Earth Day 2014

Consider the following propositions:

1. Life exists only because the material conditions on Earth happen to be just right for its existence;

2. Life defines the material conditions for its existence and makes sure that they stay there.

- James Lovelock & Sidney Epton, "The Quest for Gaia", 1975

The first Earth Day in April, 1970 was celebrated shortly after James Lovelock began his work on the Gaia Hypothesis. He formulated the hypothesis in the 1960's as a result of work he had done for NASA on the detection of life on Mars.  In February 1975, he wrote an article for New Scientist magazine with Sidney Epton called "The Quest for Gaia", wherein they explained and developed the hypothesis. It became Lovelock's life work and, in 2009, the then ninety-year-old scientist wrote The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning. 

In between Lovelock's early work on Gaia and his latest book, of course, were the lunar missions that gave us those awe-inspiring photos of the Earth, beautiful and vulnerable in the void of space. Carl Sagan's "pale blue dot" is still the only confirmed home of life, intelligent or otherwise, in the universe. Here, life has filled every nook from the depths of the oceans to volcanic vents to the fissures in rocks. Organisms can require oxygen or not. They can live in temperatures below the freezing point and above the boiling point of water . They can live in acidic environments or basic. They live in water or in deserts. They can live under tremendous pressure and can resist ionizing radiation. Lovelock's hypothesis proposes that these organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet.  Lovelock's "final warning" is that the complexity of the living Gaia system is significant and important, that computer modeling that does not take it into account can lead us astray, and that "Until we all feel intuitively that the Earth is a living system, and know that we are part of it, we will fail to react automatically for its and ultimately our own protection."

Native American culture has a respectful, almost sacred, stance towards the natural world and the creatures that share it with us. A quote often attributed to the Duwamish Chief Seattle reflects an attitude of stewardship towards the world - “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”. There's a phrase in the Lakota language "Mitakuye Oyasin" that translates to "all are related" and reflects the Lakota belief in a universal interconnectedness. What affects one, affects all.   

William Wordsworth, in his magnificent poem "Tintern Abbey" (actually, the full title is "Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting The Banks Of The Wye During A Tour. July 13, 1798"), writes of an almost mystical unity.  When contemplating the nature, he feels

"A presence that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,

And the round ocean and the living air,

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;

A motion and a spirit, that impels

All thinking things, all objects of all thought,

And rolls through all things."

Earth Day is a good time to pause and reflect on this interconnectedness of all life. Marc Ian Barasch discusses this in his 2005 book, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life. He relates the story of a Colorado boy who became lost in the woods in the dead of winter. As hypothermia was setting in, the boy tried to chase away two huge elks that he saw nearby. He lost consciousness and would surely have died had not the two elks slept up against him warming him through the cold night. Barasch continues, "There are a million stories of our fellow creatures being kind to us for no good reason...There are inexplicable ways compassion radiates through the world; some spirit of sympathy drawn toward any distress." Barasch relates experiments that show even plants to be sensitive to painful or sad thoughts and memories.  He concludes that perhaps "our ultimate human assignment is to extend our sense of kinship beyond family and clan and strangers to all other creatures...Acknowledging a sentient world might make us kinder, gentler citizens of a planet that has already had to endure more than its share of our cruelties."

I'll close with a final thought from Barasch's book that could perhaps guide and inspire our efforts over the coming year. "Given our shaky collective plight, knowing Nature's 'value' may not be enough; we may need to love it."

Images

Earth from Space (Apollo 17) from NASA

Gray wolf from US Fish & Wildlife Service (Gary Kramer)
Tintern Abbey from Destination Envy website/Drive Wales page
Deer in winter woods is from Conservation Fund website (Reggie Hall)
Polar bear on ice floe is from ZME Science website