The Revenge of Gaia

The Revenge of Gaia

Author: James Lovelock

Pages: 211

Publisher: Penguin

Dedication: For beloved wife, Sandy

Rating:

Presentation: 4, Language: 4, Relevance: 4, Depth: 3, Reputation: 3

An enlightening book on Global Warming and the mitigating steps to be undertaken by mankind. James Lovelock is one of the propounders of Gaia theory. Gaia is the earth system which behaves as a single, self regulating system, comprised of physical, chemical, biological and human components. The interactions and feedbacks between the component parts are complex and exhibit multi-scale temporal and spatial variability. Gaia is a thin spherical shell of matter that surrounds the incandescent interior of the earth; it begins where the crystal rocks meet the magma of the earth’s hot interior, about 1000 miles outwards through the ocean and air to the thermosphere at the edge of space.

Lovelock wishes to stop all activities that harm Gaia. He suggests nuclear energy as an alternative until a stable and inexhaustive source of energy is harnessed, which he names to be nuclear fusion. His insistence on his contributions to the origin of the concept of Gaia is forceful in some parts.

The author enunciates some of the effects of global warming. When ocean surface is warmed from above by sunlight, the top layer absorbs most of the heat and forms a layer of depth 30 to 100 metres. It forms when the sunlight is strong enough to raise the surface temperature above about 10 deg C. This layer is stable and stays intact and the cooler water below do not mix with it. Primary food producers like algae (which also fix CO₂) flourishes and use up all nutrients. They eventually die and fall to the bottom and this is why warm and tropical waters are so clear and blue, they are the deserts of the ocean.

There is positive feedback to the temperature regulating mechanism and it continues to increase the level of CO₂. The only system which acts in negative feedback is called ‘Rock weathering’. This is the biochemical process by which CO₂ dissolved in rain water reacts with calcium silicate rocks.

Sun’s energy output is increasing as time passes and is now 1.35 kW/m². To regulate the increasing temperature, ice ages are required and we are now in an interglacial period. With the level of CO₂ in atmosphere reaching 360 ppm, the planet is warming up fast. After several million years, when the sun’s thermal output is further enhanced, nearly all life forms will vanish.

An important source of information about the cause of climate change is the long term geological record. The analysis of air trapped in Antarctic ice layers gives immense data about the history of the climate and the composition of earth’s atmosphere.

Lovelock’s arguments for nuclear power are clear and strong. Nuclear stations are safer than, say, hydroelectric ones. Even a blast in a nuclear station is bound to kill only those who are directly exposed to radiation and will cause only a small reduction in the lifespan of the thousands of others (say 1 or 2 weeks) while a blast in the hydro dam will cause immediate death of millions of people. He gives safety statistics of various types of power generation.

Fuel	Fatalities	Who	Deaths per TWY (terra watt year)
Coal	6400	Workers	342
Natural gas	1200	Workers and public	85
Hydro	4000	Public	883
Nuclear	31	Workers	8

Overall rating: 4 Star