James Lovelock - The Vanishing Face of Gaia

Hard hitting
Lovelock’s latest, and possibly last book pulls no punches. The first chapter is pretty hard hitting and bombards you with science, ideas and thoughts about the state of the world, and how it is changing. Global warming is definitely on the way and we’re just not taking it seriously enough. In fact Lovelock calls it global heating, presumably ‘warming’ sounds a little too cosy and is certainly not a reflection of the gravity of what is happening. The main theme of the book is that we cannot stop the heating of the planet, we’re all going to die and it’s all our fault.

It’s all our fault
To be fair to Lovelock, his writing mellows out in later chapters - there are some positive points to be made and there is hope for the planet. It’s also worth noting that we’re not all going to die. Just most of us, according to the book. The planet is on a slow downward spiral and it’s going to change so much that it will only be able to sustain a few hundred million of us, not the many billions there are now. In fact one of Lovelock’s main points is that trying to reduce our carbon dioxide outputs is probably futile. This is because most of the problems we have mostly boil down to the fact that there are just too many of us for Earth to sustain.  He points out that over 50 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions are as a result of all of us living on the planet, growing our food, transporting it, eating it and disposing of it.

Futile as it may be, we should continue our efforts to curb our carbon emissions, try to live more in harmony with the world, and Lovelock quotes plenty of science to make his point. The science is easy to understand, explained very well and the likable thing about Lovelock is that he’ll give his critics credit and try to address their points fairly. Peer reviewed science is the best and only way to be truly scientific, and Lovelock doesn’t shy away from his naysayers.

Gaia
An important point the book makes, is that Gaia is not some New Age mumbo jumbo. Gaia is the name Lovelock gives to his scientific theory that the Earth itself is a living entity, and that everything in it is some part of it. This theory has been around for decades and it’s really only the last few years that scientists are beginning to take it seriously. Evidence that every part of the earth contributes to its well-being is starting to mount. So much so that Lovelock is worried that we are ignoring it. Recent news from the IPCC is that global sea levels are rising at nearly twice the projected rate and Lovelock begs us to pay attention to this. The problem as he sees it is that the scientists are being politicians, we’re spending too much time worrying about getting the projections right for the future and we’re ignoring the evidence that’s staring us in the face.

The book certainly does make you think of Gaia, not as a dusty, watery rock but as a living breathing entity that faces a genuine crisis.

The Future
Popular science books can often be daunting for a non-scientific reader, especially when their subject matter concerns the reader’s future. The last thing you want to do is read a book and come away from it more worried because you don’t understand it, rather than being worried about its message. This book is an easy to read, and as you get further into it, its hopeful about some aspects of the future.

For example, Lovelock states that the evidence indicates that in the UK we’re going to be mostly OK as far as global heating is concerned. Yes we’ll be affected, but not as badly as elsewhere, and the inhabitants of the UK should be able to soldier on. We may have to worry about millions of refugees turning up, or being able to feed ourselves, and maintain power levels, but overall we’ll be OK.

Nuclear power
Lovelock was the green god of the entire environmental movement for some time and then he did something quite upsetting. He started to get behind nuclear power as the only viable alternative to fossil fuels. Initially the greens moved away from Lovelock on this. Imagine a movie where the main Baddie has just said something and a henchman has questioned it. I imagine the greens scuffling away from Lovelock in much the same way as people scuffle away from the henchman so as not to get hurt themselves, when the Baddie kills the unsupportive henchman. Recently, however, more and more greens are coming out in support of his position and the book explains it and the science behind it, very well.

Consequences
The Vanishing Face of Gaia is an excellent book, and a great place to get ideas and references for the science behind global heating and its consequences. It’s well balanced, interesting to read and well written. Lovelock remains impassioned and frightening about the subject matter, but without being unduly alarmist or terrifying. Let’s hope that when this mild mannered, and highly esteemed man speaks, people are listening and that positive action is taken.

Afterthought
One action I would encourage people to take right now, is to check out the website for the charity Cool Earth. Cool Earth is a charity that protects endangered rainforest to combat global warming, protect ecosystems and provide sustainable jobs for local people. It makes more sense than offsetting carbon dioxide emmissions, read Lovelock’s book and find out why.