![]() ![]() This energy increased over time because it is the nature of stars like the sun to increase their heat output as they grow older. Two genocidal acts – suffocation by greenhouse gases and the clearance of the rainforests – have caused changes on a scale not seen in millions of years.īecause subjects like astronomy, geology, and meteorology are taught separately in schools and universities, few people are aware of the natural forces affecting the Earth’s surface temperature.įor billions of years the Earth’s surface temperature has been determined mainly by the radiant heat coming from the sun. In the years since, we have seen just how much life – especially human life – can affect the environment. ![]() I was an outsider, an independent scientist, and the mainstream view then was the neo-Darwinist one that life adapts to the environment, not that the relationship also works in the other direction, as we argued. ![]() Both of us were roundly criticised by scientists in academia. I called this the Gaia theory, and was later joined by biologist Lynn Margulis, who also espoused this idea. The composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and the temperature of the surface is actively maintained and regulated by the biosphere, by life, by what the ancient Greeks used to call Gaia.Īlmost 60 years ago, I suggested our planet self-regulated like a living organism. The same is true of living organisms that greatly influence the global environment. It is impossible to understand these subjects in isolation because they are interconnected. This division is as much of a mistake as the error made by universities when they teach chemistry in a different class from biology and physics. That is the wrongheaded approach of the United Nations, which is about to stage one big global conference for the climate in Glasgow, having just finished a different big global conference for biodiversity in Kunming. ![]()
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