2002, he received a Masters in Holistic Science from Schumacher College and the Department of Environmental Science of the University of Plymouth. During his time at Schumacher College, Daniel had the opportunity of meeting James Lovelock personally and to study Gaia theory with Stephan Harding, one of Lovelock’s collaborators. Daniel gained his PhD at the Centre for the Study of Natural Design of the University of Dundee. He lived at the Findhorn ecovillage between 2007 and 2010 and worked in academic outreach and programme development for the Findhorn Foundation College. Since 2011 Daniel lives on the island of Mallorca and works locally and internationally as an educator, activist, and consultant in transformative innovation and whole systems design for sustainability. In 2016 Daniel published Designing Regenerative Cultures with Triarchy Press in the UK. The book has already reached international acclaim.]

