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Gaia
Gaia Theory, which holds that Earth's physical and biological processes are inextricably bound to form a self-regulating system, is more relevant than ever in light of increasing concerns about global climate change. The Gaian paradigm of Earth as a living system, first articulated by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, has inspired a burgeoning body of researchers working across disciplines that range from physics and biology to philosophy and politics. Gaia in Turmoil reflects this disciplinary richness and intellectual diversity, with contributions (including essays by both Lovelock and Margulis) that approach the topic from a wide variety of perspectives, discussing not only Gaian science but also global environmental problems and Gaian ethics and education.
Both physical and spiritual
Gaia's wisdom can be discerned from two levels: the first, where science concentrates, is her body, her physical, biological, and chemical operations involving organisms recycling the elements in the biosphere; the second is Gaia's mysterious spiritual life, consciousness diffused through all her aspects. Her wisdom presupposes as essential the actions of a living being with mind and inherent purpose.
What do we expect?
The loss of arable land has been caused by a number of factors, many or most of which are tied to human development. The primary causes are deforestation, overexploitation for fuelwood, overgrazing, agricultural activities and industrialization.
A devastating and tragic earthquake in Haiti. An alarming earthquake in Chile. A devastating storm and flood in parts of Europe. You see a pattern here?
Everyone has become almost hysterical over the increase of LARGE eartquakes and the flooding and "beast like" storms in France, Germany,Belgium, et cetera.
Changing times
If you look back at the writings of Earth scientists 40 years ago you will find them confident that the composition and climate of our planet were completely explicable from chemistry and physics and that life was just a passenger. Life scientists of the same time were equally confident that organisms evolved according to Darwin's great vision and adapted to the Earth described by their Earth science colleagues in the building across the campus.
This harmful and irrational division of science is slowly fading but it still persists and has led to the deplorable separation of the assessment of global change between two different international bodies: one based on physical science, the IPCC, and the other on biology, the Millennium Ecology Assessment Commission. The Earth is not so divided and so long as we treat it as two separate entities, the geosphere for the material Earth and the biosphere for life, we will fail to understand our planet.
Originally posted by XXXN3O
if the earth is indeed cleansing itself of the problems we give it, why does it just so happen that the people who have no choice are the ones who suffer and never the banking cartels that finance destructive outlets, oil companies, corrupt politicians, in short the list of those responsible for ramming their agenda down societies throats?
What we don't know
That slab of meat in your skull - a 3-pound walnut of wetware - somehow puts the you in you. Nobody really knows how. Philosophers since Plato have pondered the issue. And probing the relationship between mind and body was the central goal of psychology until behaviorists closed the door on mind in the early 20th century and focused on observable actions. But only recently have scientists tried to tackle consciousness, spurred by new tools like functional MRI and PET scans that can augment traditional clinical research by showing brain activity.
Already, however, these researchers find themselves haggling over familiar questions. Is consciousness merely wakefulness? No, we’re conscious when we dream. Is it our sense of personal identity? Yes, but surely it’s also the stream of words and images that runs through what William James called the “extended present,” the immediate workspace of our minds. It’s perception, but it’s also reflection - summoning up visual and verbal constructions, imaginary or real. It’s simulation, mentally walking ourselves through situations before we face them, learning and practicing, hoping to avert pratfalls.