Gaia: A New Look at Life on EarthOxford University Press, 1987 - 157 The Gaia hypothesis, first put forth in the mid-1960s, and published in book form in 1975, has had a radical effect on scientific views of evolution and the environment. Fiercely debated by biologists, chemists, and cyberneticists, it has been the subject of numerous conferences and a BBC special which aired on public TV's "Nova" series. Green Peace and other environmental groups have embraced the theory, and Isaac Asimov incorporated it into two his science fiction novels. Now, James Lovelock provides a new preface to his his seminal work, confronting his critics, and, addressing the current advances in science and technology, demonstrates how his predictions have already begun to be fulfilled. According to the Gaia hypothesis, the environment does not coincidentally support life on earth; rather the two interact much the way a bird and its nest interact. "The Earth's living matter," writes Lovelock, "air, oceans, and land surface form a complex system which can be seen as a single organism and which has the capacity to keep our planet a fit place for life." This revolutionary book offers the clearest explanation of the interaction of life and the environment. |
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... constant and favourable for life , much as our body temperatures remain constant whether it is summer or winter and whether we find ourselves in a polar or tropical environ- ment . It might be thought that the fierce radioactivity of ...
... constant and favourable for life , much as our body temperatures remain constant whether it is summer or winter and whether we find ourselves in a polar or tropical environ- ment . It might be thought that the fierce radioactivity of ...
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A New Look at Life on Earth James Lovelock. by constant endeavour until we are satisfied that we are as near to optimum ... constant . Yet right from the beginning of life , around three and a half aeons ago , the Earth's mean surface ...
A New Look at Life on Earth James Lovelock. by constant endeavour until we are satisfied that we are as near to optimum ... constant . Yet right from the beginning of life , around three and a half aeons ago , the Earth's mean surface ...
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... constant and the loop gain are important factors . Thus the regulation of oxygen has a time constant measured in thousands of years . Such slow processes give the least warning of undesirable trends . By the time it is realized that all ...
... constant and the loop gain are important factors . Thus the regulation of oxygen has a time constant measured in thousands of years . Such slow processes give the least warning of undesirable trends . By the time it is realized that all ...
Spis treści
Introductory | 1 |
In the beginning | 13 |
The recognition of Gaia | 33 |
Prawa autorskie | |
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