THIS POST IS A DISCUSSION OF THE NEW JAMES LOVELOCK BOOK THAT SEES CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH HIS GAIA HYPOTHESIS. THE BOOK SAYS THAT EARTH (GAIA) IS FIGHTING AGAINST HUMAN CIVILIZATION AND THAT THIS FIGHT IS THE CAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE. THE GAIA HYPOTHESIS IS THAT THE EARTH IS NOT AN INERT PIECE OF ROCK WITH LIFE ON IT BUT IS ITSELF A LIVING BEING.

THE BOOK IS TITLED “REVENGE OF GAIA” AND HERE IS WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT GAIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The book “Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back and How we can Still Save Humanity”

This book is is a dire warning against the unchecked growth of civilization. ‘Despite all our efforts to retreat sustainably, we may be unable to prevent a global decline into a chaotic world ruled by brutal warlords on a devastated Earth…’ For thousands of years, humans have exploited the planet without counting the cost. Now Gaia, the living Earth, is fighting back. As the polar icecaps shrink and the global temperature rises, we approach the point of no return. Sustainable development, Lovelock argues, is no longer possible, and the only open to us may be a ‘sustainable retreat’. This is the one book you must read to find out what is happening, how bad it will get – and how we can survive. ‘The most important book for decades’ Andrew Marr ‘The most important book ever to be published on the environmental crisis … Lovelock will go down in history as the scientist who changed our view of the Earth’ John Gray, Independent ‘Truly terrifying … Lovelock’s arguments carry more conviction than anyone else’s now writing’ Peter Forbes, Daily Mail James Lovelock is the author of more than 200 scientific papers and the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis (now Gaia Theory). He has written several books on the subject, including Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, The Ages of Gaia and The Vanishing Face of Gaia as well as an autobiography, Homage to Gaia. In September 2005 Prospect magazine named him as one of the world’s top 100 global public intellectuals

CRITICAL COMMENTARY

THE ESSENTIAL HYPOTHESIS HERE IS THAT THE EARTH IS FIGHTING BACK AGAINST THE UNRESTRAINED GROWTH OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION AND THE RESULT IS CLIMATE CHANGE. IT IS A CASE OF ECO WACKO ACTIVISM GONE OVER THE EDGE. A FURTHER ISSUE IS THAT IF THE EARTH KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT HUMANS IT SHOULD ALSO KNOW HOW TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE.

IN A RELATED POST ON A SIMILAR ICONIC AUTHOR WITH A SIMILAR ECO WACKO AGENDA, WE DISCUSS THE SEMINAL WORKS OF GARRETT HARDIN. WHAT THESE AUTHORS HAVE IN COMMON IS THE IDEA THAT THE EARTH, WHETHER A LIVING BEING (GAIA), OR JUST ROCKS (PLANET), IS THREATENED BY ADVANCES IN HUMAN CIVILIZATION AND THEREFORE THE HUMANS MUST DEVISE THINGS LIKE “SUSTAINABILITY” ECO WACKO ENVIRONMENTALISM TO SAVE THE PLANET FROM THEMSELVES BECAUSE WITHOUT ECO WACKO SUSTAINABILITY THE EARTH AS WE KNOW IT WILL BE DESTROYED BY UNCHECKED GROWTH OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION SUCH THAT IN THAT DESTRUCTION THE HUMANS TOO WILL BE DESTROYED.

THESE FEAR APPEAL AND FEARMONGERING ARGUMENTS, THOUGH THEY HAVE GAINED A SIGNIFICANT FOLLOWING, HAVE YET TO BE ACCEPTED UNIVERSALLY OR TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AND SO IT HAS BEEN ON THE BACK BURNER COOKING AWAY EVER SO SLOWLY AND WITHOUT A MAJOR IMPACT ON THE ADVANCE AND PROGRESS OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION AND HUMAN POPULATION. IT SEEMED THAT THE ECO WACKO ENVIRONMENTALISM OF THESE PEOPLE WOULD NEVER REALLY GET OFF THE BACK BURNER. BUT THEN ALONG CAME CLIMATE CHANGE WITH THE EXCESSES OF HUMANS DESCRIBED BY THE ECO WACKOS NOW BLAMED FOR THE HELLISH HORRORS OF CLIMATE CHANGE THAT AWAIT US IF WE DON’T SUBSCRIBE TO THOSE SUSTAINABILITY ARGUMENTS.

AND IT IS THUS THAT THE CLIMATE CHANGE FEARMONGERING OF OUR TIME HAS RE-WAKENED AND RE-VITALIZED AND GIVEN NEW LIFE TO ECO WACKOISM AND THE LOVELOCKS OF THE WORLD ARE NOW CRAWLING OUT OF THEIR GRAVES TO GIVE THEIR ECO WACKOISM ANOTHER SHOT IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE.

RELATED POSTS

THE BAMBI PRINCIPLE: https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/11/15/the-bambi-principle/

EXCERPT: The forest is presented as a kind of idealized human-free world where nature can frolic. Unless humans arrive, animals of all species live without fear in a “paradise” untouched by human hands where even owls have morphed into vegetarians. Here all interaction with humans, and only with humans, end in death or suffering. There is a complete separation of nature into two worlds – humans and humanless nature. The big issue in modern environmentalism is that it has been extended into the Anthropocene. It is described as a paradise lost where humans have seized control of nature and of the planet. This construct of environmentalism is one where Bambi played a role.

THE ORIGIN OF ECO WACKO: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/08/22/the-origin-of-eco-wacko/

EXCERPT: Hardin saw all humans as selfish herders: we worry that our neighbors’ cattle will graze the best grass. So, we send more of our cows out to consume that grass first. We take it first, before someone else steals our share. This creates a vicious cycle of environmental degradation that Hardin described as the “tragedy of the commons.”, i.e., competition among humans for nature’s best products is destructive. In that context it is relevant that Hardin subscriibed to EUGENICS as well as to human overpopulation. He also promoted what he called LIFEBOAT ETHICS which holds that since global resources are finite, the rich should throw the poor overboard to keep their boat above water. It is not a good idea for the rich to help the poor. Hardin’s works are filled with fear-mongering proclaiming that freedom to breed is intolerable. He wrote that it is better for children of improvident parents to starve to death.

BIBLICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM IN GENESIS: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/02/15/divine-environmentalism/

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ANTHROPOCENE ECO WACKOISM: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/07/04/will-steffen-the-anthropocene-man/

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MORE ANTHROPOCENE STUFF: https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/09/22/things-eco-nuts-worry-about/

EXCERPT: Not so long ago, the very nature of planet Earth suffered a devastating rupture. The break was sudden, global, and irreversible. It happened on a Sunday within living memory. Mick Jagger, Meryl Streep, and Caitlyn Jenner were all born before this crack in time. Vladimir Putin, Liam Neeson, and Mr. T were all born after it. That idea might soon carry the weight of scientific fact. Later this month, a committee of researchers from around the world will decide whether the Earth sprang into the Anthropocene in the year 1950. If accepted, this delineation will signal a new reality, that human activities, not natural processes, are now the dominant driver of change on Earth’s surface—that carbon pollution, climate change, deforestation, factory farms, mass die-offs, and enormous road networks have made a greater imprint on the planet than any other force in the past 12,000 years.

IRRELEVANCE OF HUMANS ON A PLANETARY SCALE https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/03/30/the-humans-must-save-the-planet/

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