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James Lovelock dies on his 103rd birthday

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  • James Lovelock dies on his 103rd birthday

    A very good age but a great loss.



    https://www.theguardian.com/environm...103rd-birthday

    Known as something of a maverick, he had been dispensing predictions from his one-man laboratory since the mid-1960s, and in his old age he continued to work.

    His Gaia hypothesis posits that life on Earth is a self-regulating community of organisms interacting with each other and their surroundings. He said two years ago that the biosphere was in the last 1% of its life.

    [...]

    Lovelock spent his life advocating for climate measures, starting decades before many others started to take notice of the crisis. By the time he died he did not believe there was hope of avoiding some of the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

    Watts said: “Without Lovelock, environmental movements across the globe would have started later and taken a very different path. In the 1960s his ultrasensitive electron capture detector revealed for the first time how toxic chemicals were creeping into the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil where we grow our food. He was the first to confirm the presence of fluorocarbons in the stratosphere and issued one of the earliest warnings that petroleum products were destabilising the climate and damaging the brains of children.

    “His Gaia theory, conceived with the Pentagon consultant Dian Hitchcock and honed in collaboration with the US biologist Lynn Margulis, laid the foundations for Earth system science and a new understanding of the interplay between life, clouds, rocks and the atmosphere. He also warned, in clearer terms than any of his peers, of the dangers humanity posed to the extraordinary web of relations that make Earth uniquely alive in our universe.”

    Lovelock was passionate about, and committed to, his work as he felt it imperative to warn humanity of the incoming climate catastrophe. He said in a lecture in 2011 that he had no plans for a comfortable retirement because of this.

    “My main reason for not relaxing into contented retirement is that like most of you I am deeply concerned about the probability of massively harmful climate change and the need to do something about it now,” Lovelock said.

    His Gaia theory was ridiculed when he first proposed it, by many who believed it was “new age nonsense”. It now makes up the basis of much of climate science. He was also controversial among his fellow environmental scientists and campaigners because he advocated for nuclear energy. Now, many agree with his view.

    Another notable invention by Lovelock was a device that detected CFCs, which are damaging to the ozone layer.



    "It ain't necessarily so
    The things that you're liable
    To read in the Bible
    It ain't necessarily so
    ."

    Sportin' Life
    Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

  • #2
    Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post
    A very good age but a great loss.



    https://www.theguardian.com/environm...103rd-birthday

    Known as something of a maverick, he had been dispensing predictions from his one-man laboratory since the mid-1960s, and in his old age he continued to work.

    His Gaia hypothesis posits that life on Earth is a self-regulating community of organisms interacting with each other and their surroundings. He said two years ago that the biosphere was in the last 1% of its life.

    [...]

    Lovelock spent his life advocating for climate measures, starting decades before many others started to take notice of the crisis. By the time he died he did not believe there was hope of avoiding some of the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

    Watts said: “Without Lovelock, environmental movements across the globe would have started later and taken a very different path. In the 1960s his ultrasensitive electron capture detector revealed for the first time how toxic chemicals were creeping into the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil where we grow our food. He was the first to confirm the presence of fluorocarbons in the stratosphere and issued one of the earliest warnings that petroleum products were destabilising the climate and damaging the brains of children.

    “His Gaia theory, conceived with the Pentagon consultant Dian Hitchcock and honed in collaboration with the US biologist Lynn Margulis, laid the foundations for Earth system science and a new understanding of the interplay between life, clouds, rocks and the atmosphere. He also warned, in clearer terms than any of his peers, of the dangers humanity posed to the extraordinary web of relations that make Earth uniquely alive in our universe.”

    Lovelock was passionate about, and committed to, his work as he felt it imperative to warn humanity of the incoming climate catastrophe. He said in a lecture in 2011 that he had no plans for a comfortable retirement because of this.

    “My main reason for not relaxing into contented retirement is that like most of you I am deeply concerned about the probability of massively harmful climate change and the need to do something about it now,” Lovelock said.

    His Gaia theory was ridiculed when he first proposed it, by many who believed it was “new age nonsense”. It now makes up the basis of much of climate science. He was also controversial among his fellow environmental scientists and campaigners because he advocated for nuclear energy. Now, many agree with his view.

    Another notable invention by Lovelock was a device that detected CFCs, which are damaging to the ozone layer.


    I was reading an interview with the evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, who with Lovelock, was an advocate for the Gaia hypothesis, and it really is nothing like what is usually said about it. At least her version of it.



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    Comment


    • #3
      "He said two years ago that the biosphere was in the last 1% of its life."

      Ironically, it seems he was taking about his own life instead.

      "His Gaia theory was ridiculed when he first proposed it, by many who believed it was “new age nonsense”. It now makes up the basis of much of climate science."

      That's yer problem right thar.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
        "He said two years ago that the biosphere was in the last 1% of its life."

        Ironically, it seems he was taking about his own life instead.

        "His Gaia theory was ridiculed when he first proposed it, by many who believed it was “new age nonsense”. It now makes up the basis of much of climate science."

        That's yer problem right thar.
        Is that remark intended to indicate you reject climate change?
        "It ain't necessarily so
        The things that you're liable
        To read in the Bible
        It ain't necessarily so
        ."

        Sportin' Life
        Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

        Comment


        • #5
          I hope he was ready to meet his maker. He was given lots of time.

          I do not believe mankind is able to do anything to stop the floods, wild fires, tornadoes, earthquakes etc. Of course we should do whatever we can to sustain renewable resources and waste disposal, plastics in the ocean etc but really it is whistling in the wind to think stopping carbon emissions is going to have any effect on the above.

          The Bible says the earth is going to wear out like a tent and so it is.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Esther View Post

            I do not believe mankind is able to do anything to stop the floods, wild fires, tornadoes, earthquakes etc. Of course we should do whatever we can to sustain renewable resources and waste disposal, plastics in the ocean etc but really it is whistling in the wind to think stopping carbon emissions is going to have any effect on the above.
            If people believe their god is in control, then all this is part of that god's "ineffable" plan.
            "It ain't necessarily so
            The things that you're liable
            To read in the Bible
            It ain't necessarily so
            ."

            Sportin' Life
            Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post
              If people believe their god is in control, then all this is part of that god's "ineffable" plan.
              If I didn't know better I would say what a quick study you are H_A !

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Esther View Post

                If I didn't know better I would say what a quick study you are H_A !
                So not to worry if millions die and species are wiped out - it is all part of the plan.
                "It ain't necessarily so
                The things that you're liable
                To read in the Bible
                It ain't necessarily so
                ."

                Sportin' Life
                Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post

                  So not to worry if millions die and species are wiped out - it is all part of the plan.
                  Well mankind wanted nothing to do with God so he is letting us have our way.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Sparko View Post

                    Well mankind wanted nothing to do with God so he is letting us have our way.
                    A nice simplistic answer. I expected nothing more.
                    "It ain't necessarily so
                    The things that you're liable
                    To read in the Bible
                    It ain't necessarily so
                    ."

                    Sportin' Life
                    Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post

                      A nice simplistic answer. I expected nothing more.
                      Glad I could oblige. The gospel is indeed simple.

                      For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Sparko View Post

                        Glad I could oblige. The gospel is indeed simple.
                        Simple beliefs for simple folks.

                        "It ain't necessarily so
                        The things that you're liable
                        To read in the Bible
                        It ain't necessarily so
                        ."

                        Sportin' Life
                        Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post
                          Simple beliefs for simple folks.
                          The truth is often simple. Lies get complicated.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Sparko View Post

                            The truth is often simple. Lies get complicated.
                            As Wilde noted "The truth is rarely pure and never simple".
                            "It ain't necessarily so
                            The things that you're liable
                            To read in the Bible
                            It ain't necessarily so
                            ."

                            Sportin' Life
                            Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Hypatia_Alexandria View Post

                              As Wilde noted "The truth is rarely pure and never simple".
                              Wilde was an idiot then.

                              Comment

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