James Lovelock: "90% of Earth's Population will Perish!"

James Lovelock introduced the Gaiea Hypothesis back in the early seventies, giving scientific credence to what traditional cultures have known all along: that the Earth is a living, self-regulating super-organism. The idea was audacious- that competition was not the only force driving evolution. Life lays the foundation for more life.

Now, it's pretty well established that the various complex ecosystems of the planet help to maintain the conditions that we enjoy. Well, they used to. Now, Lovelock says, in an interview with Rolling Stone, that the Earth's climate is so out of whack, we need to abandon hope of averting climate change and prepare for a major collapse of ecological systems and ensuing resource wars.

And you thought anyone who invented something called 'the Gaiea Hypothesis' would be all peace, love, and Jerry. Although his words have a crochety-old-timer ring to them, I think every ecologist/environmentalist has to struggle with this position. Who really believes we can save the world by buying the right products and recycling? Isn't that just prolonging the inevitable decline, as we temporarily allow population to continue to grow?

Discuss amongst yourselves, and we'll pick up on this topic again shortly. It gets to the core issues here at Ecotechnic.